Engelska Prov 1984

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• What do you learn about Winston Smith in chapter one? Think about his age and looks, his job, where he lives and what he feels about his life. We learn that he is a man of thirty nine years who has health problems causing him to cough very often and have a lot of trouble making it all the way to the seventh floor using the stairs. He is a thin man, due to health problems as previously mentioned and he works as an “unimporatant” member of the Outer Party. With his fair hair and rough skin on his face due to the old razor blades he has no other choice but to use when shaving. He does not think positively about the world that he lives in and knows that his life could be taken if he was caught thinking such things
• What does Winston remember about O’Brian? How does he feel about him? O’Brian is a member of the Inner Party. That one morning, that Winston remembers, O’Brian arrived at the same time as a young woman with a red scarf, that symbolizes the Anti-Sex Society. He felt afraid of the young woman, but his feelings about O’Brian were different from other people he had met. Winston felt that O’Brian, the same as Winston himself, was not so eager and enthusiastic about the Party and their rules. When he saw O’Brian leave the room, they looked at each other and Winston felt a connection to him saying; “I am with you, I am on your side,” almost as if they shared the same mind and same feelings.
• Who is Syme and what do you learn about him? Syme works with Winston at the ministry of truth and his job is to change all the words to Newspeak, which is the new language the Party has created. Winston believes that Syme is too smart for his own good and that this is going to result in him getting killed by the Party.
• What does Winston notice in the canteen that makes him afraid? When Winston was in the canteen, half listening to his friends and the others around him, he noticed the young woman from the other morning. She had dark hair and was sitting at the table next to him. She stared at him and when she noticed that he was looking at her, she immediately looked away. Winston got scared because he thought that she was going to report him to the Thought Police. Because he did not look like he believed the chocolate ration which was announced on the telescreen above him, which is a facecrime and people get arrested for not showing the right facial expression.
• Winston writes this in his diary: Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is allowed, then everything else follows. What does he mean? In the book 1984, Winston says that the Party will eventually announce to the public that two plus two make five. What he means by this is that the Party has so much and extreme power that they can change the mathematical system and make two plus two to be five. Winston believes that eventually the Party will make it happen, because they can do so. Therefore if you have the freedom to say that two plus two make four, then everything else will slowly but surely change and everyone will have the freedom you deserve. But it does not matter if two plus two make four or five, what matters is that you have the freedom to say what you believe without getting hurt by others.
• What do you learn about Mr Charrington and his shop? Mr.Charrinton is the owner of a second-hand shop and also a part of the proles- a social class at the lowest part of society. The proles are seen as inhumane and consist of the majority of the population. He is a 60 year old man with a long nose and gentle eyes between thick glasses. In his shop there are not many valuable things, for most metallic objects have been melted and made into guns. We also learn that Mr.Charrington’s wife has passed, hence he wants to sell everything in his shop. Winston decides to buy a paper weight worth four dollars, and makes his way upstairs to browse for other things he might want. Upstairs he notices there is no telescreen, meaning the Party has no way of spying on the old man. Winston feels the need to ask if he could rent the room but decides to leave it for another time.
• Who does Winston see on his walk after he leaves the shop and how does he feel? When Winston leaves Mr Charrington’s antique shop, he recognizes the blue overalls that the Party members wear. He could not see who was wearing them, not until they started coming towards him. It was right there, in the dim streetlight, he saw the young dark haired woman. She stared at him while passing beside him with speed. Winston emerged from that street, when he was able to feel his legs again. On the way home he was thinking about her and what she was doing. Was she spying on him? Is she working for the Thought Police? Or both? He could not get over the enraging feelings he was feeling. Winston wanted to follow her and hit her with a rock, but he stopped himself. Because she was younger and stronger than him, and he probably would not have a chance of beating her.
• How does the young woman contact Winston and why? The young woman contacts him by tripping and falling in front of him, pretending to be hurt for him to help her up. When he helps her up she discreetly puts a note in his hand saying: I Love You. She does this because she knows Winston is against Big Brother and the Party, and wishes to get to know him.
• What do you learn about Julia? Julia is the young dark haired woman that Winston in the beginning kind of hated. She is quite young and a rebel. She is against the Party and the rules and wants to live a life where no one is controlling her, a free life. Julia was really interested in Winston because he had the same thoughts as her about the Party. Even though Winston does not express it as much as Julia when they are together. We also learn that Julia is good at finding out things, for example Winston’s name, what he thinks about the Party, secret places, and more. You could say that she is more free spirited than Winston and does not care about the politics and social issues in their society as much as he does.
• How do you think Winston felt while he was listening to the bird singing? The bird symbolizes freedom and the way it sings so beautifully is truly a wonder to him. The bird is therefore seen as the opposite of the party because it represents happiness and everything Winston longs for in his life.
• How are the proles different from the members of the Party, according to Winston, and makes him realize this? After waking up from a terrible nightmare, making him remember how much of a caring and loving person his mother was before she was taken away, he realizes that the proles are actually the only real humans there. He thinks so because they have not lost the ability to love one another and be happy.
• In what ways is the place where O’Brien lives different from where Winston lives? In the place where Winston lives it is not very beautiful or big. In the first chapter he describes the smell in the apartment building like cabbage and the elevator was not functional at the moment, so he had to take the stairs to the seventh floor. Winston’s apartment had a telescreen that could not be turned off, a window overlooking the gray and colorless city, a tiny kitchen, and an alcove where Winston could write in his notebook without the telescreen seeing him. O’Brien’s apartment was on the contrary to Winston’s. At O’Brien’s place there was an elegant living room, white painted corridors, it was big, clean, nice smell of delicious food, and a telescreen he could turn off whenever he wants.
• What is Winston given during Hate Week and what does he do with it? During Hate Week Winston is given a black briefcase with a book in it. This is no usual book, but a book written by Goldstein; The leader of the Brotherhood. The Brotherhood is an underground organization which is against the Party’s beliefs and Winston hopes that they will someday stop the Party. He proceeds to read some of the book and finds himself already knowing most things written in there.
• How do Julia and Winston learn that something terrible is going to happen? Winston and Julia each said “We are the dead” once before they heard a voice saying “You are the dead” twice behind the wall. They both turned around with speed and looked at the picture of the church. The picture fell on the floor with a thud and behind it was a hidden telescreen where the voice was coming from. With a smash, glass was all over the floor and the Thought Police were coming from all the exits. It was there Winston and Julia realized that something horrible was going to happen to them.
• Why do you think Winston realizes, for the first time in his life, that he is looking at a member of the Thought Police? At the moment when Winston was worrying about Mr Charrington, he walked in but as a whole different person. He changed completely, from the nice and old shopkeeper to the bad and scary officer. Mr Charrington kept his black jacket, but removed his glasses. His hair had gone black, he got taller, younger and looked powerful. I think that is why Winston thought he was looking, for the first time, at a Thought Police because they are powerful and scary.
• Why do you think Winston realizes, for the first time in his life, that he is looking at a member of the Thought Police? I think he realizes this because of how powerful the man looks. Mr.Charrington, a man who Winston thought he could trust, has always been a member of the Party and Winston realizes this when the man comes into the room and arrests them. Mr.Charrington does not look like a nice old man anymore, but like a strong middle aged man with power and a stone cold gaze.
• What do you think O’Brien means when he says to Winston, "You do not exist"? Winston “You do not exist” is that the “Winston” from the beginning of the book does not exist. All the feelings and thoughts that make Winston the person he is are gone. In that sense “Winston” does not exist and his hate against the Party is also gone and everything he desires, for example being with Julia, have been destroyed or changed to be as the Party wants. Now he is just another member of the Party and not the “Winston” we got to know in the beginning of the book.
• How does O'Brien prove to Winston that the Party has beaten him? And what does Winston say to prove that it hasn't. O’Brien makes Winston stand in front of a mirror completely naked, making him see how skinny and tired he looks. O’Brien yells at him and shows him that his hair is falling out, and pulls out one of his teeth showing Winston what a human really looks like. This makes Winston feel terrible until he realizes something- he realizes that he still has not betrayed Julia, meaning the Party does not fully control him yet, and that he still is capable of loving a person.
• Room 101 is different for everyone. What is in your Room 101? In Room 101, O'Brien informs Winston, “The worst thing in the world varies from individual to individual. It may be burial alive or death by fire, or by drowning, or by impalement, or fifty other deaths.” This means Room 101 is different for everyone. For me, Room 101 would contain loneliness.

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