1984 Questions
Book 1:
Chapter I:
1. What was the job of the Thought Police?
2. List and describe the ministries that exist in the party’s government?
3. What did Winston pull out of his drawer?
4. What are the telescreens? What do they do? Explain.
5. What are the three slogans of the party?
6. Why was it hard for Winston to walk upstairs?
7. Who are the proles?
8. Who is O’Brien?
9. What was Winston’s “thought crime”?
Chapter II:
1. Why is Winston afraid to open his door?
2. Who is Mrs. Parsons and what is strange about her kids?
3. Describe Winston’s dream.
4. Why doesn’t Winston have many childhood memories?
5. Why does Mrs. Parsons fear her own children?
Chapter III:
1. What are the physical jerks?
2. Why does the telescreen suddenly call out to Winston?
Chapter IV:
1. Where does Winston work?
2. What is a speakwrite?
3. What are memory holes?
4. List one news item of the Times.
5. Besides newspapers, what else was subject to “alteration”?
6. Which department didn’t discuss their jobs?
7. What does it mean to be “vaporized”?
8. Who is Comrade Ogilvy? List five characteristics.
9. What is an “unperson”?
Chapter V:
1. Who is Syme? What department does he work in?
2. What is a philologist?
3. There had been a famine of ______over the last few months.
4. Describe the regulation lunch.
5. What was the whole aim of Newspeak?
6. Describe “duckspeak”.
7. Who is Parsons, and why is he looking for Winston?
8. What does Parsons say about his daughter and the hike from last Saturday?
9. What good news poured out of the telescreen?
10. Why does Winston feel terror at the end of this chapter?
Chapter VI:
1. Describe the woman that Winston wrote about in his diary.
2. What memory was tormenting Winston?
3. Who is Katherine?
4. What is the punishment for being caught with a prostitute?
5. Under what conditions could prostitution be encouraged?
6. Under what conditions could marriage be discouraged?
7. What was the Junior Anti-Sex League?
8. What was the ideal was to conceive a child?
9. How long had Katherine been gone?
10. What does Winton think about his wife? Explain.
11. What were Katherine’s conditions involving sex with Winston? Explain.
Chapters VII-VIII: Summary
1. Why would it be possible for the Proles to overcome the police?
2. List and discuss the problems in the city of London.
3. What was the lie that Winston caught the party in?
4. What does Winston think of O’Brien?
5. Why does Winston envy the lives of those in the Prole district?
6. What does Winston learn from the old man?
7. What terrifies Winston on the way home?
8. Why is Winston afraid of the Thought Police?
9. Discuss the three quotes at the end of chapter VIII.
10. What themes and motifs are we seeing here?
Book 2
Chapter I:
1. In which department does Julia work?
2. What was the expectation regarding expressing one’s feelings? Who or what was watching?
3. In what area were the telescreens watching continuously?
4. What was going on in Winston’s mind as he prepared to read the note?
5. What was the artistic project of the Spies?
6. Where did Winston go that night for entertainment? Explain what went on there.
7. What frightened Winston about the girl?
8. Why couldn’t Winston send the girl a letter?
9. What went on in Winston’s mind when he didn’t see the girl for a few days?
10. Who interrupted Winston’s plan to sit with the girl during lunch? What did Winston want to do to him?
11. What fear is going on in Winston’s head as he finally sits near the girl?
12. Where did Winston and the girl agree to meet? Why wouldn’t telescreens be a problem?
13. Describe what happens during their meeting at the end of the chapter.
Chapter II:
1. How were things different in the country?
2. The train was full of______.
3. What did Winston gather while in the woods waiting for the girl?
4. What physical feature of the girl had Winston no noticed before?
5. What information does Winston reveal about his teeth?
6. According to the girl, why are they safe at the spot they’re in?
7. What does Winston reveal to the girl about what was going on in his mind the first time that he saw her?
8. What was the symbol of the Junior Anti-Sex League that the girl swings off of her body?
9. Why does she carry good chocolates?
10. What are her reasons for singling out Winston?
11. What does Julia reveal about the Party members?
12. After their sexual encounter, why was Winston so excited?
Chapter III:
1. Where would Winston and Julia’s next meeting take place?
2. What was Julia’s job with the Anti-Sex League?
3. What are two things that Winston still doesn’t know about Julia?
4. Where else did they meet for sex?
5. At Julia’s suggestion, what would Winston spend doing during some of his free evenings?
6. How old is Julia? Where does she live?
7. Discuss three things about Julia’s past.
8. What was the “Muck House”? What was interesting about its workers?
9. Who was Julia’s first lover? How old was she at the time?
10. What does Julia say about the Party?
11. According to Julia, what was one reason that the Party was against sex?
12. Discuss Winston’s description of a perfect opportunity to kill Katherine.
Chapter IV:
1. What was the purpose of renting a room above Mr. Charrington’s shop? What object did he bring for decoration? Discuss its symbolism
2. What did Winston hear in the background as the Prole woman sang?
3. What was different for Winston the second time he and Julia had sex?
4. What did Julia bring with her to the room? What was in the bag?
5. What was different about the coffee?
6. What made Julia more feminine at this point?
7. What did the bed NOT have?
8. Winston has a major fear of______.
9. What does Winston say about the glass paper weight?
10. Why does Julia know the words to the song? Who taught them to her?
11. What is the symbolism of the glass paper weight?
Chapter V:
1. What committee had Syme belonged to?
2. What had been plugged in to all of the telescreens?
3. Who kept playing the Hate song, over and over?
4. Described the new poster that had appeared all over London.
5. What resulted (the effects) of the angry demonstrations?
6. Why were Winston and Julia lying in bed near an open window?
7. Winston lost the need for what?
8. Describe the physical changes in Winston.
9. Describe Winston’s fantasies about the future as he glances at the glass paper weight?
10. What does Winston tell Julia about O’Brien?
11. Discuss the differences between Winston and Julia. Include their different attitudes toward the government and the Party.
12. Why don’t they know anything about the past revolution?
Chapter VI:
1. What does O’Brien tell Winston about his Newspeak article?
2. What is the significance of O’Brien giving Winston his address?
3. How does a person go about getting someone’s address?
Chapter VII:
1. Describe Winston’s dream. How old is he in the dream?
2. What changes did Winston notice about his mother when his father disappeared?
3. What was the topic of the biggest fights Winston would have with his mother?
4. What had been suddenly rationed?
5. What had Winston snatched from his sister?
6. What was strange about his mother and sister’s disappearance?
7. What would happen as soon as you were in the grip of the party?
8. What group had stayed human?
9. What was the one thing that the party could NOT make Winston and Julia do?
10. What was Winston and Julia’s guess as to what happened inside the Ministry of Love?
Chapters VIII-X Printed Summary:
1. Who do Winston and Julia go visit together? What is the topic of conversation? (VIII)
2. At one rally, what does the speaker announce about Oceania? (IX)
3. Discuss the topic of Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism? (IX)
4. What wakes Julia one morning? (X)
5. Where did Julia and Winston find a hidden telescreen? (X)
6. What happens to Winston and Julia? (X)
7. What is discovered about Mr. Charrington?(X)
Book 3
Chapters I-II Printed Summary:
1. Where was Winston taken? (I)
2. What is on Winston’s mind at this point? (I)
3. What is Appleforth’s crime? (I)
4. What happens in room 101? (I)
5. What crime is Parsons accused of? Who turns him in? (I)
6. According to O’Brien, what was Winston’s crime? (II)
7. What do Winston and O’Brien talk about? (II)
Chapter III:
1. Define reintegration. What are the three stages.
2. What does O’Brien say about the party and about the proletarians?
3. Summarize what O’Brien says about power.
4. What is the “dial”?
5. According to O’Brien, how does one man assert his power over another?
6. Why doesn’t Winston believe that O’Brien’s world is an impossible dream?
7. What does Winston tell O’Brien about human nature?
8. Describe the recording that Winston hears as he is speaking with O’Brien?
9. What does Winston see when he views himself in the mirror?
10. What does O’Brien toss across the room?
11. Why does Winston burst into tears?
12. How is Winston’s body similar to his mind?
13. How did Winston betray Julia?
Chapter IV:
1. What made Winston’s new cell better than the last one?
2. What occurred every night as Winston slept? (not dreams!!)
3. How did Winston pass the time in his cell?
4. For how many years had the Thought Police been watching Winston?
5. What can we see happening to Winston’s mind as he writes those important quotes?
6. What are the various possibilities for Winston’s future?
7. Who or what does Winston see in his hallucination?
8. According to O’Brien, in what area had Winston failed to make progress?
Chapter V:
1. What is in room 101?
2. What does O’Brien say about the rats and their intelligence?
3. Describe the rats’ plan of attack.
4. What does Winston feel is the only way in which to save himself?
5. Why does O’Brien remove the cage?
Chapter VI:
1. Describe changes in Winston.
2. What does Winston drink at The Chestnut Tree?
3. Who was Oceania at war with?
4. What does the waiter give Winston in addition to a drink?
5. What was different for Winston when he sees Julia? What are the same words they say to each other?
6. Winston was overwhelmed with desire to ______while speaking with Julia? (not have sex with her!)
7. What was Winston’s job description with The Ministry of Truth?
8. What memory floated through Winston’s mind while drinking at The Chestnut Tree?