1984 Study Questions

Book One, Chapter 1-2:

1. What bothers Winston?
Winston is bothered by a number of things; the telescreen, the society and also by his
own diary because he is beginning to think for himself which is a ThoughtCrime;

2. What is wrong with his society?

The society Winston lives in is a totalitarian society where everyone is subservient to the
state and everyone is monitoring everyone else; it is a society built on lies and fear.

3. What are the three slogans of the inner party?

WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVARY
IGNORANCE IS STREGTH

4. What are the four Ministries?

The Ministry of Peace: Minipax is the newspeak name for the Ministry of Peace, which
concerns itself with making war.

The Ministry of Plenty: Miniplenty in Newspeak, it is the ministry involved in

maintaining poverty in Oceania.

The Ministry of Truth: Minitrue is the propaganda arm of the State. Winston Smith
spends his daytime hours “correcting” historical records in Minitrue.

The Ministry of Love: Miniluv is a gigantic windowless building devoted to torture and
brutality. The home of the thought police, it is surrounded by a maze of barbed wire and
machinegun towers.

5. What items are written in italics?

Dates, Winston’s personal thoughts; Diary entries, Oceania Double-Speak, New-Speak

6. How does the Two Minute Hate work?

Winston and all the plebs gather in front of a massive telescreen at a certain time each
day and denounce “Goldstein”, The Brotherhood and other conspirators/defectors, raving
and chanting obscenities.

7. What happens to Winston during the chant?

He becomes hypnotized by the chanting and the raving and he himself much to his
 surprise can’t help but join in with the rest of the plebs attending the Two Minute Hate.

8. What happens between O’Brien and Winston?

During the Two Minute Hate O’Brien and Winston make eye contact and share a kind of
moment where Winston think O’Brien is a revolutionary, free thinker like he is but
Winston can’t be sure of this, he has no way to verify it.

9. During the film how the audience react?

They chant and rave, enjoying the bloodshed and murdering they are witnessing on
screen, weather it is an adult or a child it is all the same to them during the Two Minute.

10. What is a “thoughtcrime”?

A thoughtcrime is anything and everything Big Brother deems illegal that a person thinks
about, thinking about why are being watched could be considered a thoughtcrime.

11. What are Thought Police?

Thought Police are the people that Big Brother has watching and monitoring all the
people of Oceania.

12. Who are the Parsons’ and what do they represent?

The Parsons’ are Winston’s neighbors and they represent the average but very patriot
Oceania citizen, they are loyal to Big Brother before anyone else.

13. How do the Parsons’ children behave?

The Parsons’ children behave a very obnoxious manner, they are loud and rude,
additionally they are ruthlessly loyal to Big Brother; Spies in the making. They play
make belief where they turn into supposed saboteur’s to be vaporized by the State. They
enjoy to watching other Oceania citizen being Hung by Big Brother.

14. What is Winston’s dream about O’Brien?

Winston has a dream that him and O’Brien “will meet at place of no Darkness.”

15. What is the announced news?

“The gory annihilation of Eurasian army, with stupendous figures killed and prisoners.”
Even though this was considered a victory for Big Brother; chocolate rations were
reduced from thirty grams to twenty.
 1984 Study Questions

Book One, Chapter 3-4:

1. What is Winston’s dream about his mother? How does he feel about himself in the
dream?
Winston has a dream about his mother where he sees her but also holding Winstons little
baby sister; they seem to be at the bottom of a well; in the saloon of a sinking ship
looking up at him through darkening water. He feels his mother sacrificed herself so he
could live; when he was selfish and did not love her in return as she did him; but he
doesn’t remember what exactly happened to his mother.

2. What is the dream about the “Golden Country”?

The “Golden Country” is a place where Big Brother has no power; it is a place where
society is free live however they want;

3. What does he remember about the big events in the past? Bombs? Past Wars?
He remembers countries names were different, there shape on the map was different.
Airstrip One was named England or Britian.

4. Explain the party slogan, “Who controls the past controls the future; who controls the
present controls the past.”
“Whatever the Party dictated as truth was true now and everlasting. It was quite simple.
All that was needed was an unending series of victories over your own memory. ‘Reality
control’, they called it; in Newspeak, ‘doublethink’.”

5. What does he know about the legends concerning Big Brother?

He did not believe that the Party had invented airplanes but in the end you can prove
anything, there was never any evidence.

6. Describe Winston’s job?

Winston receives memo in cylindrical tubes and dictates them to a Speakwrite a
recording device of some kind. Winston works at the Ministry of Truth where they are in
charge of spreading propaganda or as Big Brother would call it, “the truth”, altering the
past and creating a false future; however Big Brother sees fit.
7. How is the past controlled?
Winston makes whatever corrections Big Brother deem necessary; regardless weather it
is in the past; present; or future. Afterwards the altered narrative of history; the present or
the future is dumped into a Memory Hole to be devoured by flames. This process of
continuous alterations is applied not only to newspapers but to books, periodicals,
pamphlets, posters, leaflets, films, soundtracks, cartoons, photographs-to every kind of
literature or documentation which might conceivable hold any political or ideological
significance.

8. What special literature, music, and entertainment is produced for the proletariat
(proles)?
For the proles was produced a lower standard of rubbishy newspapers with nothing
except sports, crime, and astrology, sensational novelettes, films oozing with sex. And a
sub section called Pornosec, the lowest kind of pornography which no Party member
except those that worked on it could look at.

9. How does Winston feel about his work? What sort of “creativity” is involved?
Most of Winston’s work was tedious routine but in there were included tasks that were
difficult and intricate, delicate pieces of forgery in which Winston had nothing to guide
him but his knowledge of the principles of Ingsoc and an estimate of what the Party
would want him to say, requiring Winston to be detailed and imaginative.

10. What is the significance of Comrade Ogilvy?

Comrade Ogilvy never existed, is not a real person but Winston created him, gave him a
back story, purpose. Such a society where nothing is true but nothing is false either is
extremely dangerous because it can’t evolve, it is stuck in limbo. Comrade Ogilvy is a
metaphor; a symbol of the falsehoods of which 1984 is built upon. He doesn’t exist yet he
is as real as the ground beneath Winston’s feet, the air in his lungs.
 1984 Study Questions

Book One, Chapter 5-7:

1. What is the problem with obtaining razor blades?
They don’t exist anymore, the shops are unable to attain any razor blades either.
Shortages happen all the time with different items and people have no idea how long until
the item returns, if ever.

2. What is revealed about Inner Party philosophy in the discussion between Winston and
Syme?
One of the key Inner Party philosophy’s is the true purpose behind Newspeak, the hole
aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought.

3. Why does Winston feel that Syme will be vaporized?

Winston feels Syme will be vaporized because he says things that would have been better
left unsaid, he has read to many books. He is too intelligent. He sees to clearly and speaks
too plainly. The Party does not like such people. “One day he will disappear. It is written
on his face”, Winston thought.

4. Parsons brags about his children doing what?

Parsons brags about how his daughter snuck off from a hike, followed a man for two
hours and then handed him off to the Thought Police.

5. What is the significance of the telescreen announcement?

The significance is that just a twenty four hours earlier the Ministry of Plenty had
reduced the ration of chocolate from thirty grams to twenty grams, making an
announcement that they’ve increased the chocolate ration too twenty grams is rather
meaningless but everyone is happy to hear about the ration increase. Anyone is implied
that last week rations were at thirty grams would probably convicted of Thoughtcrime

6. What are Winston’s feelings about the present time after he hears the cheerful
announcement on the telescreen?
Winston mentions after the announcement a feeling “Always in your stomach and in your
skin there was a sort of protest, a feeling that you had been cheated of something that you
had the right to.”
7. Winston predicts that certain people will be vaporized and that certain people will never
be vaporized. Who? Why?
Vaporized:
Syme, because he is too smart
O’Brien, he might think the same way as winston.
Winston, he keeps a diary.
Mrs. Parson, her own kids will probably turn her in.
Safe:
Mr. Parson, he isn’t very smart and is proud to live under the party.
Julia, Winston suspects he of working for the thought police.
The Parson children, they love the spies program they are apart of and the daughter has
already turnd someone into the police.

8. What is the purpose of marriage in the state?

The only recognized purpose of marriage was to beget the children for the service of the
Party.

9. What do Winston’s memories about visiting a prostitute reveal about his attitudes
towards sex in Oceania?
Winston enjoys sexual activities but hasn’t been able to find a quality partner.

10. How does Winston view the proles?

Winston is fascinated by them, Party members view them as ignorant masses. Winston
wonders if all they do is satisfy there primal urges or perhaps one day if they might rise
up and destroy the Party.

11. How are the proles controlled (prole control)?

Thought Police moved always among them, spreading false rumors and marking down
and eliminating the few individuals who were judged capable of becoming dangerous;
but no attempt was made to indoctrinate them with the ideology of the Party.

12. What lies/half-truths does the Party teach about history?

That the Party had been in power longer than they have been, they also say that life was
more difficult before the revolution even though there is no evidence to support that
claim.

13. Winston suspects that the Party lies about progress made since the war. What Party
claims does he doubt?
That overall living conditions is better under the control of the party than it was
beforehand.
14. What is the story of Aaronson Jones and Rutherford?
They were men that were arrested, then they confessed to crimes they probably never did,
were released, and soon after were killed.

15. Why is this story so meaningful for Winston?

He just so happened to have found a picture of the men that was taken during the time of
their accused crimes. It was also the only time that Winston had evidence disproving
claims made by the party.

16. What is Winston’s unanswered question?

He did not understand why, but he did understand how.
 1984 Study Questions

Book One, Chapter 8:

1. Why does Winston go off on his own? What activities is he missing out on?
Winston goes off on his own and walks around the prole district. By walking he misses
out on the community activites and it could cause suspicion. He might get into trouble for
this.

2. What is life like in the proles’ end of London?

Life for the proles' was not better then the Party; they lived in slums. One important part
to remember, though, is that the Proles were FREE! They were not controlled by BB.

3. What does Winston think about after his conversation with the old man in the pub?
Winston now makes a serious attempt to find a connection with the past. Winston knows
that his actions mean certain torture and death, yet he continues to search, hoping that he
is not alone, that someone else feels as he does.

4. What does Winston discover at Mr. Charrington’s shop?

Winston discovers a glass paperweight at Mr. Charrington's shop. It is significant because
A "vision of the glass paperweight" inspired Winston to rent the room above the shop.

5. What is Mr. Charrington like?

Mr. Charrington is an old man who sells junk in a second hand store in the proles
district. Mr. Charrington first presents himself as a kind, old shopkeeper, with an interest
in items of the past.

6. What does Winston think when he sees the dark-haired girl outside Mr. Charrington’s
shop?
Upon leaving the shop, Winston sees the dark-haired girl from the fiction department. He
is sure that she is following him and is a spy for the Thought Police. He also imagines
smashing her in the head with a cobblestone or the paperweight he has just purchased.

7. How does one’s own body betray a person?

Any subtle movement showing hate of the party can cost your life.

8. Why does Winston wonder about church bells ringing in London?

When in Mr. Charrington's shop, he sees a picture of an old church. This picture makes
him remember a rhyme:

"Oranges and lemons, say the bells of St. Clement's

You owe me three farthings, say the bells of St. Martin's."

Winston does not remember ever really hearing church bells before.
END OF PART 1