Book Two, Chapter 1

1. How does Winston react to the note from Julia before he reads it?
2. How does Winston react to the note after he reads it?
3. How do they manage to meet?
4. Describe the "parade" in Victory Square. Why does the Inner Party provide the spectacle for the proles? For the Outer Party members?

1. Why is Winston ill at ease once he is alone with Julia?
2. What does Julia bring with her that she has obtained on the black market?
3. What is Julia’s philosophy? (More about this in chapter 3)
4. What familiar sign does Winston find?
5. What is the significance of the thrush music?
6. What does Winston mean when he says that he loves Julia all the more because she has had scores of sexual encounters?

1. How and where do Julia and Winston meet?
2. What is Julia’s job?
3. What is her background?
4. What is her attitude toward the Inner Party?
5. Describe Winston’s marriage.
6. What do Winston and Julia disagree about?

1. How does Winston react to the singing prole woman?
2. What pleasures of the senses are mentioned in this chapter? What is Orwell’s point in mentioning them?
3. What is Winston’s reaction to rats? Julia’s reaction?
4. Winston is interested in the church bells that once played in the city even though he is not religious. What do church bells mean to him?
5. Winston sees the coral paperweight as a symbol of what?

1. Who has vanished?
2. Describe the preparations for Hate Week. In what ways does the Inner Party excel in building spirit?
3. Julia and Winston have some differences. Explain them.
4. What finally convinces Winston that O’Brien is a member of the Brotherhood?

1. What does Winston remember about his family and his relationship with his mother?
2. What does Winston realize about love and loyalty as a result of his dream?
3. What is the difference between confession and betrayal?

1. Contrast the living quarters and style of the Inner Party members with those of the Outer Party members and proles.
2. How does O’Brien test Julia and Winston?
3. What information does O’Brien give them about the Brotherhood?
4. How will O’Brien get The Book to Winston?
5. What are the ways in which the Inner Party builds spirit during Hate Week?

1. Why does Orwell include detailed passages from Goldstein’s Book in 1984?
2. Notice that Orwell repeats the first paragraph of The Book. Why would Orwell repeat himself in that way? What is the purpose?
3. What three classes of people have always existed? In what ways have these three classes changed?
4. What is the purpose of war in the world of 1984?
5. What are the two aims of the Party?
6. What are the two problems with which the Party is concerned?
7. Why do all three superpowers forbid their citizens from associating with foreigners?
8. The governments of the three superpowers are alike in essence even though their forms of government have different names. Identify these similarities and explain why they exist?
9. What is the real "war" fought in each of the three governments? Your answer will explain the party slogan, "War is Peace."
10. What are the aims of the three groups?
11. What changes in the pattern occurred in the nineteenth century?
12. How did socialism change in the twentieth century?
13. Why are the rulers in the twentieth century better at maintaining power than earlier tyrants?
14. What are the four ways an elite group falls from power? How does the Inner Party make certain it will not fall from power?
15. How is a person’s class determined in the 1984 world?
16. What is doublethink and what is its purpose to the ruling class?
17. Why is the mutability of the past important to the ruling class?
18. Why will this ruling class live on while earlier tyrants fell?
19. What other significant points do you notice?

1. What understanding does Winston gain about the common people?
2. What is the significance of the glass paperweight here?

• Chapter 1
• Chapter 2
• Chapter 3
• Chapter 4
• Chapter 5
• Chapter 6

1. Where is Winston? How is he treated there and why?
2. Which of Winston’s acquaintances is in the same place and why?
3. What happens between the starving man and the chinless man?
4. What effect to the words "Room 101" have on the skull-faced man?
5. Who truly is O’Brien? What do he and Charrington have in common?

1. What sort of treatment does Winston receive?
2. What is O’Brien attempting to teach Winston?
3. O’Brien explains how the Inner Party avoids the mistakes of past totalitarian governments. State in your own words what O’Brien means.
4. What effect does the (painless) shock treatment have on Winston?
5. What questions does Winston ask O’Brien and what are the responses?

1. According to O’Brien, what are the three stages in Winston’s re-integration, and which stage is he about to enter?
2. Who wrote Goldstein’s book? Is what the book says true?
3. Why does the Inner Party seek power and how does this reason differ from the reasons of the Soviet Communists under Stalin and the Nazis?
4. Explain the slogan, "Freedom is Slavery."
5. How does one person assert their power over another?
6. How will Oceania differ from all traditional utopias? Why does Winston feel he is morally superior to O’Brien and how does O’Brien prove that Winston is wrong?
7. How does Winston’s physical appearance affect him?
8. What good thing can Winston say about himself at the end of this chapter?
9. How does Winston feel about O’Brien? Why?
10. What final question does Winston ask O’Brien?

1. How has Winston's environment changed? What does he do with his time? How does he show his obedience to the Inner Party?
2. How does Winston show that he is not entirely true to Big Brother?
3. How does Winston feel about Big Brother?

1. What happens in Room 101 and how does this "cure" Winston?

1. What is the setting?
2. What is Winston’s job? (Look up "sinecure" if you don’t know it)
3. How did his meeting with Julia go?
4. How is it evident that Winston really is a different person?
5. What is happening in the last two paragraphs of the book?

Making Real-World Connections

1. 1984 is often viewed as a warning. How does Orwell use satire to warn his audience? What is he trying to warn his audience about?
2. How is 1984 an example of dystopian literature. In what ways was the government trying to create a better world. Did they succeed? Discuss.
3. Describe the nature of dictators and dictatorships. Make connections to present-day dictators.
4. Describe setting of 1984. How does it enhance the story?
5. Choose five symbolic references from 1984. Discuss their symbolism and why you feel they are important to the story.
6. How does the author use irony. Choose 2-3 examples to defend position.
7. Compare and contrast major characters in 1984.
8. Draw a plot diagram for 1984. Show at least 10 steps.
9. Create a cause-and-effect chart for each major instance of human cruelty and/or kindness.