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Copywork
About This Passage
This is the very first sentence of the book, and the author hides a clue in it. Most of it sounds normal, a bright, cold day in April, but then the clocks strike thirteen. Real clocks do not strike thirteen, so right away we feel that something in Winston's world is strange and wrong. With one small, odd detail, the author warns us that this is not a safe, ordinary place.
It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.
Full copywork activity with handwriting lines available in the complete study guide.
Discussion Questions
Narration Prompt
Tell what happens in this chapter in order: on a cold day in April, a tired man named Winston comes in from a vile wind into a worn-out building called Victory Mansions; he climbs the stairs past huge posters of Big Brother's face that seem to watch him, with the words BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU; inside his flat a screen called the telescreen talks and watches and can never be turned off; at the daily Two Minutes Hate, everyone is made to shout and rage at a screen together, and Winston is swept up in it too; then, in secret, his shaking hand opens a special book he bought and, even though it is very dangerous, he writes his own thoughts in a diary, scribbling DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER over and over; suddenly a knock at the door fills him with fear. When you reach the secret diary, slow down and tell why writing it is such a brave and risky thing for Winston to do.
Discussion Questions
- The story opens on a bright cold day in April by saying the clocks were striking thirteen. What does that strange detail make you think about the world Winston lives in, and why? What part of the chapter helps you decide?
- Winston keeps seeing Big Brother's face on posters, and the eyes seem to follow him when he moves. What do you think these watching posters do to a person living in this world, and why? What part of the chapter helps you decide?
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Vocabulary
Item 1
Very, very big; the face of Big Brother on the posters is this huge, far larger than any real face.
Item 2
Full of tiny rough bits of sand or dust; as Winston comes through the door, a swirl of this kind of dust blows in with him.
Item 3
Made less bright, clear, or sharp; the telescreen on the wall looks like a mirror that has gone this way, cloudy and dim.
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Critical Thinking
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