People are not good or bad. We make decisions that are either good decisions, or bad decisions. Some people say that there are evil people in this world, but I believe differently. You could have an intelligent person with strong morals and a positive attitude towards life commit a horrible act. Ever person an decide whether they want to commit an immoral act or not. It is a personal decision that everyone has to make. Whether to do the right thing, or not.
Similarities between 1984 and Pyongyang
Ten similarities between 1984 and Pyongyang
1. Media. Information is fed to the people by those in power. In Pyongyang, information from comic books is projected on tv’s so the kids don’t have to bother reading books. They can just think that everything started on tv. In 1984 false information fed all the time to the citizens of Oceania through the telescreens and by other forms of media.
2. Impersonal living. The hotel room that Mr. Guy stays in is a standard room that is cold and impersonal. It is made specifically by the people of power so that no room looks very different from another room. In 1984, rooms whether they are bedrooms or offices, they all look similar because that is the way the Party wants them to be. All the same, with no character.
3. Propaganda. Both 1984 and Pyongyang use propaganda to manipulate their people. Pyongyang has massive images everywhere saying things like, ” Forging ahead into the 21st century!”. And in 1984, propaganda is projected using telescreens.
4. No Loitering. No one lingers in the streets. Everyone has somewhere to be or something to do. In both 1984 and Pyongyang, everyone is always occupied with something. In 1984 Winston states how the Party wants everyone to be occupied at all times. The only time where doing nothing is acceptable is when people are sleeping.
5. POWER. In every building of every room in North Korea, there are pictures of Papa Kim and his Son. This is just like Big Brother in 1984. He is everywhere. BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU. And Kim and his son are watching all of North Korea.
6. The statue of Kim Il-Sung. Even though he is dead, he is still the president. He is THE MOST important person in North Korea. similarly, Big Brother is extremely important in 1984.
7. Constant state of fear and threat. In Pyongyang, the subway is 90 meters underground so that in case of a nuclear attack, it can be a bomb shelter. Just like in 1984, the citizens are constantly in fear.
8. Poorly made food. In Pyongyang, the food is complained about and the dreadful coffee is mentioned several times. The food at the restaurants that Guy goes to is also mentioned as being poor quality. In 1984, Winston and Julia complain about the horrible coffee and gin and overall how distasteful the food is.
9. Privacy. In Pyongyang when Guy is sleeping, some woman comes into his room and gets something. She knocks, and even though he does not reply, she still enters. There is lack of privacy. Similarly in 1984, there are telescreens everywhere which is a way for the Party to see what the citizens are doing at all times. This is also a lack of privacy.
10. Rationing. In Pyongyang, rationing is used to consolidate power. A national public distribution system gives citizens portions based on loyalty and usefulness to the regime. Army officials and party cadres are given rice because they are “the core” or “The Inner Party members” like in 1984. Skilled workers and Soldiers are given small amounts of rice because they are “the lukewarm” or “Outer-Party members” like in 1984. And the laborers and political prisoners are given 250 grams per day because they are “the hostile” or “the Proles” like in Oceania.
Response/ Reflection:
It is terrifying how similar North Korea is to 1984 In Pyongyang. When I started reading Pyongyang, I couldn’t believe that 1984 wasn’t based on How North Korea is presently. Guy Delisle did not write fiction, Pyongyang is a non-fiction book on what he actually experienced in North Korea. The whole time that Guy was in North Korea, he was escorted around by a guide, because there is so little trust. There is a 22 metre statue of Kim il-sung in the heart of the city. He towers over the citizens of North Korea, as if he can still watch their every move and control their actions. Big Brother in 1984 is everywhere. He is watching everyone. BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU. One thing that I noticed while reading Pyongyang, is how fear is contrived by the people of higher power. People of lower class
Aside
Chapter 9 Part 2 of 1984
PART II: Chapter IX (Participation – post on your blog – do not submit hard copy unless requested.)
1) What do the crowds do, specifically, when they are told that Oceania is not at war with Eurasia, but is at war with Eastasia?
There was tremedous commotion. The citizens realized that the banners and posters that were put up all over the square were wrong. Have of the posters had the wrong faces on them.”There was a riotous interlude while posters were ripped from the walls.”Banners were torn apart and sampled on.
2) In a paragraph, describe what the employees at the Record Department have to do with this new information?
The employees at the Record department have to rectify report and records of all kinds, newpapers, books, pamphlets, films, sound tracks, and photographs at lightning speed. All the people in the Rocrds department had to work eighteen hours in the twenty-four, with three two-hour snatches of sleep.
3) What is an oligarchy?
An oligarchy is a small group of people who control and run a particular country or organization.
4) Who is the author of the book?
Goldstein
The Book: (Remember when you are reading this challenging part of the book, that it is describing the years leading up to and including Winston’s world in 1984 and not our world today.)
5) What is a hierarchy?
A system or organization in which people or groups are ranked one above the other according to status or authority.The upper echelons of a hierarchical system; those in authority.
p.193 What countries comprise the three super-states? (p193) Find a picture of the territories on the internet and insert it here:
Eurasia comprises the whole of the Northern part of the European and Asiatic land-mass. Oceania comprises the Americas. Eastasia comprises China and the countries to the south of it.
6) How long have the super-states been at war? (p193)
The three super-states are permanentely at war and have been for the past 25 years.
7) What are the 3 things that make this war different from others in the past? (p193)
It is a warfare of limited aims between combatants who are unable to to destroy one another, have no material cause for fighting and are not divided
8) Where does the fight take place? Are there many casualties? (p193)
The fight takes place on vague frontiers whose whereabouts the average man can only guess at or, “round the Floating Fortress which guard strategic spots on the sea lanes.”
9) Create your own list of 10 legitimate reasons why human beings have fought wars. Be specific –money is not specific. (Collaborate with your classmates).
· Racial differences
· Slavery of black people
· Money disagreements
· Land disputes
· Idealistic reasons
12) Why do the states want to control Africa, the Middle East, Southern India and Indonesia? Explain. (p195)
All of the disputed territories contain valuable minerals, and some of them yield important vegetable products such as rubber. But most of all, they contain a bottomless supply of cheap labour.
13) The book states that “the labor of the exploited people around the Equator is not really necessary to the world’s economy.” If so, then why capture them at all? (p196)
By their labour, the slave populations allow the tempo of continuous warfare to be speeded up.
15) Explain how the following quote relates to the aim of the Inner Party: “But it was clear that an all round increase in wealth threatened the destruction-indeed, in some sense was the destruction-of a hierarchical society.” (p197)
16) According to the book, what happens if leisure and security are enjoyed by all alike? (p198)
The great mass of human beings who are normally stupefied by poverty would become literate and would learn to think for themselves; and when once they have done this, they would sooner or later realise that the privileged minority had no function and they would sweep it away.
17) According to the book, a hierarchical society was only possible based on what? (p198)
A hierarchical society would only be possible of basis or poverty and ignorance.
18) According to the book, how do you “keep the wheels of industry turning without increasing the real wealth of the world? (p198)
According to the book, goods must be produced, but the must not be distributed. And the only way to achieve this is continuous welfare.
19) According to the book, what is the essential act of war? (p198)
The essential act of war is destruction, not necessarily of human lives, but the product of human labour.
20) According to the book, why is the manufacturing of weapons convenient? (p199)
Manufacturing of weapons is a convenient way of expending labour power without producing anything that can be consumed.
21) According to the book, what important reason does the state have for not ordering its citizens to build pyramids or temples instead of weapons if the aim is just to keep them busy? Whose morale is most important? (p200)
It is important for the citizens not to build pyramids or temples because this would provide only the economic and not the emotional basis for a hierarchical society.
22) According to the book where is the hysteria and hatred of the enemy strongest? How does what you’ve learned about doublethink relate to this? (p200)
Hysteria and hatred is strongest in the Inner Party. Because hatred for the enemy is strongest in the Inner Party, and they are the ones who know what is actually happening with the “enemy”, this is doublethink.
23) What is one of the few remaining activities for an inventive mind? (p201)
The search for new weapons.
24) What are the two aims of the Party? (p201)
· To conquer the whole surface of the earth
· To extinguish once and for all the possibility of independent thought
25) What are the two great problems for the Party to overcome? (p201)
· How to discover against his will what another human being is thinking
· How to kill several hundred million people in a few seconds without giving warning beforehand
Susperstitions
Activity:
PART A:
Look through the following links on Superstitions listed below. In preparation for a class discussion, answer the following questions. (Please record your answers in note form on a piece of paper):
1) What are three common features of superstitions?
2) What was one thing that surprised you about superstitions?
One thing that surprised me, was that there are so many different superstitions. I couldn’t believe all the lists of them on the second website especially.
3) Which superstition do you find (your personal experience) has the most adherents today?
I would say that the superstition with the most amount of followers is Open Umbrella. I hear it being mentioned all the time, “Oh, don’t open your umbrella indoors! It’s bad luck!”
4) Why do you think many people still believe in superstitions?
I think superstitions live on because they have been passed on from generation to generation and they stay as a kind of tradition in some families.
5) How do you think superstitions begin?
I think superstitions began by some random person who was annoyed with the fact that someone was opening an umbrella inside, so to get them to stop, they told this person that it was bad luck.
6) Can superstitions be harmful? How?
Yes, because if you follow a superstition instead of simply using your head to think, it could lead to some serious problem.
7) What are the commonalities between superstitions and memes?
Fallacies
Music is bad for teenagers…Most of the time, music depresses teenagers instead of lifting up their spirits. Do you want your child to be listening to music when they come home at the end of the day and they start cutting because of the music they’re listening to?If you don’t stop your children from listening to music, they will start doing drugs and going to-night clubs and eventually be broke and live on Hastings. Do you want your babies to be nothing when they grow up? Listening to music is so unnatural. You don’t see trees listening to music, and look how tall and luscious they are; the opposite of what teenagers look like. Stout and limp. All because of the poisonous waves, that are so-called music.
Outfoxed Reflection
Outfoxed astonished me. I had no idea that doublethink could truly be as evident in real life as it is in 1984. As I was watching it, I was thinking about 1984, and how similar it is to Outfoxed in many ways. Never before have I seen such hurtful talk towards people in the media. The worst part, is that the employees of Fox actually believe what they are saying.
It must be so strange to publically state a “fact” that you believe, but also know is a complete scam at the same time. Watching Outfoxed made me wonder about Orwell and how his thought process was during the makings of 1984. Did he partly believe what he was writing? No, he didn’t. Why is it that the producers and employees of Fox create such bull. The answer: they are pathological liars that like to generate fear. When there is a guest in the studio, for example Jeremy Glick, the host has such hostility towards the guest. While the interview is taking place, very rarely the guest can actually speak. He or she is talked over incredibly rudely by the host, and slashed with hurtful unnecessary comments. And after, when Jeremy Glick, for example, watched the interview, Bill O’Reilly had twisted him words to make him sound like a horrible person. It surprises me that there is actually a television show running that is this absurd.
It is ridiculous that so many Americans watch Fox, and believe what they are saying. Especially, when they report information that seems so obviously false. When there is a slightly dangerous situation in the U.S, Fox goes completely ballistic and totally overboard. It’s all lies; Nothing is the truth. I think it is so ironic when O’Reilly says, ” We hope you can depend on us for the truth”. Because he knows that this is insane and at the same time, he truly believes that Fox tells the truth. Doublethink is everywhere.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IwIRNM5noY
1984 Chapter questions
Chapter one:
My Dream
There is a luminescent glow from the telescreen on the wall across the room. My flat in the Victory Mansions of Oceania is freezing; probably anticipating the week that has just begun. Hate week. That means yelling and hollering and disagreement galore. Because I’m unorthodox, the new addition of hate week has truly invigorated me. I don’t understand why London has to be the city where all this insanity takes place. Even when I think I’m at peace, I have an eerie feeling that Big Brother is watching me; because he is. BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU. With quiet optimism, and Emmanuel Goldstein on my mind, I grind my teeth and slam my front door; The Ministry of Truth, behold my vexation.
“War is peace! Ignorance is Strength! Freedom is Slavery!” are the accursed words that fly into my ears when I step outside the Victory Mansions. Blood colored sashes of chastity surround me. The Ministry of Truth must have released some sort of bewitching newscast about the Junior Anti-sex league. I am so astonished and taken-aback that I have forgotten where I was headed. Minutes later, I find myself on the skirts of the Ministry of Love building. If it weren’t for the entanglements of barbed-wire and steel doors in sight, I might have actually entered the premises. But then again, the distinguishable lack of windows is hard to miss. Out of frustration, I yanked my Victory Cigarettes from my pocket. I was in an utter state of confusion. O’Brien was the key to my sanity. I had only encountered him possibly a dozen times, but yet I felt so drawn to him. I was searching for something, at that moment, I didn’t know what, but I knew there was something.
The streets are cold with fear, as I walk closer to the dooming Ministry of Truth, I can sense something that is about to happen. Abruptly, out of nowhere, the streets erupt into a screeching angered frenzy. I quicken my pace, for I don’t want to be a part of this madness. The Ministry of Truth is in sight moments later, but still, I am unclear as to why I am so anxious to go there. My eyes fixate on the enormous pyramidal structure of glittering white concrete. With slight hesitation, my hand embraces the cold white cumbersome door, and I crank it open. Instantly, the telescreen blinds me with the image of Goldstein’s elongated Jewish face. This face makes me feel so helpless, because that is how we are to feel when we see this face. But at the same time, I agree whole-heartedly with what Goldstein says. How could this man cause so much controversy? I have an urge to record everything I’ve been thinking, all the unorthodox ideas that have formed in my mind unwillingly. With this realization, I fear the probability of the thought police ever finding out how I feel. The consequence for this action would be unbearable. I close my eyes for just a moment to think about how much easier it would have been to sit in my loft and drink Victory gin all day. Though I know that Goldstein is right, I also know that Big Brother is right. Why has my mind come to this? This is doublethink.
Sweating and screaming with tremors, I awake with the recollection of my dream.
PART 1: Chapter II (Participation – post on your blog-do not submit hard copy, unless requested.)
1) Describe Mrs. Parsons and how she lives.
Mrs. Parsons is a woman about the age of thirty, but she looks much older. She has creases in her face and it looks like there is dust collecting. She lives in the Victory Mansions, and the same floor as Winston. She speaks of her husband Tom, but never in a loving manor, or with any energy in her tone. The Parsons flat is slightly bigger than Winston’s, and dingier in a different way than his. Everything in the flat has a sort of trampled look. There are objects laying all over the floor like hockey sticks, boxing gloves and a burst football. There is a horrible stench of boiled cabbage, but that smell is in the entire building. There is also the nasty scent of sweat in the flat. She has two childrem that live in the flat, aswell as her husband.
2) How do the Parson’s children behave? Why is Mrs. Parsons nervous around them?
The Parson’s children behave in a scary and intimidating manor. Winston feels almost threatened by them, even though he knows they would not hurt him. When Winston is done the ameateur repair job and is about to leave the apartment, the boy starts to yell, “you’re a traitor!” and other nastly things, and then the girls joins in on the chanting. Together they dance around Winston. They talk to their mother with no respect and yell at her when she brings up the hanging (that they may not attend) happening later in the evening. I think Mrs. Parsons is nervous around them because of a few reasons. They are really loud, and from her personality, you can sense that she doesn’t like that. Another reason is because they seem to have more power than her. I think that they order her around (bully her really) and she lets them. And lastly, it is normal for people over thirty to be frightened by their own children.
3) What is a child hero?
A child who reports their parents to the thoughtpolice.
4) On page 30, Winston reflects that “He was already dead.” In a paragraph, using complete sentences, explain what he means by this.
Because of his diary, Winston has practically killed himself. If the thoughtpolice were ever to find out about what he was writing, he would be dead for sure. So when it says, “He was already dead.” It means that he has already done enough wrong that he would be dead if caught.
5) Go back to Chapter 1. Who is O’brien and what is significant about him?
O’brien is a powerful member of the inner party. Winston is confused by him because O’brien mystifies him. Winston can see that there is something different about O’brien, and therefore, thinks about why. O’brien makes Winston think.
6) Choose one or two lines that attracted your attention. Be prepared to discuss why.
Line one: “Thoughtcrime does not entail death. It IS death.”
PART 1: Chapter III (Participation – post on your blog-do not submit hard copy, unless requested.)
1) On p.32 of this chapter, Winson states that “Tragedy…belonged to an ancient time…” On page 33 he wakes up with “‘Shakespeare’ on his lips.” In a paragraph, using complete sentences, state what you think George Orwell was trying to say by putting these two ideas together.
I think, when Winston is thinking about how tragedy belonged to an ancient time, when there was still love and privacy.. he’s thinking about Shakespearian times. Because in the time of Shakespeare, there was tragedy and love and friendship, and there still was privacy. I think Orwell was trying to put the two ideas of Shakespeare and 1984 together to show their differences. They are two drastically different times. Also, on the note of tragedy, I think Orwell wanted to point out that in Shakespearian times there was tragedy. In 1984, there is no such thing. The thoughpolice come after you if you do even the littlest thing wrong. There is no way that there could be “tragedy”.
2) State the names of the warring countries. What is the lie regarding these countries that Winston knows?
Eastasia, Rurasia, and oceania. The lie reagarding these countries is that they are not actually at war with each other. They claim to be, but really, they aren’t. If Oceania tried to take over either Eastasia or Rurasia, then the Party would have to condition all the people. And that would be impossible.
3) In your own words, describe doublethink (see page 37-38). Can you think of a modern example of doublethink?
I think that doublethink is when you know the truth about something and you know the untruthfulness, and completely believe both of them at the same time. I think a modern example of doublethink is: Juice. Juice is supposedly good for you, and we believe that, but at the same time we know that it has incredible amounts of sugar, which is not good for you. So while we think it’s good for us, we know it’s not.
4) What are some other lies told by the state that Winston mentions?
The Party claimes to have invented airplanes, and Airstrip one was once “called” England. Winston also knows that Big Brother has not always been head of the party/revolution.
5) Choose one or two lines that attracted your attention. Be prepared to discuss why.
Line one: “To know and not to know, to be conscious of complete truthfulness while telling carefully constructive lies, to hold simultaneously two opinions which cancelled out, knowing them to be contradictory and believing in both of them.”
PART 1: Chapter IV (Participation – post on your blog-do not submit hard copy, unless requested.)
1) In a paragraph, using complete sentences and details from the story, describe where Winston works and what Winston does for a living.
Winston works at The Ministry of Truth. He works in the records department where his job is to rewrite historical documents. He looks over old newspaper articles and doctoring photographs, mostly to remove “unpersons”. He works inside a cubicle, and in the walls of the cubicle are three orifices. He has this instrument called speakwrite that records information way faster than inkwrite. As soon as Winston has the speakwrite corrections, he pushes them into the pneumatic tube.Then, he crumples up the original message or any notes he has made for himself, he drops them into the memory hole to be devoured by flames. He applies changes to newspapers, books, periodicals, pamphlets, posters, leaflets, films, cartoon etc. Across the hall in the corresponding cubicle, there is a precise looking, dark-chinned man named Tillotson. And in the cubicle next to him is a little women with sandy hair. People in the Records Department don’t really talk about their jobs. All you hear is the murmuring of all the people talking into their speakwrites.
2) On page 43, Winston states that “it was not even forgery. It was merely the substitution of one piece of nonsense for another.” Explain what he means by this.
It is not possible to have forgery when it was wrong to begin with. Most of the material in 1984 is wrong or false, therefore it is impossible for it to be forgery. When Winston takes the original material of a newspaper, for example, and then replaces it with the “correct” material, “It was merely the substitution of one piece of nonsense for another.”
3) What does “vaporized” mean? What is an “unperson.”
Vaporized means killed. An unperson is someone who has not only been killed by the party, but erased from existence. “Withers, however, was already an unperson. He did not exist: he had never existed.”- Winston pg. 48
4) Describe, in detail, what the Records Department (p 45) produces.
The record departmtent’s purpose is to concord the past to the current party line orthodoxy,that changes daily,and deletes the official existence of people identified as unpersons.
5) Who are proles? How are they treated differently?
Proles are the comrades below the inner and outer party. They are not considered “important”. Their functions are simply to work and breed. They don’t care about much except for family, home, neighbor’s fights and little unimportant things. Unlike the inner and outer parties, they are not under the supervision of the telescreen. Unlike the two parties, they are also not forced to show support of the Party, besides mild patriotism. Proles don’t wear uniforms, they can wear cosmetics and have free sex lives. They are also allowed to get divorced.
6) What is a “speakwrite”?
Speakwrite, is an instrument used my members of the Party to record information by speaking into this instrument. It is faster than just writing it down by hand.
7) Describe Comrade Ogilvy. What are the circumstances of his life and death and how is he significant to the story?
At the early age of three, Ogilvy had refused to play with any toes except a gun, a model of a helicopter and a drum. At six, he had joined the Spies, and by age nine, he had become a troop leader. At eleven, he gave up his uncle to the thoughtpolice for saying something wrong, and at age 17 he had been a district organizer for the Junior Anti-sex League. At 19, he had designed a hand grenade and at first use, it killed 31 Eurasian prisoners in one blow. He didn’t smoke, and worked out at the gymnasium an hour a day.
8) Choose one or two lines that attracted your attention. Be prepared to discuss why.
“Comrade Ogilvy, who had never existed in the present, now existed in the past, and when once the act of forgery was forgotten, he would exist just as authentically, and upon the same evidence, as Charlemagne or Julius Caesar.”
PART 1: Chapter V (Participation – post on your blog-do not submit hard copy, unless requested.)
1) Who is Syme? Describe what he does for a living. Why does Winston call him “venomously orthodox”?
Syme is a philologist, a specialist in Newspeak. He has dark hair and large eyes. He’s smaller and shorter than Winston. Syme is intelligent, and Winston believes he is too intelligent for the Party to keep him. Syme speaks what’s on his mind and he is not afraid to tell Winston his opinion on anything. But whatever he says is what the Party would want him to say. If you are unorthodox, like Winston, then you think for yourself. You aren’t letting the Party tell you what to think. Syme is orthodox because he is conditioned by the Party, so he says everything in favour of the Party.
2) Describe Newspeak? What is the purpose of Newspeak? How does Syme feel about Newspeak?
Newspeak is the official language of Oceania, and had been created to meet the ideological needs of Ingsoc. The purpose of Newspeak was not only to provide a medium of expression for the world of Ingsoc, but also to make it impossible for any other modes of thought. It was intended that Oldspeak would be forgotten as soon as Newspeak was made. Syme is commited to believing that Newspeak is good. When Winston talks in Oldspeak, Syme gets offended and demands him to use Newspeak. Syme can’t understand why Winston would choose to use Oldspeak.
3) What is a “thoughtcrime?
Thoughtcrime is: The act of holding unspoken beliefs or doubts that oppose or question the ruling Party.
4) What is Oldspeak? Why would the Party want to get rid of Oldspeak?
Oldspeak is english, or any language that isn’t Newspeak. The Party might want to get ride of it because they want one language that everyone speaks. They want to have full control over everything comrades do including what language they speak in.
5) According to Syme, what is orthodoxy?
“Orthodoxy means not thinking; not needing to think. Orthodoxy is unconsciousness.” – pg. 56
6) What does Winston think is wrong with Syme?
7) George Orwell created characters in order for his readers to identify their own behavior and the behavior of people they associate with. What kind of a modern person does Parsons represent. Use examples from the story to support your view.
Parsons is a middle-sized man, slightly, or maybe a little more, overweight. Parsons represents the kind, humble sort of father that loves his children. To Winston and especially Syme, Parsons is very obnoxious and annoying. He is a dull Party member, and so is his wife. His is very approachable and easy to talk to.
8) Describe the inconsistency between the statistics that pour out of the telescreen (p62) and the reality of the citizens’ lives.
The statistics are made up,purely out of someone’s imagination. The telescreen announced that the standard of living has increased by 20 percent, but that is definitely not true. Also, Big Brother announced that the chocolate ration would be raised by 20 grammes, however it was lowered.
9) What is a “facecrime”?
Any indication that a person is guilty of thoughtcrime based on their facial expressions.
10) Choose one or two lines that attracted your attention. Be prepared to discuss why.
Line one: “Winston took up his mug of gin, paused for an instant to collect his nerve, and gulped the oily-tasting stuff down.”
Line two: “We’re cutting the language down to the bone. The eleventh edition won’t contain a single word that will become obsolete before the year 2050.”
PART 1: Chapter VI (Participation – post on your blog-do not submit hard copy, unless requested.)
1) Use complete sentences to describe the Party’s rules and attitudes towards sex and marriage.
Sexcrime: Everything except, the normal intercourse between man and women for the sole purpose of begetting children, and without physical pleasure for the woman. Unlike probes, the inner and outer parties do not have free sex lives. They have very strict rules about sex. And women of the inner and outer parties never wear a scent. Only probes do. Winston said, ” the smell of it was inextricably mixed up with fornication. The Party’s goal is to remove all pleasure from the sexual act. All marriages between Party members had to be approved by a committee. Permission was always refused if there was any sign of phsical attraction to one another. Sexual intercourse was to be looked at as a slightly disgusting minor operation, like having an enema.
2) What is the “Junior Anti-sex league? Describe its purpose.
The Junior Anti-sex league advocated complete celibacy for both sexes. All children were to be begotten by artsem (artificial insemination). The Party intends to abolish the institution of the family, so all children will be the products of artificial insemination and grow up in public institutions. Members wear red sashes around their waists. Julia, Winston Smith’s lover, is a member of the Junior Anti-Sex League, though she does not share their ideals.
3) What “artsem”? Does it actually work? Explain.
“Artsem” is artificial insemination. It does not actually exist. Women use it as an excuse to get out of having sex becuse it is considered gross and wrong. So when a man is wanting to have sex, the women could simply say, “Oh, I just got artsem so we don’t need to…”.
4) Describe Winton’s relationship with his wife Katherine. How did she feel about the Party.
In Winston’s mind, he remembers Katherine as a really boring person. He says that she doesn’t have a brain because she is totally conditioned by the Party. She has no mind of her own. “She had not a thought in her head that was not a slogan, and there was no imbecility, absolutely none that she was not capable of swallowing if the Party handed it out to her. ‘The human sound-track’ he nicknamed her in his own mind.” He also says that he could have endured living with her if it weren’t for the sex. She winced every time her touched her and stiffened instantly and it was not enjoyable at all. I think she really agreed with the Party, but I don’t know if it is just because she was totally conditioned by them.
5) Choose one or two lines that attracted your attention. Be prepared to discuss why.
Line one: “She had not a thought in her head that was not a slogan, and there was no imbecility, absolutely none that she was not capable of swallowing if the Party handed it out to her. ‘The human sound-track’ he nicknamed her in his own mind.”
PART 1: Chapter VII (Participation – post on your blog-do not submit hard copy, unless requested.)
1) Why does Winston state that “If there is hope, it must lie with the proles.”
I think he partly says this because of the factual reasons: 85 percent of the population of Oceania is proles. But then I think the other reason is because he really thinks that the prokles are smart. He sees what no one else does. He knows that they have the power to change the Party, they have the power to overpower the Party.
2) How are the proles presented in the novel? What kind of people are they? How are they treated differently from the Inner and Outer Party and why?
The Proles are presented as not intellegent, dirty, not respected people. They are “just proles” they don’t have any say in any matter. They are ordinary people that are actually way smarter than are given credit for. They are looked down upon. The inner and outer party have much more control and help the Party directly. “Proles and animales are free.” They treated like animals.
3) How does the Party represent capitalists before the Revolution?
They were described as owning everything, and everyone below them were slaves.
4) Who is Big Brother, Goldstein, Jones, Aaronson and Rutherford? What is their story?
In 1970, none of them had left yet except Big Brother himself. Goldstien had fled and was hiding somewhere, and Jones Aaronson and Rutherford were the three last survivors of the Revolution. They got arrested, and went to trial. In the second trial, they confessed all their crimes, old and new. They were then executed , and their fate was recorded in the Party Histories “a warning to posterity”.
5) What is the Chestnut Tree Café?
A cafe where the Proles live that Winston goes to. He once saw the three men: Jones, Aaronson and Rutherford there once a long time ago when he was much younger. he remembers watching them in awe, but also realising that they were criminals, outlaws, untouchables and the enemy.
6) What is the significance of the photograph found by Winston (p.81)?
It was a picture of Jones, Aaronson and Rutherford. It was about ten years old; a page ripped out of the Times.It was the three of them at some party function in New York.
7) What does Winston do with the photograph?
As soon as he had seen it and knew what it meant, he covered it up with a sheet of paper.
8) How does Winston feel about O’brien?
At the end of the Chapterm he realises something. He thinks to himself that he is writing the diary for O’Brien, to O’Brien. He comes to the conclusion that O’Brien is on his side. More certainly than ever before, he knows this.
9) Choose one or two lines that attracted your attention. Be prepared to discuss why.
Line one: “Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two is four. If that is granted, all else follows.”
Line two:
PART 1: Chapter VIII (Participation – post on your blog-do not submit hard copy, unless requested.)
1) Do party members ever spend time alone? Explain.
In principal, a party member was never alone except for when in bed. It was assumed that if you were not working, eating or sleeping you would be taking part in some sort of communal recreation. Even to go on a walk by yourself was looked upon as something dangerous to do. So no. Not unless they absolutely have to, or unless they are Winston.
2) What is “ownlife”?
Individualism and eccentricity.
3) What is a “steamer”?
A nickname for which the proles applied to rocket bombs.
4) What is Winston wearing that makes him stand out to the proles?
Blue overalls. All members of the party wear them so they stand out from proles.
5) What does Winston do to the human hand he finds in the gutter? What does this say about Winton’s previous experiences?
He kicks the hand into the gutter. This shows that Winston is acustomed to seeing this kind of image. To me, I would assume that he has been to war or somewhere that this kind of event would be normal. He was not asstonished by it at all, and it didn’t seem to bother him.
6) How do proles feel about the Lottery? What is the truth about the Lottery?
The proles treasure the Lottery. It greatly excites them and they loves playing for it. The “Big prizes” that the proles can win are never actually awarded to the,. Some in-existent person “wins” the big lottery, and only small sums were ever given out.
7) Why does Winston feel that “it could only be a prole” (p.90) who could give a “truthful account of conditions in the early part of the century”?
Winston knows that proles are truly intelligent, so when he wants to find out about the “olden days” he thinks the only way he can get a truthful answer is from a prole. Only a prole would be able to tell him what actually happened. A Part member would just say what they have to say, so it wouldn’t be the truth and it would most likely be something they were conditioned to say.
8) What question does Winton ask the man in the bar? What does Winston conclude at the end of the conversation with the man?
“You must have seen great changes since you were a young man.” By the end of the conversation, Winston sees that he hasn’t really got anything out of the man. The old man liked to rumble on about the old days, and he never really answer Winston’s question.
9) Describe the glass object Winston buys in the antique shop. (p99) Why is it “doubly attractive”?
It was a heavy lump of glass, curved on one side, flat on the other almost making a hemisphere. There was a peculiar softness of the glass that was almost like rain-water; Both the texture and the colour resembled this. At the heart of it, there was a strang pink object that resembled a rose or a sea anemone.
10) What is the name of the owner of the antique shop?
Mr.Charrington
11) When Winston runs into a female party member, what does he first consider doing and why does he change his mind?
He considers tracking her till they were in a quiet place, and then smashing her skull in with a coblestone. And then he thought that piece of glass in his pocket would be heavy enough for the job.
12) Choose one or two lines that attracted your attention. Be prepared to discuss why.
Line one: “The place where there is no darkness is the imagined future, which one would never see, but which by foreknowledge, one could mystically share in.”
PART II: Chapter I (Participation – post on your blog – do not submit hard copy unless requested.)
1) What is written on the piece of paper the girl gives Winston at work?
Written on the piece of paper are three simple words: “I love you”.
2) What are the two possibilities Winston believes are behind the piece of paper?
Winston won’t believe that she loves him, so he thinks of two things this note could possibly mean. He guesses that she is from the thoughtpolice and that maybe the piece of paper is the way the thoughtpolice “vaporizes” people. He then thinks that Maybe..the messgae came from some sort of underground organization. “Perhaps the Brotherhood existed afterall! Perhaps she was part of it!”. pg. 113
3) Winton considers how to meet with the girl. What are two ideas he dismisses and what does he finally decide to do?
Winston thought about trying to follow her home and meet her somewhere along the way, but then he realized that it wouldn’t be safe at all. Then he thought about sending her a message, but right away he realised that this was an even worse idea because all letters are opened by transit. Finally, he decided that the canteen would be the safest place. He could get her by herself sitting at a table away from the telescreens.
4) How long does it take Winston to talk to the girl?
It takes Winston over a week to successfully approach her and sit at a table with her to talk to her.
5) Where do they meet?
They meet in the canteen. The girl
6) Who is in control of their meetings? Give evidence.
The girl is always in control. Winston never has control over the conversation or situation. Pg. 121 “Can you hear me?” “Yes” “Can you get off Sunday afternoon?” “Yes” “Then listen carefully.” and she continues with a sort of military expression which astonishes Winston. Even in a conversation that is only a few words long, she leads. She always starts the conversations as well.
7) Choose one or two lines that attracted your attention. Be prepared to discuss why.
Line one: “Only five nights ago he had contemplated smashing her skull in with a cobblestone; but that was of no importance”.
Line two: “Whatever was written on the paper must have some sort of political meaning.” I think this line is really ironic, because in chapter 2 or 3 part two, we learn that their relation is all about politics. So it is really ironic that he says this before anything happens with them.
PART II: Chapter II (Participation – post on your blog – do not submit hard copy unless requested.)
1) When Julia asks Winston what he thought of her before that day, how does he respond?
He decideds that there is no part of him that wants to lie to her, so, he tells her the truth. “I hated the sight of you. I wanted to rape you and then murder you afterwards.”
2) What does Julia rip off her body?
Julia rips her clothes off of her body. And Winston is really pleased, because it is just like he had imagined it.
3) Where did Julia get the chocolate?
Julia got the chocolate on the black market.
4) At the top of page 130 a thrush appears. Orwell describes the thrush in detail. What do you think the thrush symbolizes? (there are multiple answers)
I think this could possibly symbolize freedom. The thrush could represent freedom of expression and how Winston and Julia want to live freely, but they can’t because the Party is so overbearing. There is no freedom for the people of Oceania. So seeing this beautiful bird, so free and so alive, makes Julia and Winston think about how wonderful life could be.
5) What does Julia say when Winston asks, “have you done this before?”
Julia says, “Of course, hundreds of times- well, scores of times anyway.”
6) Why is Winston so happy about her response?
Winston wished that she had hundreds, even thousands of times. “Anything that hinted at corruption always filled him with a wild hope”. Because Winston doesn’t agree with the Party in any way, so any rules or standars they have made he likes to rebel or at least disagree.
7) In the context of the story, explain why Winston says” “I hate purity, I hate goodness! I don’t want any virtue to exist anywhere. I want everyone to be corrupt to the bones.”
By having purity and goodness, it means that the Party has won. If everyone was pure and good, then the Party will have succeeded with what they intend to do. They don’t want people to be happy, or enjoy living in any way. And sex is a way in which people enjoy life, so that is unpure. Winston doesn’t agree/like the party, so anything that is against it, he’s for.
8) Write a short (5-6 sentences) response explaining the last 3 sentences of this chapter.
When I read the last three sentences of the chapter, it felt like the most important part of the book so far. In so few words, so much is said. When Julia and Winston had sex, they were not only showing their “love” and lust for eachother, the were defying against the Party. Their act, was a way to show their rebelience towards the Party. Instead of having sex for the mere purpose of reproducing, they did for pleasure. This act of theirs was a political act.
9) Choose one or two lines that attracted your attention. Be prepared to discuss why.
Line One: “It was a blow struck against the Party. It was a political act.” pg.133
Line two: “Except for her mouth, you could not call her beautiful.” pg.132
PART II: Chapter III (Participation – post on your blog – do not submit hard copy unless requested.)
1) Julia and Winston have very little time to meet. What keeps Julia so busy and why does she do it?
Julia helps make propaganda for the Junior Anti-Sex League. ‘I’m due back at nineteen-thirty. I’ve got to put in two hours for the Junior Anti-Sex League, handing out leaflets, or something. Isn’t that bloody?”. Julia spent tons of time attending lectures and demonstrations and distributing literature for the Junior Anti-Sex League. She prepared banners for Hate Week, making collections for the savings campaign.
2) Choose 5 powerful descriptive adjectives (use a thesaurus) that describe Julia. Provide evidence to support your choice and a page # for each choice. Please submit using the following format:
| Adjective | Page# | Evidence |
| PredominantDefiantFloozyRebelliousDaring | 133143137137137 | “Never go home the same way you went out”. She had named a place where they could meet, four evenings hence.”Then stop talking about dying, and now listen dear, we’ve got to fix up about the next time we meet.”She had her first love-affair when she was sixteen with a Party member of sixty who later committed suicide to avoid arrest.”Girls are always supposed to be so pure. Here’s one who isn’t anyway.”Life as she saw it, was quite simple. You wanted to have a good time, “they” meaning the Party, wanted to stop you having it; you broke the rules as best you could. |
3) Describe Pornosec?
Pornosec is the pornography department of the Ministry of Truth. Pornosec is exclusively for the Proles, to degrade them. Pornography is dirty and degrading, so Orwell uses Pronosec to show dehumanization within the Proles. Big Brother makes sex taboo for the Party members. Pornosec is not made for members of the Party. All the workers of Pornosec are girls, except for the heads of the departments.
4) When did Julia have her first love affair?
When Julia was sixteen she had her first love affair with a sixty year old Party member who later committed suicide to avoid arrest. Julia sees life in a very simple way. “You wanted a good time; ‘they’, meaning the Party, wanted to stop you having it”.
5) What does Julia think of the Brotherhood?
Julia refused to believe that there was something called Brotherhood. She had never heard of their existence, but she thought that any kind of organized revolt against the Party was doomed for failure and so she thought it stupid.
6) What is ‘goodthinkful”?
Goodthink means: naturally orthodox and incapable of thinking a bad thought. Winston’s wife Katharine was goodthink.
7) What does Julia mean when she says “All this marching up and down and cheering and waving flags is simply sex gone sour.” (p.139)
The Party doesn’t want anyone to feel happy or enjoy sex. They want everyone to be bursting with energy all the time. ‘When you make love you’re using up energy; and afterwards you feel happy and don’t give a damn for anything.” The Party can’t stand anyone feeling like that. Sex is supposed to be something wonderful, but the Party doesn’t allowe for that. What Julia is saying, is that the Party makes sex exactly what it’s not supposed to be like. The fact that they (The Party) always wants “marching up and down and cheering” shows that they don’t want sex to be something enjoyed. “Sex gone sour”.
8) Choose one or two lines that attracted your attention. Be prepared to discuss why.
Line one: “With Julia, everything can back down to her own sexuality”.
PART II: Chapter IV (Participation – post on your blog – do not submit hard copy unless requested.)
1) Who is Mr. Charrington and where do Julia and Winston now meet?
Mr. Charrington is the shop owner where Winston bought the rain-like piece of crystal. Julia and Winston now meet in a room above Mr.Charrington’s shop. He has a bed room with a double bed and a book shelf along with paintings on the wall and a window looking out to the street.
2) What is a “versificator”? (p145)
A versificator is a machine that creates songs. ” The words of theses songs were composed without any human intervention whatever on an instument known as a versificator.”
3) Julia shows up with groceries. Where did she get them?
Julia brought a whole bunch of things to Winston when she went to meet him at Mr.Charrington’s room. She brought “Real sugar. Not saccharine sugar.” And a loaf of proper white bread, not the “bread” they get from the Party. She also brought a little pot of jam and a little tin of milk. And the most excting thing that she brought for the both of them to enjoy was “real coffee”. It was Inner Party coffee. She also brought along a little packet of tea. ” Real tea. Not blackberry leaves”.
4) What does Julia talk about that horrifies Winston?
Julia talks about a rat. She sees a rat scurying through the room and states, “Hi! Get out you filthy brute!”. She seized her shoe and flings it at the rat that just merely ezcaped it into a hole.
5) Describe the paperweight (p152). Why does Winston like it? How is the paperweight like a metaphor for their relationship? (p154)
The paperweight has a “rainwatery appearance of the glass”. Unclosing coral, there is beautiful glass that looks almost transparent like air. Even though it has this transparency, it also has so much depth to it. The paperweight is like a metaphor for their relationship because the coral in the center of the glass is Julia’s and Winston’s life. And it is fixed in a sort of eternity at the heart of the crystal. The most fascinating part of paperweight, is the unusual texture and originality. Julia and Winston have a very unusual and original relationship. Not an ordinary relationship in Oceania. The paperweight is beautiful in it’s own way, just like Julia and Winton’s relationship.
6) Nursery rhymes are mentioned throughout the novel. Write two verses of a nursery rhyme you sang as a child. Google the song and write a few notes about the origins. What is Orwell pointing out by mentioning nursery rhymes so often? (Hint: Inner and Outer party members are not allowed to sing these songs.)
“Ring around the rosie, A pocket full of posies, Ashes ashes, We all fall down. ring around the rosies, A pocket full of posies, A-Tishoo! A-Tishoo! We all fall down.” The origin to this Nusery ryhme dates back to historical times in London (1655) when the Bubonic Plague hit. The symptoms of the plague included a rosy red rash in the shape of a ring on the skin (Ring around the rosy). Pockets and pouches were filled with sweet smelling herbs ( or posies) which were carried due to the belief that the disease was transmitted by bad smells. The term “Ashes Ashes” refers to the cremation of the dead bodies!
7) Choose one or two lines that attracted your attention. Be prepared to discuss why.
Line one: “She gave the tips of his fingers a quick squeeze that seemed to invite not desire but affection.”
PART II: Chapter V (Participation – post on your blog – do not submit hard copy unless requested.)
1) Describe some of the details of Syme’s disappearance?
Winston goes to check the notice board three days after Syme’s dissapearance and notices that the printed list of members of the Chess Committee is short one person. And sure enough, Syme’s name is gone. Everything about it looked exactly the same. There was no line drawn through a name or any signs of change. Only the missing name: Syme.
2) List 5 non-violent preparations being made for Hate Week.
The preparation for Hate week was in full swing. Songs had to be written, slogans coined, effigies built, rumours circulated, photographs faked etc.
3) List 3 acts of violence likely engineering by the Party for Hate Week.
Rocket bombs crashed way more often, making enourmous explosions. The song designed for Hate Week called the Hate Song could be considered violent because as Winston said, it is terrifying. It had a savage barking rhythm that could not exactly be called music.
4) List 4-5 things Julia believes that surprises Winston? (p160-61)
Julia has many interesting thoughts that Winston doesn’t. One is, ” The rocket bombs which fell daily on London, were probably fired by the Government itself, just to keep people frightened. ” She also says that in the Two Minutes Hate, she has to try really hard to stop herself from bursting with laughter. Julia believes that the Party invented aeroplanes. Julia also did not remember that only four years ago, Oceania was at war with Eastasia and at peace with Eurasia.
5) Go back to Part II, Number 2. Add 5 more adjectives to your list, based on this chapter.
6) What does Winston mean when he says, “You’re only a rebel from the waist downwards.” (p163)
Julia always talks as though she wants to overthrow the Party. She acts rebelious towards them and totally “dissagrees” with all they have to say and all they do. But really, she is never going to act on it. She is only truly rebelious when it comes to promiscuity. Winston knows that she only ever rebels in the sense of having sex for fun and pleasure.
7) Choose one or two lines that attracted your attention. Be prepared to discuss why.
Line one: ” To hang on from day to day and from week to week, spinning out a present that had no future, seemed an unconquerable instinct, just as one’s lungs will always draw the next breath so long as there is air available.”
PART II: Chapter VI (Participation – post on your blog – do not submit hard copy unless requested.)
1) Under what pretense are Winston and O’brien meeting?
Winston and O’brien meet at Winston’s workplace the first time. And O’brien arranges for Winston to meet him at his house to give him the dictionar.
2) What changes have been made to the 10th Edition of Newspeak? What might the Party’s motive be in making this particular change?
O’brien says, “the reduction in the number of verbs- that is the point that will apeal to you, I think.” I think that by making the chamge, the Party’s goal is that people have less verbs that they know because that means they have less actions.
3) Choose one or two lines that attracted your attention. Be prepared to discuss why.
Line one: ” I was talking recently to a friend of yours who is certainly an expert. His name has slipped my memory for the moment.”
PART II: Chapter VII (Participation – post on your blog – do not submit hard copy unless requested.)
1) When Winston thinks back to his childhood, how did he behave towards his mother and sister? Provide details.
Winston was quite the rude and greedy child. He did not respect his mother or his sister. Even though Winston knew that his sister was not well, and years younger than him, he still felt the need to take food from her. One day when the chocolate ration was issued, Winston stole the little bit of chocolate his Mother had given his sister “With a sudden swift spring he had snatched the piece of chocolate out of his sister’s hand and was fleeing for the door.” At every meal, Winston would be greedy and take way more food than his share. When his mother would try to explain to him that he didn’t need to be so selfish, and he shouldn’t because his sister was sick, he “would try to wrench the saucepan and spoon out of her hands, he would grab bits from his sister’s plate.” He did not seem to care about them or their wellbeing.
2) What happens to his mother and sister?
Winston’s mother and sister dissapear. Winston goes downstairs after his fit about the chocolate, and never sees his mother and sister again. “He turned and fled downstairs with the chocolate growing sticky in his hand. He never saw his mother again.” (p.170)
3) What does Winston mean when he says, “The proles had stayed human”? (p.172)
When Winston is yet again thinking about the Proles, “for the first time in his life, he did not despise the proles or think of them merely as an inertforce which would one day spring to life and regenerate the world.” Winston realised that they are human. They were not loyal to a party or country or an idea, they were loyal to one another. They had not become hardened inside. “They had held on to the primitive emotions which he himself had to re-learn by consious effort.” (p172)
4) Re-read from the last paragraph of page 173 to the end of the chapter on page 174. Use a sticky note to tag this part; it will become important later in the book. What do Julia and Winston believe the Party will never be able to do?
Winston and Julia believe that the Party will never be able to make them believe in anything. “They can make you say anything — anything — but they can’t make you believe it. They can’t get inside you.” says Julia. Winston agrees with what Julia says.
5) Choose one or two lines that attracted your attention. Be prepared to discuss why.
Line one: “When the last of the chocolate was gone, his mother had clasped the child in her arms. It was no use, it changed nothing, it did not produce more chocolate, it did not avert the child’s death or her own; but it seemed natural to her to do it.”
PART II: Chapter VIII (Participation – post on your blog – do not submit hard copy unless requested.)
1) How is O’Brien’s room different from Winston’s flat? Give details.
O’Brien’s room is beautiful. Long shaped and softly lit, with a rich darket-blue carpet was what Julia and Winston first saw when they entered the oasis. The room’s atomosphere is rich and spacious and there is an unfamiliar smell of good food and good tobacco. “Thsilent and incredibly rapid lifts sliding up and down, the white-jacketed servants hurrying to and fro — everything was intimidating.”
2) To whom do they raise their wine glasses?
They raise their glases to Goldstein. “To our Leader: To Emmanuel Goldstein.”
3) State two things Julia and Winston are willing to do for the Party.
Julia and Winston say they are willing to give their lives and they are prepared to commit murder for the Party.
4) What does Julia say she will not do?
Julia says that she is not willing to part with Winston and never see him again.
5) Who wrote the book O’brien promises to send Winston?
The book O’brien promises to give Winston is written by Goldstein.
6) Choose one or two lines that attracted your attention. Be prepared to discuss why.
Line one “There is no possibility that any perceptible change will happen within our own lifetime. We are the dead. Our only true life is in the future. We shall take part in it as handfuls of dust and splinters of bone.”
PART II: Chapter IX (Participation – post on your blog – do not submit hard copy unless requested.)
1) What do the crowds do, specifically, when they are told that Oceania is not at war with Eurasia, but is at war with Eastasia?
There was tremedous commotion. The citizens realized that the banners and posters that were put up all over the square were wrong. Have of the posters had the wrong faces on them.”There was a riotous interlude while posters were ripped from the walls.” Banners were torn apart and sampled on.
2) In a paragraph, describe what the employees at the Record Department have to do with this new information?
The employees at the Record department have to rectify report and records of all kinds, newpapers, books, pamphlets, films, sound tracks, and photographs at lightning speed. All the people in the Rocrds department had to work eighteen hours in the twenty-four, with three two-hour snatches of sleep.
3) What is an oligarchy?
An oligarchy is a small group of people who control and run a particular country or organization.
4) Who is the author of the book?
George Orwell.
The Book: (Remember when you are reading this challenging part of the book, that it is describing the years leading up to and including Winston’s world in 1984 and not our world today.)
5) What is a hierarchy?
A system or organization in which people or groups are ranked one above the other according to status or authority.The upper echelons of a hierarchical system; those in authority.
p.193 What countries comprise the three super-states? (p193) Find a picture of the territories on the internet and insert it here:
Eurasia comprises the whole of the Northern part of the European and Asiatic land-mass. Oceania comprises the Americas. Eastasia comprises China and the countries to the south of it.
6) How long have the super-states been at war? (p193)
The three super-states are permanentely at war and have been for the past 25 years.
7) What are the 3 things that make this war different from others in the past? (p193)
It is a warfare of limited aims between combatants who are unable to to destroy one another, have no material cause for fighting and are not divided
8) Where does the fight take place? Are there many casualties? (p193)
9) Create your own list of 10 legitimate reasons why human beings have fought wars. Be specific – money is not specific. (Collaborate with your classmates).
10) The book states that “None of the three super-states could be definitively conquered even by the other two in combination. Give details to explain why. (p 194)
11) According to the book, is the economic purpose of the war? (p194)
12) Why do the states want to control Africa, the Middle East, Southern India and Indonesia? Explain. (p195)
13) The book states that “the labor of the exploited people around the Equator is not really necessary to the world’s economy.” If so, then why capture them at all? (p196)
14) What is the purpose of war? Why? Explain in a paragraph or note form. (p196)
15) Explain how the following quote relates to the aim of the Inner Party: “But it was clear that an all round increase in wealth threatened the destruction-indeed, in some sense was the destruction-of a hierarchical society.” (p197)
16) According to the book, what happens if leisure and security are enjoyed by all alike? (p198)
17) According to the book, a hierarchical society was only possible based on what? (p198)
18) According to the book, how do you “keep the wheels of industry turning without increasing the real wealth of the world? (p198)
19) According to the book, what is the essential act of war? (p198)
20) According to the book, why is the manufacturing of weapons convenient? (p199)
21) According to the book, what important reason does the state have for not ordering its citizens to build pyramids or temples instead of weapons if the aim is just to keep them busy? Whose morale is most important? (p200)
22) According to the book where is the hysteria and hatred of the enemy strongest? How does what you’ve learned about doublethink relate to this? (p200)
23) What is one of the few remaining activities for an inventive mind? (p201)
24) What are the two aims of the Party? (p201)
25) What are the two great problems for the Party to overcome? (p201)
26) Read page 204 carefully. In a paragraph, explain why no invasion of enemy territory is ever undertaken? (p204)
27) What 3 aspects of a social system is similar to all three super-states? (p205)
28) “The ruling groups of all three powers are simultaneously aware and unaware of what they are doing. Their lives are dedicated to world conquest, but they also know that it is necessary that the war should continue everlastingly and without victory.” (No question here – just wanted to point out how cool and strange and awful those statements are.)
29) According to the book, what is the object of war? (p207)
30) According the book, what are the three kinds of people in the world, what are their aims and what eventually happens to them? (p209-10)
31) According the book, what are the only four ways in which a ruling group can fall from power? (p215)-
32) According the book, what is the function of Big Brother? (p216-
33) According the book, what is the essence of oligarchical rule? (p218)
34) What is “crimestop”? (p220-21)
35) According the book, why is the alteration of the past necessary? (p221)
36) Try, to the best of your ability, to explain doublethink in your own words. Try coming up with your own example. (p223)
37) List at least 5 examples of contradictions or doublethink used by the party. (p225)
38) According the book, what is the prevailing mental condition of the High? (p225)
PART II: Chapter X (Participation – post on your blog – do not submit hard copy unless requested.)
1) Where does the voice “You are the dead” come from?
The voice “You are the dead” comes from behind the picture in Winston and Julia’s room.
2) What happens to the paperweight? How is this symbolic of Julia and Winston’s story?
Someone picked uo the paperweight and threw it and it smashed into pieces on the hearth-stone. This symbolizes Winston and Julia’s relationship because their lives are about to be smashed into a million fragments aswell. TheTelescreen behind the picture was exposed, and now everything changes. Winston and Julia are no longer in “safety”.
3) What does Charrington turn out to be?
Mr. Charrington turns out to be a member of the thoughtpolice. His voice was the voice that Winston and Julia heard behind the portrait. The whole time that Winston and Julia thought they were safe, they were being closely observed by Mr. Charrington.
PART III: Chapter I (Participation – post on your blog – do not submit hard copy unless requested.)
1) Winston notices a stark difference between the way Party prisoners behave and are treated and common prisoners. Find at least 10 points of comparison between the two and fill out a table similar to this:
Political Behavior:
- Sitting still
- Silence
- Extremely frightened to speak to anyone
- Especially scared to talk to each other
Political Treatment:
- All unwanted jobs done by these people
- Were watched under a microscope
- Very little movement was allowed
Common Behavior:
- Less respect
- Loud and obnoxious
- Disrespectful
- Make scenes
- Are not frightened to speak aloud
- Talk to each other
Common Treatment:
- Don’t bother with them
- Are left alone
- Disregarded
PART III: Chapter II (Participation – post on your blog – do not submit hard copy unless requested.)
1) List the number of things to which Winston confesses.
Winston confessed to the assasination of eminent Party memebers, the distribution of seditious pamphlets, sale of military secrets, embezzlement of public funds, sabatoge of every kind. He also confesses that he had been a spy in the pay of Eastasian government as far back as 1968. He confessed that he was a religious believer and an admirer of capitalism and a sexual pervert. He confessed that he killed his wife, even though he knew that she was still alive. He confessed that for years he had been in personal touch with Goldstein and that he had been a member of the underground organization which had included almost every single human being ever known.
2) What does O’brien say is wrong with Winston?
O’Brien says that Winston is mentally deranged. He says that Winston suffers from a defective memory. He says that Winston is unable to remember real events and he persuades himself to remember events that never happened.
3) On p. 259, Winston thinks: That was doublethink. To what is he referring.
When O’Brien shows Winston the picture of Aaron and Goldstien, both of them see it right before O’Brien puts it in the memory hole. After the picture is gone, Winston still remembers it, but when he tries to explain this to O’Brien, he does not recall it. Winston thinks that this is doublethink because O’Brien shows him the picture, and then the picture disappears but yet Winston still knows that it existed even though O’Brien doesn’t.
4) What is O’brien’s view of reality which he describes to Winston?
O’brien tells Winston that only a disciplined mind can see reality. He says, “You believe that reality is objective, external, existing in it’s own right. You also believe that the nature of reality is self-evident.” Then he continues to say that reality exists in the human mind. And not in the individual mind that can make mistakes, but the mind of the Party. Whatever the Party holds to be truth, is truth. He says that it is impossible to see reality except looking through the eyes of the Party.
5) Open the following site: Ivan Pavlov In a short paragraph, discuss how Ivan Pavlov’s research is similar to O’brien’s methods with Winston.
Ivan Pavlov, a Russian scientist studied the laws on the formation of conditioned reflexes. Through experimenting with dogs, he came to find that if he would ring a bell around their meal time, they would associate this sound with food and they would drool. After a while of continuing this, the dogs would drool from merely the sound of the bell. O’Brien uses similar methods to Pavlov’s when torturing people. When toturing people, he uses conditioning to manipulate people into believing what he wants them to believe. At the beginning when O’Brien is torturing Winston, he tries to engrave 2+2=5 in Winston’s head. O’Brien uses the same sort of methods as Pavlov.
6) According to O’brien, why has Winston been brought to the Ministry of Love?
O’brien says that Winston is at the Ministry of Love so that he can be made sane. O’brien says, “To cure you! To make you sane!”.
7) On page 266 O’brien says “And above all we do not allow the dead to rise up against us.” What does he mean by this? (This is an interesting questions that deserves your time – read from the bottom of 265 and all of 266 for the answer.)
I think O’brien means that the people that have died, or have “vanished” are people whos opinions, thoughts, beliefs, rituals etc. should not be followed. Those people that are no longer alive, should not have any power, and should not be able to “rise up against us.” Winston rose up against the Party because he believed in Rutherford and Goldstein and these people, were the kind of people to rise against the Party. And because people like Winston, (people who are still alive) follow their beliefs, in a way, they (the dea) are rising againt the Party.
8) When Winston asks why he s being tortured (p267), O’brien says, “But we make the brain perfect before we blow it out.” In a short paragraph, explain what he means by this. (Read all of 267-268 to provide your answer.)
O’brien says that “we make him one of ourselves before we kill him.” O’brien wants the mind of the caputered to be free of all evil and illusion. He means that he wants all the minds to be “pure” and minds like those of the Party. They must not have evil thoughts, or thought of corruption. Only thoughts that the Party members would have. Before someone is killed, their mind must be “perfect”. O’brien does not want anyone dying with their own thoughts and beliefs. Only the thoughts and beliefs of his or the Party’s must be present at the time of death.
9) Choose one or two lines that attracted your attention. Explain why.
Line one: “You are a flaw in the pattern Winston.” I love this line because this is really an ironic statement made by O’brien. In the “system” of the Party, he is a flaw. Winston is too wise and too smart. He has his own mind and it has not be corrupted by the Party members. But, Winston is truly intellegent, and the reason why he is called a “flaw” is because he thinks too much and knows too much.
PART III: Chapter III (Participation – post on your blog – do not submit hard copy unless requested.)
1) According to O’Brien, what are the three stages in Winston’s re-integration?
Three stages are: Leaning, understanding and acceptance.
2) Who wrote “the Book”?
The Book, is written by Goldstein.
3) Explain what Winston means when he says (p. 275) “What can you do…against the lunatic who is more intelligent than yourself, who gives your arguments a fair hearing and then simply persists in his lunacy?”
4) O’Brien states that the Party is different from all the other oligarchies of the past. Explain what he means by this? (p.275-76)
O’brien means that the Party knows what they are doing. They do not wish to help people or make happiness. They are solely interested in power. He says that all others were cowards and hypocrites. He says that the German Nazis and the Russian Communists never had the courage to recognize their own motives. O’brien says, “We are not like that. We know that no one seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it.”
5) O’Brien asks Winston to strip and look at himself in the mirror. Why do you think he does this? How does Winston respond?
O’brien wanted Winston to see what he looked like. His image had changed drastically since he had been captured and O’brien wanted him to see the difference. Winston is a “bowed, grey-coloured, skeleton-like thing. O’brien wants Winston to see what has happened to him and how horrible and vulnerable he looks. O’brien wants Winston to see how filthy and old he looks.
6) Choose one or two lines that attracted your attention. Explain why.
Line one: “You might have thought sometimes, that my face- the face of a member of the Inner Party- looks old and worn. What do you think of your own face?”
I chose this line because I think that by thise simple words to Winston, O’brien has so much power over him. It is almost a threat. In a way, O’brien is rubbing in the fact that Winston’s face is no longer how it used to be. And presently, it is much worse looking than O’brien’s (an Inner Party memeber’s).
PART III: Chapter IV (Participation – post on your blog – do not submit hard copy unless requested.)
1) In a single paragraph of at least 125 words, explain how Winston has changed physically and mentally since he last saw O’brien. Use evidence and some quotations to support your argument.
Winston was getting much better. He had gained weight and was getting fat. Each day Winston became stronger. He had bathed and was much cleaner now. They had given him new overalls and new underclothes. Winston had changed mentally too. He no longer desired to converse or think of anything intellectual. He was sufficient being alone and not being beaten or questioned. He had enough to eat and he was clean all over. He was completely satisfied. He no longer felt pain and even though he was not truly doing anything, he did not feel bored.
2) Explain what Winston means on page 294 when he says, “They would have blown a hole in their own perfection. To die hating them, that was freedom.”
If Winston was to die hating the Party, that would mean that he had won. He would be free if he died hating them. So in order prevent this from happening, the haters of the Party go through everything that Winston did so that by the time you die, or are killed, you no longer hate the Party. Because to hate the Party when you die, is power over the Party. And lost control of the Party.
PART III: Chapter V (Participation – post on your blog – do not submit hard copy unless requested.)
1) How does Winston save himself?
Winston saves himself by demanding that they (O’brien) and the Party ruin/kill Julia instead of himself. He says, “Do it to Julia! Do it to Julia! Not me! Julia! I dont care what you do to her. Tear her face off, strip her to the bones. Not me! Julia! Not me!”.
2) In the last paragraph of the chapter, what is symbolically happening to Winston. (Don’t worry if you find this difficult – we’ll discuss this)
Winston has become fully brainwashed and controlled by the Party and O’brien. Before he was captured, Winston would have said for them to take him and kill him instead of Julia. There would have been no possiblity of him saving his oen life instead of hers. He loved her, but they have stripped all emotion and rational thought from him.
PART III: Chapter VI (Participation – post on your blog – do not submit hard copy unless requested.)
1) Where is Winston in this chapter?
Winston is in the Chestnut Tree.
2) What a couple of things Winston can do now that he couldn’t before he was arrested?
Winston can live his life peacefully. He can live without the rebelliousness against the Party.
3) Discuss the symbolism of the chess game Winston plays (with himself…Orwell is so brilliant!).
Winston is in the Chestnut Café and he is looking at the board and realises many things. He thinks that Big Brother represents the white chess pieces and he represents the black. And then Winston thinks that in no chess problem ever, has there ever been a game where black wins. I think this represents the fact that Big Brother will always win, and Winston never will.
4) Winston says the story he has just remembered about his family is false. What does this tell you about what has happened to Winston?
This tells us that Winston has be conditioned to believe things that aren’t true. What he remembered was correct but because of his conditioning, he believed that he falsely remembered a story about his family.
5) What, according to the last couple sentences of the book, has happened to Winston?
According to the book, Winston has accepted everything that O’Brien has taught him. “He loved Big Brother”. After the whole fight against the Party, it had gone to waste because Winston had been sucked into the Party’s ways. Winston is conditioned to believe that Big Brother is good, and in the end of the book it says, ” forty years it had taken him to learn what kind of smile was hidden beneath the dark mustache.”
Beauty and Ugliness
Beauty
This enchanted gorgeous phone shines with prestigious luminosity. The moment that you turn on the phone, you’re hypnotized. It’s crystalline coating and pearly white colour captures your attention at every moment. It enraptures you. It’s blinding beauty. When you don’t want it to be so bright and dazzling, it can be crepuscular. It’s melliflluous touch makes it that much more desirable to hold.
Ugliness
This repugnant phone is the opposite of the beautiful I phone 5. The curves are distasteful, not sleek at all. This phone is so decrepit. It is such an old fashion model. Its maladroit design is very unapealing
Cliches
We need to stop complaining about the Earth’s problems; Actions speak louder than words. All in a day’s work so much could be accomplished. Even though everyone has different thoughts, and sometimes they’re all over the map, we just need to put all the bits and pieces together. If we would just nip the problem in the butt, it would be a piece of cake to solve. At the end of the day, we should realize that the Earth’s problem’s are because of humans. Life is short, so if we don’t do anything about the problems on this planet, we will all die in hell.
Cliches
Global Warming:
We need to stop being scared of fixing the Earth’s problems. Actions speak louder than words. All in a day’s work so much could be accomplished. Even though everyone has different thoughts, and sometimes they’re all over the map, we just need to put all the bits and pieces together.
delaneykonrad 