English 10
1984: Chapter I, Book One
Name:
1.) What does Winston Smith look like? What does this description tell the reader about him and the society
of Airstrip One.
2.) What condition are the homes, other buildings, and ministries in? What does this tell you about Oceania?
3.) In Oceania in 1984 there are no laws; what prevents crime and keeps people from doing whatever they
want?
4.) Discuss the purposes of the Ministry of Truth, Ministry of Peace, Ministry of Plenty, and the Ministry of
Love. Which is the most dangerous and why?
5.) Explain Newspeak. Explain how this is dangerous.
6.) Explain the Two Minutes Hate, including the purpose of the daily event.
7.) What is Thoughtcrime and how has Winston committed it?
8.) Why does Winston feel so connected to O’Brien? What does this tell us about Winston as a character?
Gratitude to Ms. Jones for assistance with these questions.
1984: Chapter II, Book One
1.) Discuss the relationships between parents and children in Oceania. What does this show the reader about
families and values in Oceania?
2.) What is Winston’s issue regarding the diary?
3.) Explain Winston’s concern/plan for the future.
4.) Explain your understanding of what these slogans mean: War is peace, Freedom is slavery, Ignorance is
strength
1984: Chapter III, Book One
1.) On page 30, Winston states the death of his mother is sad and tragic “in a way that was no longer
possible.” Why is tragedy no longer possible in Winston’s world? What is dangerous about this?
2.) What is the gesture of the girl with the dark hair (31)? Explain why Winston is so taken by the gesture.
3.) “Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past” (35). Explain the
logic behind this Party slogan.
Gratitude to Ms. Jones for assistance with these questions.
1984: Chapters IV and V, Book One
1.) Discuss Winston’s work at the Ministry of Truth.
2.) Who is Comrade Ogilvy and what is his role in Oceania?
3.) What is the relationship between Winston and Syme? How does Winston feel about Syme?
4.) “Orthodoxy means not thinking – not needing to think. Orthodoxy is unconsciousness” (53); explain this
quote in reference to Newspeak. Explain why this idea/following is dangerous.
5.) Explain facecrime.
Gratitude to Ms. Jones for assistance with these questions.
1984: Chapter VI, Book One
1. What does Winston think the Party has reduced the act of procreating to and what reason does he give
for the Party doing this?
2. What is an “ultimate act of rebellion” according to Winston?
3. What does Winston still long to do in the last thought of the chapter? Why do you think he still has this
longing?
Gratitude to Ms. Jones for assistance with these questions.
1984: Chapter VII, Book One
1. What does Winston say to start off the chapter?
2. Why does Winston think this? Summarize the explanation he gives in the two paragraphs that follows his
opening statement about the proles. Is he right?—really think about the society.
3. What does Winston say about the “history” in the books?
4. Explain the lie the Party told that Winston remembers.
5. What do you think the memory of this lie (or any lie) does to Winston’s view of the Party?
6. What does Winston think of O”Brien and why?
7. Explain the metaphor Winston crafts using the basic* arithmetic problem of 2 + 2 in the last three
paragraphs and the last line of the chapter.
Gratitude to Ms. Jones for assistance with these questions.
1984: Chapter VIII, Book One
1. How does the Party expect you to spend your time when you are not eating, sleeping or working?
2. What is a “Steamer”? What does it end up doing to the part of the city where Winston is walking?
3. How does Winston react once the explosion from the “steamer” is over? What do you think of Winston
about this and why?
4. Why do the proles pay so much attention to the Lottery?
5. How does the Lottery succeed in never actually paying out the enormous jackpots it promises?
6. From the description of the proles, their setting, and their lives, what do you think of Winston’s
statement: But if there was hope, it lay in the proles. You had to cling on to that.
7. What do you think about the ending where Winston is trying to think of O’Brien and write something
rebellious, but the face of Big Brother comes to his mind, and he looks at the coin and sees Big Brother’s
face as “heavy, calm, protecting”?
Gratitude to Ms. Jones for assistance with these questions.