1984 Study Guide
1.1
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How does Orwell set the mood and foreshadow the events to come? (1,2)
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What does the government want the people to believe by posting the Party’s slogans: “WAR IS
PEACE; FREEDOM IS SLAVERY; IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH”? Look at each individually and as a
whole. (4)
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Do you agree with the concept of newspeak, that if we don’t have a word to convey an idea we
will not think the thought? (4)
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Why does Winston risk writing in the diary even though he admits to himself that the act is
worthless? (7)
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Identify: the girl (9); O’Brien (10) ; Emmanuel Goldstein (11)
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What is the purpose of the Two Minutes of Hate? What in our society is analogous? (11)
1. 2
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How does Winston’s dream advance the plot?” (25)
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What is INGSOC? (26)
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What is doublethink? (26)
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What one word best captures the main idea of Winston’s journal entry? (28)*
1.3
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Summarize significant information regarding Winston’s family, his dream of the Golden Country.
Analyze the Party’s slogan, “Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present
controls the past.”*
What is doublethink and why is it necessary in order to survive under Big Brother’s control?
How does the Party use propaganda to vilify capitalism while promoting the Party’s control?
1.4
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What is a speakwrite and how does it work?
Do you think that Big Brother truly exists or is he just a symbol of the Party?
How does Comrade Ogilvy’s biography exemplify what is valued by the Party?