1984

Part Two, Chapter 6

George Orwell · Mountaineers 10th–12th

Teaching Companion Print Adapt for your student

Copywork

Let me see, shall I send a messenger to you with the Dictionary? But I am afraid I invariably forget anything of that kind. Perhaps you could pick it up at my flat at some time that suited you?

Somewhat absent-mindedly O’Brien felt two of his pockets and then produced a small leather-covered notebook and a gold ink-pencil. Immediately beneath the telescreen, in such a position that anyone who was watching at the other end of the instrument could read what he was writing, he scribbled an address, tore out the page and handed it to Winston.

O’Brien never just says, “Come to my flat.” He gets there the long way: a question, then an excuse, then a “Perhaps”. Why might he take the long way round?

For the educator Two passages, five sentences, both O’Brien: first what he says, then what he does. The first is the end of his offer of the tenth edition. It moves in three steps, and none of them is an order: a question he asks himself aloud (“Let me see, shall I send a messenger”), an excuse that blames his own memory (“I invariably forget anything of that kind”), and a second question softened by “Perhaps” and handed to Winston’s convenience, “at some time that suited you”. The second passage is narration. Its first sentence piles up small, fussy details, the two pockets, the “small leather-covered notebook”, the “gold ink-pencil”, under the adverb “Somewhat absent-mindedly”. The second sentence holds back its main clause: a long opening phrase places the act “Immediately beneath the telescreen” and spells out who could read it, and only then come three quick verbs, “scribbled”, “tore out”, “handed”. Students copying them practise speech that asks instead of telling, an excuse built on “afraid” and an adverb of habit, a question that leaves the choice to the listener, a sentence of small details under one adverb, and a long sentence that delays its verbs and then runs them together. For the talk prompt, listen for more than one reading. One says the long way is cover: if anyone overhears, the visit is the result of O’Brien’s bad memory, not Winston’s wish, and nothing in the words could be held against either man. Another says the long way leaves Winston free: a question and a “Perhaps” can be turned down, and “at some time that suited you” puts the when in Winston’s hands, where the chapter’s last paragraph finds it (“Perhaps tomorrow, perhaps after a long delay”). A strong student may notice that the second passage does the opposite of the first: the words are roundabout, and the act is done in full view. Keep to the page: the chapter gives Winston’s reading of the offer and never says what O’Brien intends.

Discussion

Narration Tell back the chapter, from the small cough behind Winston in the corridor to the scrap of paper in the memory hole. Then tell what Winston makes of the meeting, and end where he ends, at the grave.

O’Brien praises Winston’s Newspeak. Winston answers, “Hardly scholarly,” and calls himself “only an amateur.” Why does he play himself down at the very moment he has hoped for? Character
O’Brien says the expert’s name “has slipped my memory.” Forgetting Syme is just what the Party wants everyone to do. So how can that forgetting make the two men “accomplices”? Inference
O’Brien writes his address right under a telescreen, where anyone watching could read it. Picture the person at the other end of that screen. What do they see, and what do they miss? Inference
Winston learns the address by heart, then drops the page into the memory hole. The hole takes the paper in a moment. What would it take to get rid of the address now? Character

Make a Connection Think of someone, in a story, in history or in your own life, who finally got the chance they had long hoped for and felt dread instead of joy. What were they afraid of?

Vocabulary

self-possession: Winston had recovered part of his self-possession. Calm control of yourself, especially when something has shaken you (self, and possession, the having or holding of a thing). When O’Brien turns up beside him, Winston’s heart pounds and he cannot speak; a moment later he “had recovered part of his self-possession”. Only part: the word measures how far he has come back to himself, and he answers with a modest “Hardly scholarly” that gives nothing away.
invariably: But I am afraid I invariably forget anything of that kind. Always, every single time, without exception (in-, not, and vary, to change). O’Brien says, “I am afraid I invariably forget anything of that kind.” A word that strong makes his forgetting a fixed habit, and the habit is his reason for asking Winston to his flat. It is his second forgetting in two minutes.
absent-mindedly: Somewhat absent-mindedly O’Brien felt two of his pockets and then produced a small leather-covered notebook and a gold ink-pencil. Without paying attention to what you are doing, as if your mind were somewhere else (absent, away, and mind). O’Brien pats his pockets “Somewhat absent-mindedly” before writing his address under the telescreen. The narrator says how it looks, not how it is meant, and “Somewhat” leaves room to wonder.

Critical thinking

Once O’Brien has gone, Winston decides there was “only one meaning” the meeting could possibly have. A few lines later comes a “Perhaps”. How sure can he be?
O'Brien's address is the sign Winston has hoped for, yet it brings him “a foretaste of death.” Is he choosing this path, or being carried along a road he cannot leave?