- Describe the daily life of a member of the Outer Party (such as Winston Smith). What does
one wear? Eat? Drink? Smoke? Where does one socialize? Where does one work? How does one
begin his/her mornings? In short, what is one’s existence like, and how does it compare to
the official reports issued by the government? Use details from the book.
- Evaluate whether Winston’s decision to write in his diary is a good one. State the “pros”
and “cons” while expressing a precise and decisive argument.
- What happens when Winston visits the Parsons in Chapter II? What’s noteworthy about the
parent/child interactions here?
- What is Newspeak? What is its goal?
- Who are the three main powers in 1984?
- How is history continuously changed in Oceania? How are the changes kept secret – yet
simultaneously drilled into everyone’s consciousness? What happens to offending materials,
both inside and outside of governmental control? Finally, why do the changes work? How can
they possibly be effective?
- What does the word “Ingsoc” mean in our language? Who was supposedly in power before
Ingsoc became dominant, and how were they described?
- What sort of psychological toll do the actions of the government take on citizens? Start
by thinking about Winston – his dreams, his urges, his reactions, etc. However, don’t simply
look at what happens to Winston – look at Syme, at the Parsons, at Tillotson (the little man
who glares with open hostility and suspicion at Smith while working). How are their
reactions influenced or directed by Oceania’s government/society and its systems of control?
- What is Winston’s job? What is his particular skill?
- What happens during the Two Minutes Hate in Chapter I? Which figures are shown on the
telescreen? What is the Brotherhood? Who leads it? How are its teachings supposedly spread,
and why are they hard to find? Who does Winston make eye contact with during the Hate, and
why is the moment significant?
- Why is Syme noteworthy? What does Winston believe his eventual fate will be, and why does
he believe this?
- What is “doublethink?” What are some examples, and how do they work?
- How is Julia able to first contact Winston? What does she tell him?
- How does Winston react before reading Julia’s message? What does he do with it after he
reads it?
- How does Julia’s message “change” Winston’s thoughts and actions?
- Describe what happens during Winston’s various attempts to get back in touch with Julia
(without anyone noticing him, of course).
- What’s the cause of the crowd that allows Julia and Winston to meet?
- What important moment happens at the end of Part Two’s first chapter?
- Why does Julia believe one should “always yell with the crowd”?
- Winston is startled by one of the places he sees after meeting with Julia. What’s
noteworthy about that specific place?
- What event captures Julia’s and Winston’s attention? Why is this moment significant?
- Why does Winston think to himself that “no emotion is pure” at the end of the second
chapter?
- What do Winston and Julia do (or try to do) in order to communicate or meet after their
first meeting?
- Much of Chapter III is dedicated to fleshing out Julia. What do you think are the most
important things we learn about her? Summarize your “critical character study” of Julia in a
few sentences.
- What’s Julia’s theory regarding the Party’s “sexual Puritanism”?
- What does Winston wish he had done after showing Katharine the flowers? Why is/isn’t he
sorry about his actions?
- Why does Winston say “We are the dead” at the end of Chapter III?
- Where do Winston and Julia decide to meet regularly? Why is this risky?
- Why have Julia’s and Winston’s work schedules changed?
- What are some of the things Julia brings to the meeting place, and how did she get them?
- Why is the prole woman’s singing important to Winston?
- What great fear of Winston’s is revealed in Chapter IV?
- What does Winston think about while looking into the glass paperweight at the end of
Chapter IV?
- Who has “vanished”? What’s the prevailing reaction to the disappearance?
- What’s happening during Hate Week – both from a preparatory and military perspective?
- What’s interesting about the way Julia thinks about the Party and its actions (versus,
say, the way Winston thinks)?
- Describe the scene where O’Brien contacts Winston.
- What is the terrible dream/memory that Winston has of his family? What was his family
like?
- Why are the proles “human beings”?
- Describe Julia’s and Winston’s “confession/betrayal” conversation. How does Winston
ultimately decide to defeat the Ministry of Love?
- Which “privileges” does O’Brien enjoy?
- What is Winston willing to do for the Brotherhood? Why does Julia refuse?
- Which actions does O’Brien claim the Brotherhood can take? Will they live to see the Party
overthrown?
What is Winston’s job?
Why does Winston have trouble walking?
How is Winston able to write in his diary?
Where is Airstrip One?
What are the names of Oceania’s ministries (both in Oldspeak and Newspeak)?
Why does the Party say that “proles and animals are free”?
What is “thoughtcrime”?
What “rare” commodity do people keep asking Winston for?
Whose faces are shown prominently during the Two Minutes Hate?
What are the Party’s three slogans?
Where does Winston put old records when he is finished?
Who catches Winston’s eye during the Two Minutes Hate?
How does Winston acquire his diary?
Why does Syme admire Newspeak?
Who does Winston “invent” in Chapter III, and who does he erase?
What is “doublethink”?
Who accuses Winston of being a thought-criminal?
Where does Winston imagine he is when he dreams of his family? (There are two places…)
What does Winston use to do his job?
Which group was in power before Ingsoc, and how were they described?
When is the date that Winston first writes in his diary?
What experience does Winston feel a need to “pour out” into the diary?
What does Winston write after writing, “I understand HOW”?
How does Winston define freedom at the end of a chapter?
Why does Winston erase people?
Who is Winston’s wife?
What is “facecrime”?
Who did Winston see in the Chestnut Tree Café?
Why does Winston dive to the ground in Chapter VIII?
What does Winston buy in Charrington’s shop?
What are the words to the song Winston hears from the café telescreen?
What proof did Winston have that the party engaged in lies?
Why does Winston believe Syme will be vaporized?
What is the only thing that captures the proles’ attention?
Who does Winston see after leaving Charrington’s shop in Chapter VIII?
What are the sacred principles of Ingsoc?
Which character(s) are responsible for Winston’s capture?
Who wrote “The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism”?
What is the purpose of continuous warfare?
Which group engages in the strongest doublethink, and why?
What do the lower, middle, and high classes “want”? What are their aims?
Which familiar faces does Winston see in Jail?
What happens to the glass paperweight in Chapter Ten, and why is this signficant?
What are the last four words of the novel?
What event supposedly takes place during the 1950s that paves the way for the creation of
the book’s three major powers?
What’s “different” about the Party’s pursuit of power (vs., say, the Stalinists or Nazis)?
What is O’Brien trying to convince Winston to believe?
How does the Skull-Faced Man react when he is about to be taken to Room 101?
Why does O’Brien take Winston into Room 101?
What does O’Brien show Winston – visually – that helps break his spirit?
What happens during Winston’s final meeting with Julia? What does she say about what happens
to people when they’re threatened with their worst fears?
What does “Goldstein” say each Ministry is concerned with? (“The ministry of Plenty is
concerned with ___________________, the Ministry of Love is concerned with ______________,
etc.”)
Where was the telescreen in Charrington’s shop?
Who is Oceania fighting at the end of the book?
Where is the last place we see Winston?
How many fingers is O’Brien Holding up?
Who turns Parsons in, and how does that person do it? How does Parsons feel about it?
What are the “three stages” of Winston’s “Re-Integration” in Chapter III?
How does Julia react when Winston reads from “The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical
Collectivism”?
What message does Winston trace in dust at the end of the novel?
Explain the significance of each line of the “Chestnut Tree” song.