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Copywork
About This Passage
Writing in his secret diary, Winston holds on to the simplest, surest truths he knows. The Party wants people to believe whatever it says, even that two plus two make five, but Winston reminds himself of things anyone can see for themselves: a stone is hard, water is wet, and a dropped object falls to the ground. These plain facts are his quiet way of resisting. As you copy, notice how Winston uses ordinary, everyday truths to keep a firm grip on what is real when the Party is trying to make him doubt his own eyes.
The solid world exists, its laws do not change. Stones are hard, water is wet, objects unsupported fall towards the earth’s centre.
Full copywork activity with handwriting lines available in the complete study guide.
Discussion Questions
Narration Prompt
Retell this chapter in order: Winston writes in his secret diary that the only hope of beating the Party lies in the proles, the millions of ordinary people, because they are strong enough to shake the Party off like a horse shaking off flies, if only they knew their own strength; he remembers hearing a huge, powerful shout from a crowd of women and hoping it was a rebellion, only to find they were fighting over saucepans, not anything that mattered; he thinks about how the Party rewrites the past, copying lies from a children's history book, so that no one can know what life was truly like before; he remembers once holding a photograph that proved three men had been wrongly accused, real proof that the Party had lied, before he had to drop it into the memory hole to be burned; and he reminds himself to hold on to plain truths, that the solid world is real and that two plus two make four, even when the Party wants him to deny what his own eyes can see. When you reach Winston's reminder that two plus two make four, slow down and weigh why holding on to a simple truth could be an act of courage.
Discussion Questions
- Winston thinks hope lies with the proles, the ordinary people, not with Party members like himself. Why does he trust the common people more than the people inside the Party? What part of the chapter helps you decide?
- Winston hears a huge, powerful shout and thinks a rebellion might be starting, but the women are only fighting over saucepans. Why does that change disappoint Winston so much? What part of the chapter helps you decide?
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Vocabulary
Item 1
a heavy feeling that everything is lost and nothing can help; the women's great cry rang out with anger and this.
Item 2
what is really real, what actually happened; the Party tries to bury it and put its own lies in its place.
Item 3
the state of having lost your reason; Winston fears he is the only one who believes what is real, and so a kind of this.
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Critical Thinking
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