June 19, 2012
Welcome AP English student, Class of 2013,
I look forward to working with you in AP English next school year.
This note comes to you to clarify your first AP reading assignments. As some of you know, all
the students attending Willingboro High School are reading I Am the Messenger by Markus
Zusak. You should complete one of the twelfth grade choices of projects on the school handout
and expect a quiz or test on the novel. You are not required to complete the study guide,
though it may help you focus on some of the issues presented in the book. Your more difficult
reading is George Orwell’s 1984. You are expected to find your own books, either from a
library, a friend, or through a purchase. Attached to this letter is a two-part handout-one part
for vocabulary and another for comprehension. Read the directions on the sheets carefully. If
you have questions, you can reach me at the e-mail addresses at the bottom of this sheet. Use
AP or 1984 as your subject so that I recognize that you are one of my students. Read both
books before school starts so that we can discuss them right away; also, there will be a quiz
or a test on each book. The test on 1984 will be derived from the questions on the handout. I
will not collect the comprehension part of the handout for a grade. (I will collect the
vocabulary.)
I have included a vocabulary unit in my assignment. This will count as a double homework
assignment and will be collected about one week into the school year. Many of you will be
taking the SAT’s and vocabulary practice can help increase your score.
This summer is also an excellent time to seriously consider which colleges most interest you.
Once you make your choices, find out what essays these schools demand as part of their
admission processes. Knowing those topics in advance will make the admission process go
more smoothly for you. You might even want to begin your essays.
Have a pleasant and productive summer. (Read!)
Mrs. Joan Bodnar
AP English instructor
[email protected]
VOCABULARY
STUDENTS: I know that you know many of these words—good.
ASSIGNMENT:
Choose 25 of the following words and collect the following information
about each of them. 1) most commonly used part of speech (In a standard dictionary, the
most common is listed first) 2) most common definition
3) two synonyms (Use a thesaurus for this.) 4) one related word (related words have the
same word root, like clean and cleanliness; tentative and tense)
Some words will not have synonyms; others may not have related words. Related words
are words that follow the definition in some dictionaries, or they may be entries
immediately before or after the word(s) in other dictionaries.
Try looking up this example before you begin: inflate
Inflate—verb—to distend with air or gas
Synonyms-expand, swell, dilate, amplify
Related words: inflatable, inflated, inflating, inflation, inflationary
To better help you aid you in increasing your SAT score, choose words with which you are
unfamiliar. Also, use a collegiate dictionary.
This assignment will be due within the first 10 days of school.
abject
alibi
ancestral
anodyne
aquiline
axiom
bourgeoisie
cadge (as verb)
capitalist
celibacy
chastity
confirm
consort (as verb)
dace
debauchery
demur
denounce
derisive
desultory
diminution
discretion
edify
embezzle
equilibrium
execrate
fate
fatuous
fecund
fulminate
furtive
gambol
gape
genial
gesticulate
heretics
illusion
inaudible
incriminate
inertia
inextricably
ingenious
inimical
insidious
lassitude
meritorious
multifarious
nostalgia
naught
palimpsest
paranoia
pathos
pedantic
pediment
philologist
prevaricate
prodigious
propaganda
purge
queue
reconnoiter
rendez-vous**
reprisal
reproach
repudiate
saccharine
sabotage
sinecure
solemnity
statistics
stratagem
strident
subjection
subtlety
superfluous
tacit
truncheon
venerate
zeal
could be rendezvous
is divided into sections and subsections. We will refer to the large divisions as
Parts and the smaller subsections as Chapters.
Here are some guide questions to help you prepare for quizzes.
They are roughly in order.
You are not required to formally write out the answers. About 80% of the objective
questions on the test will come from the following questions.
Part ONE
Occasionally, Orwell uses British terms. I will provide you with those
equivalents, for example, lift means elevator.
1. What unusual information is given to the reader in the first paragraph?
2. What is shown on the poster displayed on each landing?
3. How old is Winston?
THINK: Of what significance might the age of the protagonist be?
4. According to this section, what matters?
5. What two processes does the telescreen do simultaneously?
Does an individual know when he is being observed?
6. Where does Winston work?
7. Name all the ministries and with what area each is involved.
1)________________________________________
2)________________________________________
3)________________________________________
4)________________________________________
8. What is the time and place setting of the novel?
MONTH:
YEAR:
CITY:
9. What is Newspeak?
10. What are the three Party slogans?
______________________________________, ___________________________,
&________________________________
11. Where does Winston sit to write? Be specific.
page 2 1984/Bodnar
12. Describe the female character who works in the Fiction Department.
13. How does this woman make Winston feel?
14. Who is O’Brien?
15. Describe the Two Minutes Hate and its effect on Winston.
16. What significant exchange has taken place in the past between O’Brien and Winston?
17. What was/is the essential crime, according to Winston?
Chap II
British terms: flat means apartment all on one floor or level
18. What chance is Winston taking as he opens the door?
19. For what purpose does Mrs. Parsons come to Winston?
20. What explanation does Mrs. Parsons give for the restlessness of her children?
21. What act would get a child recognized as a “child hero”?
22. Describe Winston’s unusual dream.
23. What is the significance of the dust Winston places on the diary cover?
Chap III
Socialism Terms:
Comrade—a fellow soldier or communist
Proletariat-the laboring class, usually industrial workers
Proles-individuals in the proletariat; proletarian
24. Who is in Winston’s dream? Does the dream seem realistic? Why or why not?
25. What is referred to as The Golden Country? Where is it?
26. Is Oceania currently at war? If so, with whom?
With whom is Oceania currently allied?
27. What does Winston think is frightening about the power of the Party?
28. When did Big Brother come to be accepted and known?
Chap IV
29. Where is Winston as this section begins?
30. What characteristics or demands makes the fourth task the most preferable?
31. What is the primary job of the Ministry of Truth?
page 3 1984/Bodnar
32. What does “refs unperson” most likely mean?
33. What evidence does the novel give of two-way surveillance in this section?
Chap V
34. Where does Winston encounter Syme?
35. What was Syme’s specialty?
36. What does Syme say is happening to language?
37. What does Syme say about Winston’s writing?
38. What does Syme say is the aim of Newspeak?
39. What changes in society does Syme predict?
40. What does Winston think will happen to Syme? Why?
41. For what reason does Parsons find Winston?
42. What is face crime?
Chap VI
43. What does Winston “think” is an individual’s worst enemy?
44. Who was Katharine? What was she like?
45. What had Winston realized when he say the prole prostitute in the indoor light?
Chap VII
46. Where does Winston perceive the possibility of hope?
47. What is the legendary Brotherhood?**
48. What did the Party government expect of the proles?
49. What system of government preceded the Party?
50. Who were Jones, Aaronson, and Rutherford? What happened to them?
51. Of what significance was the article that came to Winston accidentally, the half page with
photo and caption identifying Jones, Aaronson, and Rutherford?
52. What possible manifestations of disloyalty could the telescreen detect?
53. What belief causes Winston to wonder if he is a lunatic?
**Answer to questions so marked are not stated outright.
page 4 1984/Bodnar
54. For whom does Winston think he might be writing his diary entries?
55. What did the Party tells its constituents to do regarding one’s own perceptions?
Chap VIII
56. What was Ownlife?
57. What causes a commotion in the street?
58. What did Winston do about the severed hand?
59. In what way was Oceania’s Lottery bogus?
60. Why does Winston choose the old man from the pub for his questioning?
61. What does the old man tell Winston about the past?
62. Why was Winston dissatisfied with the old man’s responses?
63. What excuse does Winston plan in case he gets caught in the junk shop?
64. What does Winston buy at the junk shop?
65. What do we learn about Mr. Charrington?
66. Who does Winston run into after leaving the junk shop? How does he feel about this?
What plan does Winston make, regarding this person?
67. Philosophically, to what does Winston think life has been reduced?
Part TWO
68. What happens when Winston runs into the dark-haired girl at work? What does the note
say?
69. What problem did Winston now face?
70. Who is Ampleforth? How does he complicate Winston’s plan?
71. Why can’t Winston and the girl just talk directly?
Chap II
72. What is Winston doing as the section begins?
73. Is the term “swine” used literally or figuratively? To what/whom does it refer?
74. What “apologies” does Winston suggest might cause her to change her mind?
page 5 1984/Bodnar
75. What happens between Winston and the girl?
75. How does she say she learned about this location?
76. Where did Julia get her chocolate?
77. What is Julia’s opinion of the Party?
78. Of what does this location remind Winston?
79. Why does Winston seem pleased that Julia has “done this” scores of times?
Chap III
80. Do Winston and Julia plan to return? What are the conditions on this?
81. When/where do Winston and Julia have their next meeting?
82. What is “talking by installments”?
83. What reason does Julia give for attending so many meetings? How does Winston follow
her pattern?
84. List 4 facts about Julia.
Chap IV
85. Describe the singer in the alley.
86. How were songs composed?
87. What does Julia bring to the meeting?
88. What is mentioned that seriously upset Winston?
Chap V
89. Who does Winston note has disappeared? What does he first notice about the
disappearance?
90. What does Julia suggest about the war?
page 6 1984/Bodnar
Chap VI
91. What did O’Brien do when he met with Winston? What is risky for O’Brien about this?
92. What does O’Brien promise to give Winston if Winston comes to his flat?
Chap VII
93. What happened to Winston’s family after his father disappeared?
94. How does Winston say the Party can be beaten?
Chap VIII
95. What does O’Brien do to his telescreen?
96. Who is Martin?
97. What do Julia and Winston refuse to commit to do?
98. How do Brotherhood members show recognition for one another?
99. How will O’Brien get the Goldstein book to Winston?
Chap IX
100. Why was Winston so tired?
101. What impressed Winston about the orator’s rendition of “the facts’?
102. Why does Winston have so much work to do? How long did this period of overtime last?
103. Where and under what circumstances does Winston read Goldstein’s book?
Goldstein’s book
104. Chap. 1 What are the three types of people?
105. Chap 3 Describe the three superstates?
106.
How was war different from our current view?
107.
What two reasons preventing the world from being a utopia?
108.
When was “the final phase of capitalism”?
page 7 1984/Bodnar
109.
What time period was considered the final phase of capitalism?
110.
What was the essential act of war?
111.
What purpose did scarcity serve?
112.
What two aims did the party have?
113.
What were the aims of the Party?
114. What are the two great problems for the Party to solve?
115. What makes the war in the novel more like a game than our common definition of war?
116. According to Winston, what do the best books do?
117. What people were included in the new aristocracy?
118. What did the invention of print do?
119. How does a person get into the Inner Party?
120. Why are proles “granted intellectual liberty”?
Chap X
121. What does Winston see in the prole woman that Julia seems to miss?
122. From where does the authoritative voice come?
123. How does Mr. Charrington seem different to Winston?
Part Three
124. Where does Winston assume he is?
125. How were Party criminals different from common criminals in this place?
126. What (or who) gives Winston some hope?
127. Who else gets locked in with Winston?
128. What is the conjecture about the skull-faced man?
Chap II
129. Who and with what equipment does Winston see?
130. What does Winston’s torture include?
page 8 1984/Bodnar
131. What treatment seemed to follow the torture?
132. List 5 crimes or immoral behaviors Winston confessed to.
133. What do you think happens in room 101?
134. What did Winston attribute to O’Brien?
135. What happens when Winston only sees four fingers—and says so?
136. What does O’Brien say is wrong with Winston?
.