1984
1984
1984 has come and gone, but George Orwell's prophetic nightmarish vision in 1949 of
the world we were becoming is timelier than ever. 1984 is still the great modern classic
of "Negative Utopia"—an original and haunting novel that creates an imaginary world
that is completely convincing, from the first sentence to the last four words. No one can
deny this novel's power, its hold on the imaginations of whole generations, or the power
of its admonitions—a power that seems to grow, not lessen, with the passage of time.
Cara Reid, PhD., Columbia University (1998)
Plot Structure
The plot has three main movements, corresponding to the division of the book into three parts.
Part One creates the world of 1984, a totalitarian world where the Party tries to control everything,
including thought and emotion. In this part, Winston develops his first unorthodox thoughts.
The second part of the novel deals with the development of his love to Julia, someone with whom
he can share his private emotions. For a short time they create a small world of feeling for
themselves. They are betrayed, however, by O'Brien. Winston had thought O'Brien was a rebel
like himself, when in reality he was a chief inquisitor of the Party.
The third part of the novel deals with Winston's punishment. Finally he comes to love Big Brother.
Generally the plot is very simple: a rebel, a love affair, and finally capture, torture, and
concession.
Apart from Julia, O'Brien, and Winston, there are no important characters. One of Orwell's points
is that life in 1984 has become totally uniform. In fact, Winston is the only character worth writing
about; all the other characters are robots already. So one could say that the plot was built around
Winston's mind, which gave Orwell the opportunity to focus on the reaction of the individual to
totalitarianism, love, and cruelty.
Political System
Party: The Party of Oceania poses about 19% of the whole population of Oceania's mainland.
Generally one could divide the Party into the Inner Party, which is comparable to the communistic
Nomenclature, and the Outer Party. Winston Smith himself is a member of the Outer Party. The
members of the Inner Party hold high posts in the administration of the country. They earn a great
deal of money, and possessions. The people of the Outer Party live in dull grey and old flats.
Because of the war there is often a lack of the most essential things. The life of the Outer Party is
dictated by the Party, even their spare time is used by the Party. There are so-called community
hikes, community games and all sort of other activities. And refusing the participation at this
activities is even dangerous. The life of a Party member is dictated from his birth to his death. The
Party even takes children away from their parents to educate them in the sense of INGSOC (you
can find this also in the Communist future plans). The children are taught in school, to report it to
the police (Toughtpolice) when their parents have unorthodox thoughts, so-called
"Thoughtcrimes." After the education the Party members start to work mainly for one of the four
Ministries (Minipax, Minitrue, Miniluv, Miniplenty). The further life of the "comrades" continues
under the watchful eyes of the Party. Everything the people do is targeted by the telescreens.
Even in their homes people have telescreens. Each unorthodox action is then punished by
"joycamps" (Newspeak word for forced labor camps").
Proles: The proles make up the majority of the population of Oceania, about 85%. The Party
itself is only interested in their labor power, because the proles are mainly employed in the
industry and in the farms. Without their labor force Oceania would certainly fail. Despite this fact
the Party completely ignores this social caste, like a worthless vermin. The curious thing about
this behavior is that the Party calls itself a Socialistic Party, and generally socialism (at least at
the beginning and middle of this century) is a movement of the proletariat. So one could say that
the Party abuses the word "INGSOC" Orwell again had pointed at another regime, the Nazis, who
had put "socialism" into their name. One of the main phrases of the Party is "Proles and animals
are free." In Oceania the proles live in very desolate and poor quarters. Compared to the districts
where the members of the Party live, there are much fewer telescreens, and policemen. And as
long as the proles don't commit a crime (crime in our sense, not in the sense of the party) they
don't have any contact with the state. Therefore, in the districts of the proles one can find things
that are abolished and forbidden for the Party members, like old books, furniture, prostitution and
alcohol. The proles don't pose a threat to the party; they are uneducated and too unorganized.
Newspeak: the official language of Oceania, devised to meet ideological needs of INGSOC, or
English Socialism. In the year 1984, there is nobody who really uses Newspeak in speech or
writing. Only the leading articles are written in this "language." But it is generally assumed that in
the year 2050 Newspeak would superset Oldspeak, or common English. The purpose of
Newspeak is not only to provide medium of expression for the world-view and mental habits
proper to devotees of INGSOC, but to make all other methods of thought impossible. Another
reason for developing Newspeak is to make old books (those written before the era of the Party)
unreadable. With Newspeak, Doublethink would be even easier. Its vocabulary is so constructed
as to give exact and often very subtle expression to every meaning that a Party member could
properly wish to express, while excluding all other meanings and also the possibility of arriving at
them by indirect methods. This is done partly by the invention of new words, but chiefly by
eliminating undesirable words by stripping such words as remained of unorthodox meanings
whatever. Generally Newspeak words are divided into three groups: the A, B(also called
compound words) and the C Vocabulary.
A-Vocabulary: The A-Vocabulary consist of the words needed in business and everyday life, for
such things as drinking, working, and the like. The words of this group are nearly entirely
composed of Oldspeak words, but in comparison, their number is very small. Nevertheless, the
meaning of these words is much more defined, and it allows no other interpretation.
B-Vocabulary: The B-Vocabulary consist of words which have been deliberately constructed for
political purpose. Without the full understanding of the principles of INGSOC. it is very difficult to
use and understand these words correctly. The B-Vocabulary are in all cases compound words,
and they consisted of two or more words, merged together in an easy pronounceable form.
Example: goodthink—Goodthink means very roughly orthodoxy, or if it is regarded as a verb "to
think in a good manner." The infected as follows: noun-verb goodthink; past tense and past
participle, goodthinked; present participle, goodthinking; adjective, goodthinkful; adverb,
goodthinkwise; verbal noun, goodthinker. The B-Words are not constructed on any etymological
plan. The words of which they are made up can be placed in any order mutilated in any way
which makes them easy to pronounce (e.g. toughtcrime, crimethink thinkpol, tought police). Many
of the B-Words are euphemisms. Such words for instance as joycamp (forced labour camp) or
Minipax (Ministry of Peace in charge of the army ), mean almost exact opposite of what they
appear to mean. Again some words are ambivalent, having the connotation good when applied to
the party, and bad when applied to its enemies. Generally the name of any organization, building,
and so on is cut down to a minimum number of syllables and to a minimum of length, in an easy
pronounceable way. This isn't only in Newspeak, already other, especially totalitarian systems,
tended to used abbreviations for political purpose (Nazi, Gestapo, ....). But the difference is that
only in Newspeak this instrument is used with consciousness. The Party intended to cut down the
possibility of associations with other words.
C-Vocabulary: The C-Words are consisting of technical and scientific terms.
From the foregoing account it is very easy to see that in Newspeak the expression of unorthodox
opinions, above a very low level, is impossible. It is only possible to say "Big Brother is ungood."
But this statement can't be sustained by reasoned arguments, because the necessary words are
not available. Ideas hostile to Ingsoc can only be entertained in a vague and inarticulate form.
One could in fact only use Newspeak for political unorthodoxy, by illegitimately translating some
of the words back into Oldspeak. For example "All mans are equal" was a possible Newspeak
sentence, but only in the same sense in which "All man have the same weight" is a possible
Oldspeak sentence. It did not contain a grammatical error, but it expressed a palpable untruth; i.e.
that all man have the same size, weight, etc. The concept of political equality no longer existed.
In 1984, when Oldspeak is still the normal mean of communication, the danger theoretically exists
that in using Newspeak words one might remember their original meanings. In practice it is not
difficult for a person well grounded in Doublethink to avoid doing this, but within a couple of
generation even the possibility of such a lapse would have vanished. A person growing up with
Newspeak as his sole language would no more know that equal had once had the secondary
meaning of "politically equal." There would be many crimes and errors which would be beyond of
the power to commit, simply because there were nameless and therefore unimaginable. It is to be
foreseen that with the passage of time Newspeak words would become fewer and fewer, their
meanings more and more and more rigid, and the chance to put them to improper uses always
diminished. So when Oldspeak had been once and for all superseded, the last link with the past
would have been severed.
Doublethink: a kind of manipulation of the mind. Generally one could say that Doublethink
makes people accept contradictions, and it makes them also believe that the party is the only
institution that distinguishes between right and wrong. This manipulation is mainly done by the
Minitrue (Ministry of Truth), where Winston Smith works. When a person that is well grounded in
Doublethink recognizes a contradiction or a lie of the Party, then the person thinks that he is
remembering a false fact. The use of the word Doublethink involves doublethink. With the help of
the Minitrue it is not only possible to change written facts, but also facts that are remembered by
the people. So complete control of the country and its citizens is provided. The fact of faking the
history had already been used by the Nazis, who told the people that already German Knights
believed in the principles of National Socialism.
Story Synopsis
The book starts in the year 1984 (what a surprise), set in Airstrip One, what we
know as England. Airstrip One itself is the mainland of a huge country, called
Oceania, which consists of North America, South Africa, and Australia. The
country is ruled by the Party, which is led by a figure called Big Brother. The
population of Oceania is divided into three parts: the Inner Party, the Outer
Party, and the Proles (the commoners and workers)
The narrator of the book is omniscient (all-knowing) and he is not participating in
the action of the book himself. We are introduced to the protagonist of the story,
Winston Smith. Winston is a member of the Outer Party, working in the Records
Department of the Ministry of Truth. His job is to rewrite documents and alter
records and newspaper articles. The action starts when Winston begins to
become skeptical of the ruling dictatorship of the party. Doing so he buys himself
a book, a rare thing these days, to use it as a diary. As individual expression was
forbidden by the Party, having a diary was a crime which could be punished with
death. There were so-called telescreens in each room, showing propaganda and
political pamphlets, which had a built in camera and microphone to watch over
the citizens. Keeping a secret book was not only forbidden, but also very
dangerous. When Winston makes the first entry in the diary, he thinks about an
experience he has made during the Two Minute Hate, a propaganda film that
repeats each day. During this Film he caught the eye of O'Brien, a member of the
Inner Party, of whom he thought that he might also stand critic to the regime.
After the reflection, he finds that he has written the sentence: "Down with Big
Brother" all over the page.
The same night, Winston dreams about his mother and sister, who had starved
to death in the war, because he had been so greedy. Then he dreams of being
with a girl he has seen in the Records Department, during the Two Minute Hate.
Early in the morning Winston is awakened by the harsh voice from the
telescreen. During the performance of the exercises, Winston's thoughts move
back to his childhood. The last thing he remembers clearly is the World War.
After the war, the party took control of the country, and from then on it was
difficult to remember anything, because the party changed the history
permanently to their own benefit (see “doublethink”).
After the exercises Winston goes to Minitrue (the Ministry of Truth), where his job
is to alter records, and once altered, to throw them into the Memory Hole where
they are destroyed. At dinner Winston Smith meets Syme, a philologist, who is
working on the 11th edition of The Newspeak Dictionary (see newspeak). The
goal of the Party is to eliminate "Oldspeak" and replace it with the robotic
Newspeak. Despite the fact that Syme follows Big Brother unquestionably and
practices INGSOC, Orwell states: "One of these days, thought Winston with a
sudden deep conviction, Syme will be vaporized. He is too intelligent" (pg 47). As
he looks around in the dining room, Winston catches the eye of the dark-haired
girl he had dreamed of the same night.
Back home, Winston makes an entry into his diary about his meeting with a
prostitute three years ago (Chapter 6). He remembers her ugliness, but
nevertheless he had sex with her. Winston had a wife, but she was very stupid
and blindly followed the orders of the Party, which said that there may only be
sex to produce "new material" for the Part. Sex for personal pleasure is a crime.
Winston beings to think that the only hope lies in the Proles who comprise over
four-fifths of Oceania's population. Later he remembers another fact of his past:
Jones, Aaronson and Rutherford, the last three survivors of the original leaders
of the Revolution. They were arrested in 1965, and confessed to all sorts of
sabotage on trial. They were pardoned, reinstated but not long after were
arrested again, and finally executed. During the brief period Winston has seen
them in the Chestnut Tree Cafe. In the same year a half page torn out of The
Times came to Winston trough the transport tube in the Minitrue. This page of
The Times showed the three men in Eastasia on a certain day. But Winston
remembered clearly that they have confessed being in Eurasia on that day (At
this time Eurasia was at war with Oceania, and Eastasia was an ally). Winston
could have proved that the confessions were lies. The last entry Winston writes
in his diary is that freedom is to say that two and two makes four. If this is
granted everything else follows.
The next day Winston decides not to participate in the community actions, but to
take a walk in the quarters of the Proles, around St. Pancras station. During the
walk a Rocket-Bomb explodes nearby. After a while Winston finds himself in front
of the junk-shop, where he had bought the diary. There he sees an old man just
entering a pub. He decides to follow the man, and to ask him about the time
before the revolution, but the old man has already forgotten nearly everything
about this time, except for some useless personal things. Winston leaves the pub
and goes to the Shop, where he purchases a pink piece of glass with a piece of
coral inside. Mr. Carrington, the owner of the shop, leads him upstairs to show
him an old- fashioned room. Winston likes the room because of its warmth and
lack of telescreens. When Winston leaves the shop he suddenly meets the darkhaired girl in the street. He now believes that this girl is an amateur spy or even a
member of the Thought Police, sent to follow him.
The next morning he meets the girl in Minitrue, and in the moment she passes,
she falls down and cries out in pain. When Winston helps her up, she secretly
presses a piece of paper into his hand. At the first opportunity he opens it and
finds the startling message: "I love you" written on it. For a week he waits for an
opportunity to speak with her. Finally he is successful, and he meets her in the
canteen where they fix a meeting. Some time later they meet at the fixed place,
where the girl gives Winston precise instructions how to get to a secret place on
Sunday.
On Sunday, Winston is following the girl's directions and picks some bluebells for
her on the way. Suddenly, she comes up behind him, telling him to be quiet
because there might be some microphones hidden somewhere. They kiss and
he learns her name: Julia. She leads him to another place where they cannot be
observed. Before she takes off her blue party-overall, Julia tells Winston that she
is attracted to him by something in his face which shows that he is against the
party. Winston is surprised and asks Julia if she has done such a thing before. To
his delight she tells him that she has done it scores of times, which fills him with a
great hope. Evidence of corruption and abandon always gives him with hope.
Perhaps the whole system is rotten, and will simply crumb to pieces one day.
The more men she had, the more he loves her, and later when he looks at her
sleeping body, he thinks that now even sex is a political act, another blow against
the falseness of the Party.
Winston and Julia arrange to meet again. Winston rents the room above Mr.
Carrington’s junk shop, a place where they can meet and talk without the fear of
being observed. It is summer and the preparations for "Hate Week", an
enormous propaganda event, are well forthcoming, and in this time Winston
meets Julia more often than ever before. Julia makes him feel more alive, she
makes him feel healthier, and he even puts on weight.
One day O'Brien speaks to Winston in the Ministry of Truth. He refers obliquely to
Syme, who has vanished a couple of days before, and is now, as it is called in
Newspeak, an unperson. In doing so O'Brien is committing a little act of
thoughtcrime. O'Brien invites Winston to his house, to see the latest edition of the
Newspeak dictionary. Winston now feels sure that the conspiracy against the
Party he had longed to know about—the Brotherhood—does exist, and that in
the encounter with O'Brien he has come into contact with its outer edge. He
knows that he has embarked on a course of action which will lead , in one way or
another, to the cells of the Ministry of Love. Some days later Winston and Julia
meet each other to go to O'Brien's house, which lies in the district of the Inner
Party. They are admitted to a richly furnished room by a servant. To their
astonishment O'Brien switches off the Telescreen in the room (normally it is
impossible to turn it off). Winston blurts out that he wants to work against the
Party and that he believes in the existence of the Brotherhood. Martin, O'Brien's
servant, brings real red wine, and they drink a toast to Emanuel Goldstein, the
leader of the Brotherhood. O'Brien asks them a series of questions about their
willingness to commit various atrocities on behalf of the Brotherhood and gets
their assent. They leave, and some days later Winston gets a copy of the book
written by Emanuel Goldstein, simply called "The Book."
As Hate Week begins, the war with Eurasia suddenly stops and a war with
Eastasia starts. This of course meant a lot of work for Winston. He had to change
dozens of articles about the war with Eurasia. Nevertheless Winston finds time to
read The Book. The Book has three chapters titled, "War is Peace", "Ignorance is
Strength" and "Freedom is Slavery", which were also the main phrases of the
party. The main ideas of the book are as follows:
War is important for consuming the products of human labour. If this work
would be used to increase the standard of living, the control of the party
over the people would decrease. War is the economy basis for a
hierarchical society.
There is an emotional need to believe in the ultimate victory of Big
Brother.
In becoming continuous, war has ceased to exist. The continuity of the
war guarantees the permanence of the current order. In other words "War
is Peace."
There have always been three main grades of society; the High, the
Middle and the Low, and no change has brought human equality an inch
nearer.
Collectivism doesn't lead to socialism. Wealth belongs to the new "highclass", the bureaucrats and administrators. Collectivism has ensured the
permanence of economic inequality.
Wealth is not inherited from person to person, but it is kept within the
ruling group.
The masses (proles) are given freedom of thought, because supposedly
they don't think. A Party member is not allowed the slightest deviation of
thought, and there is an elaborate mental training to ensure this, a training
that can be summarized in the concept of doublethink.
So far the book analyzes how the Party works. It has not yet attempted to deal
with the question as to how the Party has arisen.
The next morning when he awakes the sun is shining, and down in the yard a
prole women is singing and working. Winston is again filled with the conviction
that the future lies with the proles, that they will overthrow the greyness of the
Party. But suddenly reality crashes in. "We are the DEATH", he says to Julia. An
iron voice behind them repeats the phrase, the picture on the wall falls to bits to
reveal a telescreen behind it. Uniformed men thunder into the room and they
carry Winston and Julia out.
Winston finds himself in a cell in what he presumes is the Ministry of Love. He is
sick with hunger and fear, and when he makes a movement or a sound, a harsh
voice barks at him from the four telescreens. A prisoner who is dying of
starvation is brought in, his face skull-like. Later the man is brought to "Room
101" after screaming and struggling and even offering his children as sacrifices in
his stead.
O'Brien enters. Winston thinks that they must have got him too, but O'Brien says
that they got him long time ago. A guard hits Winston, and he falls unconscious.
When he wakes up he is tied down to a kind of bed. O'Brien stands beside the
bed, and Winston feels that O'Brien, who is the torturer, is also somehow a
friend. The aim of O'Brien is to teach Winston the technique of Doublethink, and
he does it by inflicting pain in ever-increasing intensity. He reminds Winston that
he wrote the sentence: "Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two makes
four." O'Brien holds up four fingers of his left hand, and he asks Winston how
many there are. Winston answers four a couple of times, and each time the pain
increases (this is not done to make Winston lie, but to make him really see five
fingers instead of four).
At the end of the session, under heavy influence of drugs and agony, Winston
really sees five fingers. Now Winston is ready to enter the second stage of his
integration (1. Learning, 2. Understanding, 3. Acceptance). O'Brien now explains
why the Party works. The image he gives of the future is that of a boot stamping
on a human face—forever. Winston protests, because he thinks that there is
something in the human nature that will not allow this, he calls it "The Spirit of
Man." O'Brien points out that Winston is the last humanist; he is the last guardian
of the human spirit. Then O'Brien gets Winston to look at himself in the mirror.
Winston is horrified by what he sees. The unknown time of torture has changed
him into a shapeless and battered wreck. This is what the last humanist looks
like.
The only degradation that Winston has not been through is the betrayal of Julia.
He said anything under torture, but inside he has remained true to her. Winston
is much better now. For some time he has not been beaten and tortured, he has
been fed quite well and allowed to wash. Winston realizes that he now accepts
all the lies of the Party. He believes now that Oceania was always at war with
Eastasia, and that he never had the photograph of Jones, Aaronson, and
Rutherford that proved their innocence. Even gravity could be nonsense. But
nevertheless Winston has some unorthodox thoughts that he cannot suppress.
Now it comes time for the last of the three steps, reintegration. Winston is taken
to Room 101. O'Brien says that the room 101 is the worst thing in the world. For
each person it is his own personal hell. For some it is death by fire or burial alive.
For Winston it is a cage containing two rats, with a fixture like a fencing mask
attached, into which the face of the victim is strapped. Then there is a lever, that
opens the cage, so that the rats can get to the face. O'Brien is approaching
nearer with the cage, and Winston gets the bad smell of the rats. He screams.
The only way to get out of this is to put someone else between him and the
horror. "Do it to Julia," he screams in a final betrayal of himself. Winston is
released.
As the story comes to a close, Winston is often sitting in the Chestnut Tree Café,
drinking Victory Gin and playing chess. He now has a job in a sub-committee that
is made up for others like himself. On a cold winter day he meets Julia, they
speak briefly, but have little to say to each other, except that they have betrayed
each other. A memory of a day in his childhood comes to Winston's mind: it is
false. He is often troubled by false memories. He looks forward to the bullet; they
will kill him some day. Now he realizes how pointless it was to resist. He loves
Big Brother!
Character Analysis
Winston Smith: Orwell named his hero after Winston Churchill, England's great
leader during World War II. He added a common last name: Smith. The action of
this novel is built around the main person, Winston Smith, and therefore the
understanding of his personality, and his character is important for the
understanding of the whole book. Winston was born before the Second World
War. During the War, there was a lack of food, and Winston has taken nearly all
of the food that was allocated to the family, although his younger sister was
starving to death. In 1984 Winston often dreams of this time, and he often
remembers how he once has stolen the whole chocolate that was given to the
family. I think that Winston now (1984) somehow regrets his egoistic behavior.
He also sees a kind of link between his behavior, and the behavior of the children
that are educated by the Party. These children prosecute their own family
(Parsons). He finally realizes his and the Party's guilt. To my mind Winston is a
sort of hero, because he is aware of the danger that he has encountered. So for
example he knew it from the very beginning that his diary would be found. And as
one can see the things that are written in this book (that freedom is to say that
two and two makes four) are used against him later . He also knew that his illegal
love affair was an act of revolution, would be disclosed by the Thought Police.
But nevertheless, he is kind of naive. He has opened his mind to O'Brien before
he was sure that he was also against the Party.
Julia: The name Julia was carefully chosen. It immediately suggests Juliet, the
Shakespearean character whose name has become connected with romantic
love. Near the beginning of chapter 3 (pg 29), Winston wakes up "with the word
"Shakespeare" on his lips." Julia is a woman around 25, working in a special
department of the Minitrue, producing cheap Pornography for the proles. She
had already a couple of illegal love affairs. Unlike Winston, she is basically a
simple woman, something of a lightweight who loves her man and uses sex for
fun as well as for rebellion. She is perfectly willing to accept the overnight
changes in Oceania's history. If Big Brother says black is white, fine. If he says
two and two make five, no problem. She may not buy the Party line, but it doesn't
trouble her. She falls asleep over Winston's reading of the treasured book by
Goldstein. Orwell draws Winston's love object lovingly. Julia is all woman, sharp
and funny as she is attractive, but she may also be a reflection of the author's
somewhat limited view of the opposite sex.
O'Brien: Probably the most interesting thing about O'Brien is that we have only
Winston's opinion of him. This burly but sophisticated leader of the Inner Party is
supposed to be the head of the secret Brotherhood dedicated to the overthrow of
Big Brother. In his black overalls, he haunts both Winston's dreams and his
waking moments to the very end of the novel. Another very interesting thing
about O'Brien is that the reader doesn't precisely know if he is a friend or an
enemy of Winston. He is almost a kind of father for Winston. Before Winston's
capture, O'Brien "helps" Winston to make contact with the Brotherhood, and he
teaches him about the Ideology and the rules of this secret Organization. After
the capture, O'Brien gives Winston the feeling that he is somehow protecting him.
The relation between O'Brien and Winston has all attributes of a typical
relationship between a father and a child: the father is all-knowing, all-mighty; he
teaches, punishes and educates his child, and protecting it from anything that
could harm the child.
Big Brother: Big Brother is not a real person. All-present as he is, all-powerful
and forever watching, he is only seen on TV. Although his picture glares out from
huge posters that shout, BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU, nobody sees Big
Brother in person. Orwell had several things in mind when he created Big
Brother. He was certainly thinking of Russian leader Joseph Stalin; the pictures
of Big Brother even look like him. He was also thinking of Nazi leader Adolph
Hitler and Spanish dictator Francisco Franco. Big Brother stands for all dictators
everywhere. Orwell may have been thinking about figures in certain religious
faiths when he drew Big Brother. The mysterious, powerful, Godlike figure who
sees and knows everything—but never appears in person. For Inner Party
members, Big Brother is a leader, a figurehead they can use to frighten people
and justify actions. For the unthinking proles, Big Brother is a distant authority
figure. For Winston, Big Brother is an inspiration. Big Brother excites and
energizes Winston, who hates him. He is also fascinated by Big Brother and
drawn to him in some of the same ways that he is drawn to O'Brien, developing a
love-hate response to both of them that leads to his downfall.
Symbolism
The paperweight that Winston buys in the old junk shop represents the fragile
little world that Winston and Julia have made for each other. They are the coral
inside it. Orwell states "The coral was Julia's life and his own, fixed in a sort of
eternity in the heart of the crystal" Julia was someone who Winston could share
his private emotions with. When they were together it created a small world of
feeling for themselves for a short period of time before they are betrayed. Orwell
also says "It is a little chunk of history that they have forgotten to alter". This line
expresses that their love can never be altered no matter how much they try to
change it because in their minds it will always exist.
The "Golden Country" stands for the old European pastoral landscape. The
place where Winston and Julia meet for the first time to make love to each other
is exactly like the "Golden Country" in Winston's dreams. It represents a place
where Winston can never be hurt. It is his place where he is truly free and he
relates that to the place where Julia and he first meet.
The nursery rhymes have a romantic value to them. They have become
distorted and manipulated by the Party. For example, one rhyme ends with "I
sold you and you sold me", expressing things that will happen in the end of the
novel. The only people allowed to sing these rhyme were the proles. It was
uncommon for Party members to sing aloud to themselves. This signifies, in a
small way, that the proles have more freedom then the outer Party members.
Freedom, which Julia and Winston search for, is given to the proles.
Orwell divides the fictional superstates in the book according to the division that
can be found in our history's own Cold War. Oceania stands for the United States
of America , Eurasia for Russia and Eastasia for China. The fact that the two
socialistic countries Eastasia and Eurasia ( in our case Russia and China ) are at
war with each other, corresponds to our history.
1984
NAME
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Study Guide (Please write all answers by hand.)
Part One, Chapters 1-2
1. What bothers Winston?
2. What is wrong with his society?
3. What are the three slogans of the Inner Party?
4. What are the four ministries?
5. What items are written in italics?
6. How does the Two Minute Hate work?
7. What happens between O’Brien and Winston?
8. During the film shown during the Two Minute Hate, how did the audience react?
9. What is "thoughtcrime"?
10. What are the Thought Police?
11. Who are the Parsons and what do they represent?
12. How do the Parsons’ children behave?
13. What is Winston's dream about O’Brien?
14. What is announced on the news about chocolate rations?
Book One, Chapters 3-4
15. What is Winston’s dream about his mother? How does he feel about himself in that
dream?
16. What is his dream about the "Golden Country"?
17. What does Winston remember about the big events of the past? Bombs? Past wars?
18. Explain the Party slogan, "Who controls the past controls the future; who controls the
present controls the past."
19. What does Winston know about the legends concerning Big Brother?
20. Describe Winston’s job.
21. How is the past controlled?
22. What special literature, music, and entertainment is produced for the proletariat
(proles)?
23. How does Winston feel about his work? What sort of "creativity" is involved?
24. Speculate on the significance of Comrade Ogilvy?
Book One, Chapters 5-7
25. What is the problem with obtaining razor blades?
26. What is revealed about Inner Party philosophy in the discussion between Winston
and Syme?
27. Why does Winston feel that Syme will be vaporized?
28. Parsons brags about his children for doing what?
29. What is the significance of the telescreen announcement?
30. What are Winston’s feelings about the present time after he hears the cheerful
announcement on the telescreen?
31. Winston predicts that certain people will be vaporized and that certain people will
never be vaporized. Who? Why?
32. What is the purpose of marriage in the state?
33. What do Winston’s memories about visiting a prostitute reveal about his attitudes
towards sex in Oceania?
34. How does Winston view the proles?
35. How are the proles controlled?
36. What lies/half-truths does the Party teach about history?
37. Winston suspects that the Party lies about progress made since the war. What Party
claims does he doubt?
38. What is the story of Aaronson, Jones and Rutherford?
39. Why is this story so meaningful for Winston?
40. What is Winston’s unanswered question?
Book One, Chapter 8
41. Why does Winston go off alone?
42. What activities is he missing?
43. What is life like in the proles’ end of London?
44. What does Winston think about after his conversation with the old man in the pub?
45. What does Winston discover in Mr. Charrington’s shop?
46. Describe the character?
47. What does Winston think when he sees the dark-haired girl outside Mr.
Charrington’s shop?
48. How does one’s own body betray a person?
49. Why does Winston wonder about church bells ringing in London?
Book Two, Chapter 1
50. How does Winston react to the note from Julia before he reads it?
51. How does Winston react to the note after he reads it?
52. How do they manage to meet?
53. Describe the "parade" in Victory Square. Why does the Inner Party provide the
spectacle for the proles? For the Outer Party members?
Book Two, Chapter 2
54. Why is Winston ill at ease once he is alone with Julia?
55.What does Julia bring with her that she has obtained on the black market?
56. What is Julia’s philosophy?
57. What familiar sign does Winston find?
58. What is the significance of the thrush music?
59. Why does Winston say that he loves Julia even more because she has had scores of
sexual encounters?
Book Two, Chapter 3
60. How and where do Julia and Winston officially meet?
61. What is Julia’s job?
62. What is her background?
63. What is her attitude toward the Inner Party?
64. Describe Winston’s marriage.
65. What do Winston and Julia disagree about?
Book Two, Chapter 4
66. How does Winston react to the singing prole woman?
67. What pleasures of the senses are mentioned in this chapter? What is Orwell’s point in
mentioning them?
68. What is Winston’s reaction to rats? Julia’s reaction?
69. Winston is interested in the church bells that once played in the city, even though he
is not religious. What do church bells mean to him?
70. Winston sees the coral paperweight as a symbol of what?
Book Two, Chapter 5-6
71. Who has vanished?
72. Describe the preparations for Hate Week. In what ways does the Inner Party excel in
building spirit?
73. Julia and Winston have some differences. Explain them.
74. What finally convinces Winston that O’Brien is a member of the Brotherhood?
Book Two, Chapter 7
75. What does Winston remember about his family and his relationship with his mother?
76. What does Winston realize about love and loyalty as a result of his dream?
77. What is the difference between confession and betrayal?
Book Two, Chapter 8—9
78. Contrast the living quarters and style of the Inner Party members with those of the
Outer Party members and proles.
79. How does O’Brien test Julia and Winston?
80. What information does O’Brien give them about the Brotherhood?
81. How will O’Brien get The Book to Winston?
82. What are the ways in which the Inner Party builds spirit during Hate Week?
Book Two, Chapter 9 - The Book
83. Why does Orwell include detailed passages from Goldstein’s Book in 1984?
84. Notice that Orwell repeats the first paragraph of The Book twice. Why would
Orwell repeat himself in that way? What is the purpose?
85. What three classes of people have always existed?
86. In what ways have these three classes changed?
87. What is the purpose of war in the world of 1984?
88. What are the two aims of the Party?
89. What are the two problems with which the Party is concerned?
90. Why do all three superpowers forbid their citizens from associating with foreigners?
91. The governments of the three superpowers are alike in essence even though their
forms of government have different names. Identify these similarities and explain why
they exist.
92. What is the real "war" fought in each of the three governments? Your answer will
explain the party slogan, "War is Peace."
93. What are the aims of the three groups?
94. What changes in the pattern occurred in the nineteenth century?
95. How did socialism change in the twentieth century?
96. Why are the rulers in the twentieth century better at maintaining power than earlier
tyrants?
97. What are the four ways an elite group falls from power?
98. How does the Inner Party make certain it will not fall from power?
99. How is a person’s class determined in the 1984 world?
100. What is doublethink and what is its purpose to the ruling class?
101. Why is the mutability of the past important to the ruling class?
102. Why will this ruling class live on while earlier tyrants fell?
Book Two, Chapter 10
103. What understanding does Winston gain about the common people?
104. What is the significance of the glass paperweight here?
Book Three, Chapter 1
105. Where is Winston? How is he treated there and why?
106. Which of Winston’s acquaintances is in the same place and why?
107. What happens between the starving man and the chinless man?
108. What effect do the words "Room 101" have on the skull-faced man?
109. Who truly is O’Brien?
110. What do O’Brien and Charrington have in common?
Book Three, Chapter 2
111. What sort of treatment does Winston receive?
112. What is O’Brien attempting to teach Winston?
113. O’Brien explains to Winston how the Inner Party avoids the mistakes of past
totalitarian governments. State in your own words what O’Brien means.
114. What effect does the (painless) shock treatment have on Winston?
115. What questions does Winston ask O’Brien and what are his responses?
Book Three, Chapter 3
116. According to O’Brien, what are the three stages in Winston’s re-integration, and
which stage is he about to enter?
117. Who wrote Goldstein’s book? Is what the book says true?
118. Why does the Inner Party seek power and how does this reason differ from the
reasons of the Soviet Communists under Stalin and the Nazis?
119. Explain the slogan, "Freedom is Slavery."
120. How does one person assert their power over another?
121. How will Oceania differ from all traditional utopias?
122. Why does Winston feel he is morally superior to O’Brien and how does O’Brien
prove that Winston is wrong?
123. How does Winston’s physical appearance affect him?
124. What good thing can Winston say about himself at the end of this chapter?
125. How does Winston feel about O’Brien? Why?
126. What final question does Winston ask O’Brien?
Book Three, Chapter 4
127. How has Winston’s environment changed?
128. What does he do with his time?
130. How does Winston show his obedience to the Inner Party?
131. How does Winston show that he is not entirely true to Big Brother?
134. How does Winston feel about Big Brother?
Book Three, Chapter 5
135. What happens in Room 101 and how does this "cure" Winston?
Book Three, Chapter 6
136. What is the setting at the end of the story?
137. What is Winston’s job? (Look up "sinecure" if you don’t know it)
138. How did his meeting with Julia go?
139. How is it evident that Winston really is a different person?
140. What is happening in the last two paragraphs of the book?
141. Speculate/Comment on what the last four words in the novel signify?