Questions and answers about the book 1984 by George Orwell

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Questions and answers about the book 1984 by George Orwell

Chapter Questions: 1984 by George Orwell.

These questions will be used as homework, class work and notes. Answer them as you read. Everyone gets one copy. If you lose it, make your own copy. Homework is due when it is due. No makeups. Keep the question in order in your binder. There ARE a lot of them. http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/1984/

Chapter 1.

1. When does the story begin?
April 4, 1984

2. What kind of day is it?
Cold and bright

3. How have the clocks been changed?
Military Time. Implies What?

4. Who is the first character introduced?
Winston Smith

5. Where does he live?
Victory Mansions

6. Describe the place (details: smells, conditions)
Smells of old rags, cabbage. Poorly Built in disrepair

7. What is the large poster?
Big Brother

8. Why doesn’t Winston (W) take the lift?
Doesn’t work

9. Why is it difficult for W to climb the stairs?
Varicose ulcer on leg

10. What is the caption beneath the large poster on the wall?
Big Brother is Watching You (INGSOC)

11. Where does the “fruity” voice come from?
Telescreen

12. Can the telescreen be completely shut off?
No

13.How does the telescreen differ from our television?
Receives and transmits

14. Describe Winston (Be specific)
39, frail, blue overalls (party Uniform), fair hair, course skin, ruddy face

15. What is the word on the flapping poster?
INGSOC (English Socialism)

16. What police bother W?
Thought Police

17. What city and country does W live in?
London, Oceania

18. Can W recall the city of his childhood?
Nothing

19. What can W see from his window?
Ministry of Truth

20. What are the 3 slogans of the party etched on Miniture?
War is peace
Freedom is Slavery
Ignorance is Strength

21.How many buildings like these (and what are they?) can W see from his window?
4 Ministries of Truth, Peace , Love, and Plenty

22. Which is the most frightening?
Love or Miniluv

23. Does W have any food?
Old Dark Bread

24.What does he drink?
Victory Gin

25. What does he smoke?
Victory Cigs

26. Where does he sit to write and why?
Alcove, hidden from Telescreen

Chapter 2

1. What does W realize he has done with his diary?
Left it open with words, “Down with Big Brother” visible

2.Who is at the door?
Mrs. Parsons

3. Are the Victory Apartments well built? Explain.
Built in 1930’s, now falling apart

4. How is the Parson’s flat (apartment) different from W’s?
Bigger and dingier in a different way/ Sports stuff/ smells

5. Why are the children disappointed?
Haven’t been out today

6. Who is Parsons? Describe him.
Also works at M of Truth “a mass of imbecile enthusiasm”

7. How are Parson’s children similar to all kids today?
Energy, playing solider, imitating adults w/o thought. P. 23

8. For what are the children of 1984 being trained?
War/Spying/ finding Traitors/ Being loyal to Party

9. Who does W think says, “We shall meet in the place where there is no darkness?”
O’Brien: An Inner party Member

10. What is the bad news on the telescreen?
p. 25 After mentioning glorious victory, chocolate ration being cut from 30 to 20 grams.

11. What is the only thing people can call their own?
p. 26 The few cubic centimeters inside your head

12. Before W leaves for work, what is the essence of what he writes in his diary?
He is already dead. He must stay alive as long as possible. He wants to stay sane and different.

13.What ordinary thing does he do before he goes back to work?
Washes his hands because an ink stain could give him away.

14. What does he put on the corner of the cover of his diary before he leaves?
A whitish grain of dust to see if the page is turned.

Chapter 3

1.What does W think happened to his mother and father?
p. 28 Swallowed up in the purges of the 50’s (Holocaust/Stalin)

2. Why does W think his mother and father had to die?
p. 28 So that he could stay alive

3.What change has there been in emotion since W’s mother died?
Seems like death is no longer tragic or sorrowful. Part of daily life (like Elie)

4.Of what does W think when in his dream he sees the girl throw off all her clothes in one graceful motion?
p. 29 That one act seems to annihilate a whole cultural system of thought: BB/Thought Police/Party

5.Why does W sleep w/o night clothes?
p. 29 His meager clothing allowance equals .5 changes per year

6. What does W do after his coughing fit?
p. 30 30-40 physical jerks. Mandatory exercise.

7.What can W remember of his early life?
p. 30 History is fading/ no historical record/ Names of countries different: England/Britain/London. Atomic Bomb

8. What does W. remember about the beginning of the war?
A-Bomb/ Street fighting in London

9.What country is Oceania at war with at this time?

At war with Eurasia and allied w/ Eastasia. Enemy of moment is always an absolute evil.

10. Why is the Past to be wiped away?
Party Slogan: Who controls the Past controls the future; who controls the present controls the past.

11. What is W’s decision about the past?
The past has not merely been altered but completely destroyed

12. How long has Big Brother (BB) existed in the Party histories?
1960’s ? He has been pushed back in history to 30’s and 40’s

14. When does Winston first believe he heard the word “Ingsoc”?
p. 33 Not before 1960

15. How is W reprimanded?
Telescreen yells, “Smith 6079. Do better.” P. 33

16. How does the instructor encourage her audience to touch their toes?
Reminds them of comrades fighting on Malabar front. Think of them

Chapter 4

1. What is W’s job?
Rewrites history at the Ministry of Truth p34-35

2. What happens when all corrections are made in the Times?
p. 38 After corrections, original copies destroyed and corrected copies replace them.

3. Is this process of correction used in other media (Newspapers, mags etc..)?
p. 36 Used for all books, lit, music, photos, cartoons- every kind of lit. or documentation that might have pol. or ideological significance.

4. What are some of the jobs of the Ministry of Truth other than the Records department?
p. 37-8 One branch simply collected and destyoyed all documents that have been superceded and due for destruction. P 38 A woman who tracked down and deleted names of people who were vaporized and therefore never considered to have existed at all. Studios for faking photos.

5. Does W enjoy his work?
p. 39 “His greatest pleasure in life was his work.”

6. What happens to people who displease the party?
P. 40-1 Read about Withers. Most commonly they disappear/never heard from again.

7. How does W decide to fulfill his assignment in regard to BB’s speech?
He creates Comrade Olgilvy to take the place of a vaporized person. Read p. 42
Exists just like Caesar!

Chapter 5

1. Describe the canteen?
p. 43 low-ceiling, deep underground, noisy, smelled of sour stew and gin

2. Who is Syme?
p. 43 Comrade, almost a friend, works in research dept- a philologist and expert on Newspeak, working on 11th edition of dictionary

3.What does he want from W?
Razor blades

4.What does Syme work on?
Working on Newspeak dictionary

5, What is his remark about the language?
p 45. It is a beautiful thing the destruction on words. Cutting language down to the bone.

6. Of what does Syme accuse Winston?
That he doesn’t appreciate Newspeak. He thinks in Oldspeak p. 46

7.What does Syme say the whole purpose of Newspeak is?
p. 46 To narrow the range of thought. To make thoughtcrime impossible since there ultimately will be no word s to express them.

8. Describe Parsons (p. 49)
p. 49 A tubby, middle-sized man w/ frog face. 35. Ideal Party man. Sweaty, illiterate.

9. What does Parsons want from Winston?
Money for “voluntary subscriptions” (25% of Party salary) for flags for Victory mansions

10. What is Parsons’s attitude towards his sweet children, esp. his daughter?
p. 50 Seems both proud and afraid of his kids (Spies) vigilance. Daughter turns in a man after following him.

11. What makes Winston think he has an ancestral memory?
p. 52 Read: The innate feeling things were once different. That he is being cheated

12.What is the “ideal” type as described by the Party? Remind you of anything?
p. 53 Tall muscular youths and deep bosomed women, blond and carefree (Like who?)

13.What are most of the people like (as described by W)?
Airstripone: Beetle-like Ministry members: dumpy little men grown fat early in life

14. Who is W afraid of and why?
P 54. The dark-haired girl was staring at him from across the hall- face crime

Chapter 6

1. According to the Party, what is the only purpose of marriage?
p. 57 Only recognized purpose was to beget children for service to party

2. Why have Katherine and Winston separated?
After only 15 months his dread at having unpleasant, mechanical sex. Chastity was deeply ingrained in women as a sign of party loyalty. P. 58

Chapter 7.

1. According to W, where does the only hope lie?
p. 60 “If there is hope it lies in the proles”

2. How many proles are there?
p. 61 “Paradox of Proles” 85% of population- like Proletariat in USSR

3. What is the Party’s attitude towards the proles?
p. 61 Claimed to have liberated them from bondage of capitalists/(Doublethink) Like animals, must be subjecated (means controlled) - inferior to Party

4. Is there any attempt to convert the proles to Party ideology?
Read p. 61. No (62). It was not desirable for them to have political feelings

5. What does W think are the only characteristics of Party life?
p. 63 Not its cruelty and insecurity, but simply its barrenness, it stinginess, its listlessness. The reality was p. 64 decaying cities etc.

6.Does the Party admit these equalities?
No.

7. What happened to the leaders of the revolution by 1960?
p. 66-67. By 1970 all other leaders but BB are wiped out- last were Jones, Rutherford, and Aaronson at Chestnut tree café.

8. What is the significance of the picture showing the three men at the social function in New York?
p. 67 It was proof their confessions were lies- concrete evidence. He destroyed it (10-11 years ago). Today, he would have kept it.

9. For whom does W think he is writing his diary?
p. 69 O’Brien

10. What does W decide?
p. 69 They (Party) was wrong and he was right). Freedom is the freedom to say 2 +2 =4. If that is granted , all else will follow.

Chapter 8

1. What is a steamer?
A Rocket bomb landing in the prole section.

2. Who warns W?
p. 73 A prole walking by. They seem to have an instinct for missiles which implies this happens a lot.

3. How does the Party fool the people with the lottery?
Since there is no real communication in Oceania (except Party), fictional people in remote locations won large payouts- only small sums were actually paid out.

4. Why can’t the old man get a pint?
p. 74-75. Word “Pint” has been erased (Old Speak). Now ½ liter.

5. Does W get any important information concerning the Past from the old man?
No. p. 78-9. His memory was a rubbish heap of details. READ p. 79

6.Where does W eventually find himself?
Junkshop where he bought pen and notebook.

7. Does the proprietor recognize W?
Yes- as the man who bought the diary

8. What does W find to buy?
Glass paper weight w/ pink coral

9.Why does he buy it?
p. 81 “Belonged to a different age

10. What else does the old man show him?
Upstairs room where his wife lived

11. Is W attracted to the room?
p. 82 Room awakened ancestral memory/ Nostalgia (he felt at home there)

12. What doesn’t the room have?
Telescreen

13. What picture does W recognize?
p. 83 Court of Laws. Place of Justice.

14.What is the proprietor’s real name?
Mr. Charringtom. (Widowed aged 63)

15. Has W ever heard the church bells ringing?
No

16.Does W intend to come back to the shop?
In about a month- despite the danger

17.Whom does W see as he leaves the shop?
p. 85 Julia- the dark haired girl from Fiction department

18.Why is W worried?
She must be spying on him. Amateur spy or Thought Police.

19.What words does he read on the coin?
War is Peace
Freedom is Slavery
Ignorance is Strength

Part II
Chapter 1

1.What does the girl’s note to W says?
P. 70 I love you

2. Who makes plans for the meeting?
p. 94 Winston, after many agonizing attempts/ Victory Square

Chapter 2

1.Where does the couple meet?
p. 95 May 2 Country side. Outside Airstrip 1. First Victory Square as a convey of Eurasian prisoners passes. In countryside, a small clearing where the trees are too small too hide a microphone.

2.What does the girl provide as a treat?
p. 101 A small slab of chocolate. Black Market stuff.

3. How do W and J spend their time?
Read p. 102 Talked about Party/ Rebellion/ Made Wild Monkey-Love p. 105 Sex as political rebellion.

Chapter 3

1. Where does J say they can meet once again?
Glen: p. 105 Julia’s country-side hide out. It remembles the Golden Country- an imaginary landscape that W dreams about that is very similar to the Glen.

2. When?
Not for another Month

3. Does she arrange for more meetings?
p. 106 Yes, 4 meetings in evening in crowded prole sections

4. Although they never go back to the glen, where do they have a similar meeting?
p. 106 In ruins of church in countryside where A-bomb was dropped 30 yrs ago.

5. How old is J?
26

6. Where does she work?
Read p. 108-9 Minitrue- worked a novel writing machine in fiction department. More of a mechanic than a writer.

7. What is her attitude toward the Party?
p. 109 Hated Party but made no criticism of it. She never used Newspeak or even heard of Brotherhood. Read p. 111 Chastity and Political Orthodoxy of Family

Chapter 4

1. From whom has W rented a room?
Charrington

2. When J arrives, what does she have in her bag?
p. 117 Real Sugar, White Bread, Jam
, real coffee.

3. While W is turned towards the window, what does J do?
Put on make-up. Painted her face.

4. Do women in the Party wear makeup?
No. Only Prole women. Why? To help reduce sexuality and foster Party Orthodoxy.

5. At what does Julia throw her shoe at?
A rat p. 119.

6. How does W react to the rats?
p. 120 (Foreshadowing) He is horrified. Rats are very common in London. They open attack children in prole sections.

7. To what does W compare the paper-weight and the coral inside?
p. 121 “A message from 100 years ago if one know how to read it. Paperweight was J and J’s life in the room. A symbol of past- like their forbidden love.

Chapter 5

1. Who has vanished?
Syme- Newspeak expert as foreshadowed by W’s earlier comments about him.

2. What new poster is displayed all over London?
p. 123 Eurasian Solider (Like 9/11 images in Bush’s ads)

3. What is the purpose of the poster?
For Hate Week- Used to ferment anger and frenzies of patriotism.

4. Do J and W meet during the month of June?
p. 124 7 times.

5. What changes have taken place inW
He is a new man: 1) Stopped drinking at all hours 2) Grown fatter,3) Varicose ulcer and coughing are better p. 124

6. Does the couple have any feeling of foreboding?
p. 125 There were times fact of impending death seemed palpable- other times the illusion of saftey

7 .Does J believe in Goldstein?
p. 126 No

8. What evidence of the past does W say he possessed?
p. 128 Paper about Jones , Rutherford, and Aaronson

9. To whom does J give credit for the invention of the airplane?
The Party. She says it doesn’t matter. She is a product of the system. Read p. 129

Chapter 6

1. Whom does W meet face to face at the Ministry?
p. 130 O’Brien

2. What are the subjects of the men’s discussions?
W’s writing, newspeak, by implication, Syme

3. Why does O’Brien give W his address?
Read p. 132 So he can meet him and get a new 10th edition Newspeak dictionary.

Chapter 7

1. What particular thing does W remember after his father left?
p. 133 Effect on his mother p. 134 His bad behavior

2. When he went home after devouring the chocolate, what does he find?
p. 135 His mother and sister has disappeared

3. Does J want to give up their relationship?
No. p. 137

Chapter 8

1. Whom do J and W go to see?
O’Brien at his home.

2. What does O’Brien do that is unusual?
He turns the telescreen off.

3. What does W tell O’Brien?
p. 140 Read
Wants to join ……

4. Why is Martin asked to sit down?
To join them. He is one of the conspirators
5. To whom is a toast made?
p141. To Goldstein, our leader.

6. What is the conspiracy called?
p.141 The Brotherhood.

7. What questions are asked of J and W?
P. 142 Read. W & J are being set up like bowling pins.

8. To what question does J say, “No,”?
p. 143 Are you willing to never see each other?

9.What does W say to the same question?
No

10. How much will W and J know?
p. 144-5 They will always work in the dark

11. What does O’Brien and tell W and J about the Brotherhood?
Read p. 145 Nothing hold Brotherhood together except an idea. We never help our members…..

12. To what do they drink their second glass of wine?
p. 146 “To the Past”

13. What does O’Brien promise to send them?
A copy of the Book by Emmanuel Goldstein

14. How will the book be delivered?
A man will give him a briefcase.

15. What question does W ask O’Brien?
To finish the rhyme about St. Clements p. 147

16. What are the white tablets for?
Hide the smell of wine

17. Who goes first?
Julia

Chapter 9

1. With what country is Oceania at war with now?
Eastasia- Eurasia is now an ally. P. 148
2. What does W receive at the rally?
The briefcase/w Goldstein’s book p. 148

3. Why has W been do busy?
Working furiously in preparation for Hate Week (90 hours/week). P. 150 Now a large part of last 5 years of political history is obsolete.

4. What is the title of Goldstein’s Book?
p. 151 The Theory and Practice of Oligarchal Collectivism.

5. What is the first idea presented in Chapter 1: Ignorance is Strength?
p. 152
Through out history, despite different numbers and names, only 3 groups of people: High, Low and Middle

6. What is the third chapter of the book (p.153)?
Read 157-8 About Class and War. War is Peace The breaking up of the world into 3 superstates. Defines Borders of countries on p 153 (SEE)

7. How long have these countries been at war (153)?
In one combination or another for 25 years. P. 153. War is of limited aims among combatants unable to destroy one another. Takes place on vague fronts w/small numbers of specialists fighting.

8. What is the primary aim of modern warfare?
p. 155 “Is to use up the products of the machine w/o raising the standard of living.”

9. What does the Inner Party believe?
p. 159 All members believe almost mystically that Oceania will rule the world.

10. What has happened to the word “science”?
p. 159 Almost ceased to exist. No word for “science” in Newspeak.

11. What are the two aims of the Party?
p. 159 1) conquer the surface of the world 2) extinguish independent thought.

12. What are the two main problems the Party is concerned with?
p. 159 1) To discover against his will what another person was thinking 2) To kill several hundred million people in a few seconds w/o warning (only real aims of science)

13. What is the most powerful weapon possessed by all three states?
Atomic bomb

14. Who discovered it?
p. 160 Party claims it discovered it. Discovered in early 40’s

15. Do these states drop atomic bombs?
Not since 1950’s. All store and stockpile for assumed future use.

16. How do the philosophies of the three states differ?
p. 161 Read. They don’t.

17. What was the purpose of war in the past?
p. 163 Victory or Defeat. War, however, always came to an end.
To keep society intact and maintain inequality and lack of freedom.

18. What are the characteristics of war now?
p.164 Continuous. War is used to consume surplus goods and maintain status quo. War is purely intentional.

19. What do W and J decide to do about the book?
Read it aloud

20. What has been the course of history since 1900 onwards?
p. 167 Experts notice a cyclical inequality. Since 1900 it appears the goals of establishing equality and liberty were largely abandoned.

21. What has been the purpose of the new movements?
p. 167 To arrest (stop) progress and freeze history at a given moment in time.

22. When could all humans have become technically equal?

Read p168 As early as the beginning of the 20th century

23. What has foreshadowed the political systems now at work?
The Totalitarian systems of the early 20th century (Hitler, Stalin, Japan)

24. What makes the present High group different from those in the past?
p. 169 In comparison w/ past tyrannies, they were half-assed and inefficient and too liberal (Hitler was a softy is the implication). Today, governments can truly watch/control the public fully/ P. 170 the ability to force complete uniformity of all people.

25 .What is the only danger of this oligarchy?
Read p. 171. The splitting off a group of able, under-employed, power-hungry people. Problem is education.

26. How does one get his Party position?
By examination. Race is not a factor.

27. Are Proles allowed in the Party?
Not in practice. The Party is not a class in the sense that the privilege, unlike money and power, isn’t necessarily passed from parent to children (Bushes).

28. Does the Party perpetuate in blood?
No. See p. 173 The oligarchy is perpetuated as a way of life by the dead on the living.

29. What does Doublethink mean?
p. 176. In Oldspeak it is “reality control”. It essentially holding two contradictory ideas and accepting both (Think about BB as ageless, going back to 30’s). Through doublethink, the party is able to arrest history, freeze it.

30. Does Julia listen to all the reading?
p. 179 She falls asleep- like many of the proles reading this right now.

Chapter 10

1. In what does W decide hope lies?
p181. After looking at a woman prole singing, “ The proles”.

2. Who says, “you are dead.”?
Voice from microphone, perhaps a telescreen too, hidden behind the picture.

3. Where is the microphone?
Behind the picture, ironically hidden behind a symbol of the past.

4. Who is Mr. Charrington really?
p. 183 A member of the Thought Police.

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