1984 Part III Content Study Guide

10. (A) Find a quotation from O'Brien at the end of the chapter that shows he knew Winston's mind all along. (B) What is Winston's only redemptive quality, according to him? (C) What does O'Brien's reaction hint at? Why?

(A) O'Brien says, "Nothing has happened that you did not foresee." (B) Winston has kept true to his word to Julia about not betraying her. (C) Since O'Brien "looked down at him thoughtfully," it can be assumed that this society, which has degraded Winston thoroughly, except for his remaining true to Julia, will probably find a way to make Winston choose himself over her. That betrayal will complete his transformation from an individual to an obedient, unthinking part of the group.

1. Even though it is unlikely, Winston meets a person in prison that he could have known in the past. Who is it, and why would Orwell have included this encounter?

An elderly drunk woman named Smith is thrown into the cell. While the woman is probably not Winston's mother, the last name serves to further degrade him.

6. O'Brien's long dissertation on what the Party can do and will continue to do into the future presents a frightening picture of society. Point out some particularly horrid situations.

Answers will vary. Examples: There will be progress toward more pain. There will be no links at all between parents and their children. Laughter will not exist, except when defeating an enemy. Art, science, and literature will be non-existent. Only power will remain.

2. What would be the worst thing in the world for Winston?

As was explained previously, Winston hates rats more than anything. His fear is greater than the reality of rats; it is something deep within, just as some fear exists deep within everyone.

4. Winston meets Julia and they talk, but neither seems to have any fear of the police. Why not?

Because both are harmless, the police are not interested in them. The former criminals are not considered a danger anymore.

9. Does a reading of the last paragraph in the novel suggest that O'Brien or Winston won?

Clearly, Winston has given himself to Big Brother in heart and mind, so O'Brien has won.

2. What are Winston's feelings toward his interrogator?

Despite what O'Brien has done to him, Winston still feels that he and O'Brien have a bond that goes deeper than friendship and that O'Brien understands him.

2. Winston has now nearly completely "capitulated." What evidence is there to support this view?

He believes in the Party's ability to control nature, the past, science and math, and the individual's ideas. He tries to banish all reasoning that goes against Party beliefs from his mind, but "[i]t was not easy."

4. In order to save himself, what does Winston cry out, and why is it that in crying this out, he will be saved?

He cries out, "Do it to Julia!...I don't care what you do to her....Not me! Julia! Not me!" By protecting himself against his greatest fear, he has truly betrayed Julia and has surrendered his heart, as well as his mind, to the Party.

1. What has happened to Smith since the last interview?

He has gained weight and strength, received new clothes and a set of dentures, had his ulcerous sore dressed, and received a pack of cigarettes. He daydreams and is fully satisfied because he is no longer being "beaten or questioned."

6. Since there is a strong likelihood they are going to execute him anyway, Winston asks why they are going through the trouble of trying to change him. What answer does his interrogator give him?

He is "a flaw in the pattern...." The Party does not kill those who resist. "[W]e capture his inner mind, we reshape him....It is intolerable to us that an erroneous thoughts should exist...."

3. Describe Winston's first hallucination.

He is alone in the desert. Then, he becomes "blind, helpless, mindless."

4. What are his thoughts about his execution?

He is not worried about a bullet in the back of his head; if it comes, his only regret is that they "would have blown his brain to pieces before they could reclaim it. The heretical thought would be unpunished, unrepented, out of their reach forever. They would have blown a hole in their own perfection. To die hating them, that was freedom." Obviously, this line of thinking proves that he still retains some degree of individuality.

5. At this point, O'Brien arrives and questions Winston, who reveals that he hates Big Brother. What is O'Brien expecting to accomplish by sending Winston to Room 101?

He must convert Winston entirely, his heart as well as his mind. Smith must take the last step in his reconditioning by loving Big Brother totally, without thought, and without reservation. Room 101 has that potential.

7. How does Winston qualify his memory of his mother?

He reasons that it is a false memory, but, more importantly, he knows it was.

1. What is in Room 101, as O'Brien describes it?

He says, "The thing that is in Room 101 is the worst thing in the world."

3. In addition to having changed physically, how else has Winston changed since his arrest?

His mind wanders, and except for moving the chess pieces, he does little thinking. He never thinks criminal thoughts.

7. Smith is then told that if he is allowed to live, "[n]ever again will [he] be capable of ordinary human feeling. Everything will be dead inside [him]. Never again will [he] be capable of love, or friendship, or joy of living, or laughter, or curiosity, or courage, or integrity. [He] will be hollow." Why would Winston accept life at that price?

If he were completely himself, it is unlikely that Winston would give up his feelings, his curiosity, his desire to understand reality; however the torture that Smith endured makes him pliable. In his current state, Winston may be convinced that a hollow life is still worth living.

3. What are Winston's thoughts after he cries out for Julia?

Immediately after calling for her, Smith is worried that this "moment of weakness" will make it necessary for him to "start all over again, [which] might take years." His conclusion is that he needs to "think...feel...[and] dream right."

3. How does the Party control "matter" if, as Smith asks, it cannot control things like gravity or disease, or even O'Brien aging?

It controls thoughts: "Reality is inside the skull."

5. Explain O'Brien's reasoning about astronomy.

O'Brien claims that the Party dictates whether stars are close or far and that the earth is the center of the universe, but "for certain purposes," the Party might state that these "facts" are not correct. It can certainly have a "dual system of astronomy," and by extension, this duality can be part of every single thing in life.

1. After the initial physical beatings, what happens to Winston?

O'Brien interrogates him with a machine that sends electrical shocks through Smith's body; O'Brien is in charge of the questioning, decides when to stop, when Winston can eat, and yet, "he was the protector, he was the inquisitor, he was the friend."

3. O'Brien tells Winston that the object of the interrogation is not to get a confession, although Winston does confess easily; nor is the object to punish, although he receives a great deal of punishment. What is the object of the interrogation?

O'Brien needs to get Winston to truly and fully believe in the Party's version of reality. "Two and two make five," if the Party says so. An individual's perception of reality must be the same as the Party's.

5. When O'Brien arrives, he says to Winston, "You knew this, Winston...Don't deceive yourself. You did know it—you have always known it." What is O'Brien saying that Winston has always known?

O'Brien says Winston believes he (O'Brien) is a member of the Thought Police, and that Winston wanted to get caught.

7. O'Brien says, "This drama that I have played out with you during seven years will be played out over and over again, generation after generation." What two points may the reader infer from this comment?

One point is that O'Brien has purposely entrapped Winston, and the second point is that those in power will continue to control enemies of the State despite the time it takes.

3. Who is Parsons, why has he been arrested, and what is his attitude about it?

Parsons used to be a true believing neighbor of Smith's. He was arrested for saying, "Down with Big Brother" in his sleep, turned in by his daughter. He believes that it is good he was caught "before it went any further."

2. Why does Winston say that he feels no love for Julia? As he sits waiting for the authorities to come for him, he says that all he can feel is fear.

Some students may find it hard to believe that Winston truly feels no love for Julia. He may have pushed his love and concern for her to the back of his mind because he is fearful of the immediate punishment that will come to him. However, given how the Party has spent decades discouraging people from forming personal attachments to others, Winston might have disregarded the affection he once felt for Julia, now that he is facing the consequences of their relationship.

1. As Winston sips his drink in the Chestnut Tree Café, what is this scene reminiscent of?

Students should recall the time Winston sat in the café and watched the three traitors, who were acting the same as Winston is acting now; they were later arrested a second time, tried, and executed.

1. What does O'Brien tell Winston about Goldstein's book?

The descriptions in the book are true, but the business about the proles ever revolting is "nonsense." He also tells him that he, not Goldstein, wrote the book, as part of a group.

2. As he watches the telescreen, Winston hears that Oceania is in grave danger from Eurasia. What significance does this news have?

The reader should understand that the facts have shifted again. Winston has been involved in changing documents stating that "Oceania has always been at war with Eurasia" so that they claim it always had been at war with Eastasia, but now, the enemy of all time has again switched, this time back to Eurasia. It, however, has little meaning to Smith; he has become nearly dead emotionally.

6. What is the significance of the repeated poem "Under the spreading chestnut tree..."?

The second line of the poem, which reiterates that both of the former lovers sold the other out in order to save themselves from their own worst fears, causes Winston to cry.

8. Winston says that the Party will ultimately fail. What does he say will eventually destroy the Party?

The spirit of man, not anything else, will cause the downfall of the Party.

8. What is implied in the next-to-last paragraph?

There are various possibilities in Orwell's ambiguous ending. Now that he completely, totally, and unequivocally has given up his heart to Big Brother, Winston will be executed: "The long-hoped-for bullet was entering his brain." It is also quite reasonable that the thought of his love for Big Brother is the metaphorical bullet that destroys any semblance of the living, thinking Winston that existed earlier.

5. How do Winston and Julia feel about each other? Why?

They are no longer interested in each other. Each betrayed the other, and they can no longer feel love because of the way they were broken.

5. What literary term would exemplify Winston's willingness to have Julia suffer instead of him?

This point marks the climax of the novel. Smith has given in to the pressures O'Brien places him under. There can be no return to his rebellious self. The rest of the novel is denouement.

4. Room 101, which is especially feared by the prisoners, appears to be an interrogation room. What could they have in that room that is so feared?

Though students will not know the specifics of what is in Room 101, they should understand that the room probably contains horrific means of torture. With the power that the Party has, any type of physical or psychological torture is possible.

4. In the previous chapter, as he explains why people are brought to the Ministry of Love, O'Brien's face is described as "filled with a sort of exaltation, a lunatic intensity." Do O'Brien's remarks in his explanation of reality, laws of nature, and power seem irrational to you? Does he seem insane?

While answers may vary, the students should consider that while O'Brien may sound irrational, his comments are quite logical and sensible, given his objectives. His purpose and actions, though, are not rational based on a society with which students have direct familiarity. His only belief is the Party's belief; O'Brien completely agrees with whatever the Party dictates, no matter how illogical, irrational, or impossible.

8. What is the frightening question Winston hesitates to ask? What is the literary term implied in the answer?

Winston asks what is inside Room 101. Since O'Brien explains that "[e]veryone" understands what is there, it must be some kind of universal or personal torture room. The literary term is foreshadowing, since Winston seems destined to go to Room 101.

4. What is the first result of the torture about how many fingers Winston sees when O'Brien holds up four? What is the second?

Winston is subjected to increasingly powerful electrical shocks until he says that he will believe "Anything you like." This, obviously, is not the answer O'Brien needs to hear. The electricity increases, and Winston finally says that he does not know, to which O'Brien replies, "Better"

5. Why does the Party bring "criminals" to the place Smith is now in?

Winston is there "to be cured." The Party does not even care about any of "those stupid crimes" he committed; it cares only about "the thought," which allows its prisoners to be changed.

2. When Winston is asked why he thinks the Party clings to power, what answer forms in his head? What is Winston told is the real reason?

Winston thinks that O'Brien wants the answer that the Party clings to power because the average man, being weak and cowardly, will not survive if the Party were not in power. When he gives that answer, he is again subjected to a shock. O'Brien, however, answers the question himself and says, "The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake."

9. For an answer, what does O'Brien show Winston? Why does O'Brien use this strategy?

Winston's haggard and greatly aged body appears in the mirror. There is no mobility or spirit in the shrunken form he sees. He has lost teeth, hair, and lots of weight. He looks like a skeleton. O'Brien is mocking Winston's hope for any future because he (Winston) believes that hope is based on Man, but O'Brien says all men are broken, or can be broken, as Smith is.