Category: Book Club

Once Winston had witnessed a mob of women proles gathered around the market stall of a vendor selling saucepans. Some "…clamoured round the stall, accusing the stall–keeper of favouritism and of having more saucepans somewhere in reserve."

What does"reserve"mean?

What is the main idea of this chapter?

Members of the Party were meant not have any spare time. "It was assumed that when he was not working, eating, or sleeping he would be taking part in some kind of communal recreation: . . ."

What does"communal"mean?

The man who owns the antiques shop is "…a man of perhaps sixty, frail and bowed, with a long, benevolent nose, and mild eyes distorted by thick spectacles."

What does"benevolent"mean?

At the antiques shop, Winston buys a glass paperweight with a piece of coral in the center. "There was a peculiar softness, as of rainwater, in both the colour and the texture of the glass."

What does"texture"mean?

Upstairs from the antiques shop is a cozy room, filled with antiques and without a telescreen Winston briefly considers the possibility of renting the room but knows it to be "a wild, impossible notion". What does "notion"mean?

Select the three Party principles.

Were there any words that you did not know?
You can always list them here.

What is the main idea of this chapter?

Winston worries about being followed while on his way to meet the girl with the dark hair. "However, no patrols had appeared, and on the walk from the station he had made sure by cautious backward glances that he was not being followed."

What does"cautious"mean?

Winston worries about what the girl with think of him. Now that they are alone together, "… the sense of his own inferiority was heavy upon him."

What does"inferiority"mean?

At long last, Winston learns the girl's name. What is it?

As Winston and Julia walked to the edge of the clearing, Winston "… underwent a curious, slow shock of recognition."

What does"recognition"mean?

Were there any words that you did not know?
You can always list them here.

Winston finds the antique paperweight inexhaustibly interesting: "It was as though the surface of the glass had been the arch of the sky, enclosing a tiny world with its atmosphere complete."

What does"atmosphere"mean?

When O'Brien approaches Winston in the hallway, he makes the observation that Winston seems to "… take a scholarly interest in Newspeak . . ."

What does"scholarly"mean?

What is the main idea of this chapter?

When Winston awakes from his dream, Julia asks him what is the matter, but he has trouble explaining because "It was too complex to be put into words."

What does"complex"mean?

Winston"s dream triggers memories about his mother that " . . .he must have deliberately pushed out of his consciousness over many years."

What does"deliberately"mean?

Winston remembers that is mother "…did everything that was needed —— cooked, washed, mended, made the bed, swept the floor, dusted the mantelpiece —— always very slowly and with a curious lack of superfluous motion, like an artist's lay–figure moving of its own accord."

What does"superfluous"mean?

Reflecting on the memories of his mother and the time before the Revolution, Winston sees the proles in a new light: "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."

What does"regenerate"mean?

Winston understands that he could not withstand the torture methods employed by the Ministry of Love, "but if the object was not to stay alive but to stay human, what difference did it ultimately make? They could not alter your feelings . . ."

What does"ultimately"mean?

Were there any words that you did not know?
You can always list them here.

Were there any words that you did not know?
You can always list them here.

What do you think will happen in the next chapter?
(This is just a spot for you to jot some notes for yourself.)

Broken by the torture, Winston confesses to everything he is accused of: "He confessed to the assassination of eminent Party members, the distribution of seditious pamphlets, embezzlement of public funds, sale of military secrets, sabotage of every kind."

What does"eminent"mean?

What is the main idea of this chapter?

O'Brien can read Winston's mind. He knows that Winston has been struggling with one basic question, even before his arrest: "You could grasp the mechanics of the Society you lived in, but not its underlying motives."

What does"mechanics"mean?

Despite O'Brien's badgering, Winston hangs on to what he knows is true, refusing to believe that man is the center of the universe: "The belief that nothing exists outside your own mind —— surely there must be some way of demonstrating that it was false? Had it not been exposed long ago as a fallacy?"

What does"fallacy"mean?

In the future society O'Brien describes, "There will be no distinction between beauty and ugliness."

What does"distinction"mean?

O'Brien's explanation of the Party's agenda is full of doublethink: "The more the Party is powerful, the less it will be tolerant: the weaker the opposition, the tighter the despotism."

What does"tolerant"mean?

Winston insists that there is something at work in the universe that will prevent the Party from achieving its goals, but O'Brien believes otherwise: "You are imagining that there is something called human nature which will be outraged by what we do and will turn against us. But we create human nature. Men are infinitely malleable."

What does"malleable"mean?

After making Winston look at himself in the mirror, O'Brien asks, "Can you think of a single degradation that has not happened to you?" What does Winston answer?

Were there any words that you did not know?
You can always list them here.

After Winston betrays Julia, suggesting that the torture be done to her rather than to himself, Winston knows the cage is still near his face, "But through the darkness that enveloped him he heard another metallic click, and knew that the cage door had clicked shut and not open." What does "enveloped"mean?