1984 - Chapter 8

Study guide for 1st – 3rd Grade

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Copywork

About This Passage

In a dusty old junk shop, Winston finds a beautiful, heavy ball of glass. It is round and smooth on one side and flat on the other, like half of a ball. Long ago, someone placed a tiny piece of pink coral deep inside it. Copying this sentence helps a young reader picture the strange, lovely object from long ago that Winston cannot stop looking at.

It was a heavy lump of glass, curved on one side, flat on the other, making almost a hemisphere.

Full copywork activity with handwriting lines available in the complete study guide.

Discussion Questions

Narration Prompt

Retell this chapter in your own words: how Winston walks into the crowded prole streets, how he buys an old man a beer and tries to ask him what life was like before the Party but cannot get a real answer, how he finds a beautiful glass ball and a quiet room in the junk shop, and how at the end he sees the dark-haired girl following him.

Discussion Questions

  1. The old man can remember small things, like top hats and the old price of beer, but not whether life was really better or worse before the Party. Why might it be hard to learn the truth about the past from someone who only remembers little bits and pieces? Use the chapter's details about the old man to explain.
  2. Winston buys a beautiful old glass ball even though it is useless and could get him in trouble. Why might Winston want to keep something old and beautiful, even when keeping it is dangerous? Use the chapter's details about the glass ball to explain.

+ 2 more questions in the complete study guide

Vocabulary

Item 1

Moved together in a large, busy crowd.

Item 2

Wearing old, torn clothes.

Item 3

Covered in dirt and dust.

+ 5 more vocabulary words in the complete study guide

Critical Thinking

+ 4 more questions in the complete study guide

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