Preview
Discussion Questions
Narration Prompt
Retell this chapter in order: Winston dreams first of his mother and baby sister sinking away beneath him while still looking up at him with love, and he senses that deep love and sorrow belonged to a vanished age; then of a beautiful place he calls the Golden Country; a piercing whistle wakes him for the Physical Jerks, led by a sharp woman on the telescreen; as he exercises, Winston struggles to recover his real childhood and reflects that the Party can rewrite the past, since whoever controls the past controls the future, and that the only proof against its lies lives in his own soon-to-be-annihilated mind; the voice screams '6079 Smith W' and orders him to bend lower, and Winston, his face inscrutable, finally touches his toes. When you reach Winston's reflection on doublethink, slow down and weigh what it costs a mind to think that way.
Discussion Questions
- In his dream, Winston watches his mother and baby sister sink away beneath him while they keep looking up at him with love. Why do you think that dream matters so much to him, and what does it help him understand about his life now? Support your reading with the text.
- Winston describes doublethink as holding two contradictory beliefs at once and sincerely accepting both. Do you read doublethink mainly as a discipline the Party imposes on people from outside, or as something each person finally performs on themselves? Defend one reading with evidence from the chapter, and explain why it fits the text better than the other.
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Critical Thinking
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