1984 Part 2
What incredible switch occurs on the sixth day of Hate Week?
It was announced that Oceania was not at war with Eurasia, Oceania was at war with Eastasia. Eurasia was an ally. The enemy was Eastasia, not Eurasia.
What was the one thing that Julia and Winston could never do?
Julia and Winston can never have children, "Out of their bodies no child would ever come. That was the one thing they could never do" (219)
In chapter 3, where do Julia and Winston meet?
Julia and Winston meet in the church tower. They sat talking for hours and we learned that Julia is 26 years old and lives in a hostel with thirty other girls. All church towers were abandoned at this time. Julia was very athletic growing up, playing field hockey and gymnastics.
Who is Martin? Describe him briefly.
Martin is O'Brien's servant. He is described as a "Little man". He has no scars on his face, telling us that he had never been given a new identity. He has dark eyes and he is described as having, "Not a trace of friendliness in his manner" (174).
What reaction/memory does the rat trigger for Winston?
When Winston realizes there is a rat in the room, he instantly freaks out because it reminds him of a recurring dream he had. The dream was that, "He was standing in front of a wall of darkness, and on the other side of it there was something unendurable, something too dreadful to be faced...He always woke up without discovering what it was, but somehow it was connected with what Julia had been saying when he cut her short" (144-145)
What physical contact do they engage in?
Winston and the girl hold hands, "But at the last moment, while the crowd still hemmed them in, her hand felt for his and gave it a fleeting squeeze" (116)
Although he did not read to the end of the book, what does Winston guess is the message at the end of Goldstein's book?
"If there was hope, it lay in the proles! Without having read to the end of the book, he knew that that must be Goldstein's final message. The future belonged to the proles" (220).
Describe O'Brien's home.
-"The room they were standing in was long-shaped and softly lit. The telescreen was dimmed to a low murmur; the richness of the dark-blue carpet gave one the impression of treading on velvet" (167) -"The whole atmosphere of the huge block of flats, the richness and spaciousness of everything, the unfamiliar smells of good food and good tobacco, the silent and incredibly rapid lifts sliding up and down, the white-jacketed servants hurrying to and fro-everything was intimidating" (168)
Name four specific things Winston learns about the Brotherhood from O'Brien.
-Winston learns, "The Brotherhood cannot be wiped out because it is not an organization in the ordinary sense. Nothing holds it together except an idea which is indestructible." (176) - "We are occasionally able to smuggle a razor blade into a prisoner's cell" (to take your life). - "The members of Brotherhood have no way of recognizing one another"(175) - "You understand that you will be fighting in the dark. You will always be in the dark. You will receive orders and you will obey them, without knowing why" (174) -Goldstein is alive -The Brotherhood has the technology to change someone's face, personality Winston will provide them with a book about the society of The Brotherhood
Mr.Charrington
An old man who runs a secondhand store in the prole district. Kindly and encouraging, Mr. Charrington seems to share Winston's interest in the past. He also seems to support Winston's rebellion against the Party and his relationship with Julia, since he rents Winston a room without a telescreen in which to carry out his affair. But Mr. Charrington is not as he seems. He is a member of the Thought Police.
What is the significance of the singing bird?
As Winston is so fascinated by the bird, it tells us that he wants as much freedom as this bird has, "Winston watched it with a sort of vague reverence. For whom, for what, was that bird singing?" (124)
Fill-in. "A mighty deed, which could never be mentioned, had been achieved. It was now impossible for any human being to prove by documentary evidence that the war with _______
Eurasia had ever happened"(183)
How/why does the Party and things such as Hate Week work so effectively on the proles, Julia, and Parsons?
Hate week works so efficiently on Julia as it takes her department off of the production of novels. The proles were excited about the new theme song of Hate Week, the Parsons children played it at all hours of the night and day. The Parsons are in charge of "stitching banners, painting posters, erecting flagstaffs on the roofs, and perilously slinging wires across the street for the reception of streamers" (148)
What does he prepare to do next (top of page 184)?
He prepares to start reading the book about the Brotherhood that O'Brien had given him.
What group is Mr. Charrington a member of?
Mr Charrington is a member of the Thought Police and was the voice behind the telescreen, "It occurred to Winston that for the first time in his life, he was looking, with knowledge at a member of the Thought Police" (224)
How is Mr. Charrington different?
Mr. Charrington's appearance had changed, "Mr. Charrington was still wearing his old velvet jacket, but his hair, which had been almost white, had turned black. Also he was not wearing his spectacles. His body had straightened, and seemed to have grown bigger. His face had undergone only tiny changes that had nevertheless worked a complete transformation. The black eyebrows were less bushy, the wrinkles were gone, the whole lines of the face seemed to have altered; even the nose seemed shorter" (224)
What does O'Brien give Winston?
O'Brien gives Winston his address so that Winston can borrow /a copy of the newest Tenth Edition of the Newspeak dictionary, "The Tenth Edition is not due to appear for some months, I believe. But a few copies have been circulated. I have one myself. It might interest you to look at it, perhaps?" (158).
What toast does O'Brien make?
O'Brien makes a toast to Emmanuel Goldstein, "I think it is fitting that we should begin by drinking a health. To our leader: To Emmanuel Goldstein"(171)
Describe O'Brien's demeanor.
O'Brien seems uninterested in Winstons presence, he says, "He had not bothered to look up when the servant showed Julia and Winston in" (167). Julia and him seem to be having trouble understanding how O'Brien is feeling. When Winston is in shock that the telescreen can turn off, Winston says, "His solid form towered over the pair of them, and the expression on his face was still indecipherable. Even now it was quite conceivable that he was simply a busy man wondering irritable why he had been interrupted" (169)
What is the one sacrifice that neither Winston or Julia is willing to make for the Brotherhood?
Once O'Brien asks, "You are prepared, the two of you, to separate and never see one another again?" (173), Julia and Winston agree that they both cannot do this for the Brotherhood.
What is "Pornosec"? Explain.
Pornosec is, "The sub-section of the Fiction Department which turned cheap pornography for distribution among the poles. It was nicknamed Muck House by the people who worked in it..." (130). All of the workers besides the head of the department were girls.
What dream/memory of his mother and sister does Winston have?
The dream occurred inside the glass paperweight, but the surface of the glass was the dome of the sky. Winston remembers the last time he saw his father before she had disappeared forever. Winston says that until this moment when the memories came back to him, he subconsciously believes that he murdered his mother. He recalls being hungry and stealing a piece of chocolate from his sister and then getting yelled at by his mother for that. He remembers that he, his sister and his mother were constantly struggling for food, "To this day he did not know with any certainty that his mother was dead." (163)
What was the first thing the "iron voice" (the telescreen) said behind them?
The first thing that the "iron voice" says to them is, "You are the dead" (221).
What happens to the glass paperweight? Why is this symbolic?
The glass paperweight was smashed once the Thought Police barged into the room. This is symbolic because the paperweight represents Julia and Winston's life and future together, a life full of freedom. And now this is destroyed just like their relationship.
What is the mood of the last paragraph? Provide evidence.
The last paragraph of the chapter gives off a mysterious, dark impression, "Even while he was speaking to O'Brien, when the meaning of the words had sunk in, a chilly shuddering feeling had taken possession of his body. He had the sensation of stepping into the dampness of a grave, and it was not much better because he had always known that the grave was there waiting for him" (159).
What is the significance of the singing prole Winston hears in the room above Mr. Charrington's shop?
The woman singing in the room above Mr.Charrington's shop signifies the simplicity that the proles live in and how they have the freedom and spontaneity to do what they want, "He could hear the woman singing and the scrape of her shoes on the flagstones, and the cries of the children in the street, and somewhere in the far distance a faint roar of traffic..." (138). This quote shows life without a telescreen, surveillance, and the Party.
Where and when do they agree to meet?
They meet at the Victory Square, near the monument at nineteen hours.
What plan do they make and who initiates it?
They plan to meet at Paddington Station on Sunday at fifteen. The dark haired girl initiates this, "She had immediately taken charge of the situation, just as she had done in the canteen" (115)
What is the crowd doing there?
The crowd is watching a prisoner transport go by, "A long line of trucks, with wooden-faced guards armed with submachine guns standing upright in each corner, was passing slowly down the street. In the trucks little yellow men in shabby greenish uniforms were squatting, jammed close together" (115)
How does the dark-haired girl stage an encounter with Winston?
The dark-haired girl stages an encounter with Winston by stumbling and falling down right in front of him. Her arm was in a sling and she fell right on top of it, "Her eyes were fixed on his, with an appealing expression that looked more like fear than pain" (105).
Whose singing does Winston connect to the woman's?
Winston connects the woman's singing to the singing of the thrush at the edge of the wood, "The birds sang, the proles sang, the Party did not sing" (221)
What does the paperweight symbolize/represent for Winston? Cite quotes.
Winston describes the paperweight as "...The room he was in, and the coral was Julia's life and his own, fixed in a sort of eternity at the heart of the crystal" (147). Winston is saying that the paperweight is a symbol of him and Julia's future and that he believes that they will be able to live in freedom together as a couple. "It was as when Winston had gazed into the heart of the paperweight, with the feeling that it would be possible to get inside that glassy world, and that once inside it time could be arrested"(151)
Why does he feel that his mother "possessed a kind of a nobility, a kind of purity"?
Winston feels as though his mother always had her own opinion on things and obeyed her own morals. He says, "Her feelings were her own, and could not be altered from outside" (164).
What does he realize for the first time about the prole woman?
Winston realizes that the prole woman is beautiful, "...It struck him for the first time that she was beautiful. It had never before occurred to him that the body of a woman of fifty, blown up to monstrous dimensions by childbearing, then hardened, roughened by work till it was coarse in the grasin like an overripe turnip, could be beautiful" (219).
How have Winston's feelings for Julia and their relationship now changed?
Winston feels like something is off and even thinks that Julia may be cheating. He says, "During the month that he had known her the nature of his desire for her had changed. At the beginning there had been little true sensuality in it. Their first love-making had been simply an act of the will. But after the second time it was different...When she said that she could not come, he had the feeling she was cheating him" (139). He also says he wishes that they could walk openly together in public without fear. He suggests that they rent Mr.Charrington's room together and Julia agrees.
How many hours had Winston worked in five days?
Winston had worked more than ninety hours in five days
What epiphany about himself and the proles does Winston have?
Winston realizes that the proles had stayed "human" while the Party was under constant control. He describes the party by saying, "The terrible thing that the Party had done was to persuade you that mere impulses, mere feelings, were of no account, while at the same time robbing you of all power over the material world" (164). Another quote about the proles was, "For the first time in his life he did not despise the proles or think of them merely as an inert force which would one day spring to life and regenerate the world. The proles had stayed human" (165)
How does Winston define "betrayal"? What becomes his main objective?
Winston says, "I don't mean confessing. Confessing is not betrayal. What you say or do doesn't matter; only feelings matter. If they could make me stop loving you-that would be real betrayal" (166). He defines betrayal as believing that there is not a way out of the Party's rules and giving up that they will have freedom back someday.
.Explain the meaning and significance of chapter's two final lines, "It was a political act."
Winston is referring to him and Julia having sex as this because it shows that she revolts againt the Party and their mandates. Winston enjoys the fact that Julia is rebellious and is not concerned with the Party and their rules.
What is ironic about this considering his previous thoughts about the girl?
Winston used to hate this girl, now he seems to feel the same way about her. He thought she worked for the Thought Police. "Only five nights ago he had contemplated smashing her skull in with cobblestone; but that was of no importance. He thought of her naked, youthful body, as he had seen it in his dream" (109)
Why does Winston wait a week to speak to Julia?
Winston waits a week to speak to her because they couldn't meet at either of their homes, at work, and he couldn't send her a letter. He could not get a seat in the canteen that wasn't near anyone, seen by the telescreen, or just a seat at the girls table. He did not want to get caught and he hadn't even seen her for a few days.
What is the content of the note and how does Winston feel/react?
Written on the note contained the statement "I love you". Winston is extremely shocked and couldn't believe that it was true, so he had to keep rereading it. He had trouble staying focused on his work. Winston seems to feel the same way back as the story says, "A kind of fever seized him at the thought that he might lose her, the white youthful body might slip away from him! What he feared more than anything else was that she would simply change her mind if he did not get in touch with her quickly"(110)
