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1984
Mountaineers · 10th–12th
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?
The tension The meeting he has longed for arrives, and “his only impulse was to run away”; the message he takes as proof that “The conspiracy that he had dreamed of did exist” leaves him with “a foretaste of death, like being a little less alive.”
How a two-minute talk about a dictionary becomes, for Winston, the moment his rebellion leaves the page.
The chapter is short, a single meeting and Winston’s thoughts about it. It opens on the news that the message he has waited for all his life has come. Walking down a corridor in the Ministry, near the spot where Julia once slipped him her note, Winston hears a small cough behind him and turns to find O’Brien. His first impulse is to run; his heart pounds and he cannot speak. O’Brien falls into step beside him with his usual grave courtesy and praises one of Winston’s Newspeak articles in the Times, adding that a friend of Winston’s, an expert whose name has slipped his memory, thinks so too. Winston hears a reference to Syme, who has been made an unperson, and decides the remark is a deliberate signal that makes the two of them accomplices in thoughtcrime. O’Brien goes on: Winston’s article used two words that have just become obsolete, and an advance copy of the tenth edition of the Newspeak Dictionary might interest him. Since O’Brien says he always forgets to send messengers, Winston could collect it at his flat. Standing beneath a telescreen, where anyone watching could read it, O’Brien writes his address in a small leather notebook, tears out the page and gives it to Winston, then leaves. Though the page needs no hiding, Winston memorises it and hours later drops it into the memory hole. The talk lasted two minutes at most, and Winston decides it can have had only one purpose: to give him the address, since there are no directories and no other way to learn where anyone lives. He wonders whether a message might be hidden in the Dictionary; at any rate he is sure the conspiracy he dreamed of exists and that he has reached its edges. He knows he will obey O’Brien’s summons, sooner or later. He sees his course as a process begun years ago: a secret thought, then the diary, now words turning into actions, and at the end something in the Ministry of Love. He has accepted it, yet it feels like a foretaste of death, like stepping into the dampness of a grave that he always knew was waiting for him.
Before reading, remind the student who O’Brien is: a member of the Inner Party whom Winston has long hoped is secretly against the Party; that Syme has vanished from the Ministry and from its records; and that it was in a corridor at the Ministry that Julia first slipped Winston a note. Then read the chapter in three stretches: the meeting, from the opening to “handed it to Winston”; the scrap of paper and what Winston makes of it, to “the outer edges of it”; and his reckoning, to the end. In each stretch, mark one thing O’Brien does and what Winston takes it to mean. Leave open what the chapter leaves open: what O’Brien intends, whether anything is hidden in the Dictionary, and when Winston will go to the flat.
Retell The student retells the chapter in order: the cough in the corridor, the urge to run, the praise for the Newspeak article and Winston’s modest answer, the forgotten expert and Winston’s thought of Syme, the offer of the tenth edition, the address written under the telescreen, the page learned by heart and dropped in the memory hole, Winston’s sure reading of the meeting, and his list of steps ending at the grave. Look for the forgotten expert, which a hurried retelling drops though the whole signal turns on it, and for the place where the address is written.
Imitate the author After copying, the student writes two passages of their own. The first is three sentences of someone inviting a person without seeming to: a question asked aloud to oneself, an excuse that begins “But I am afraid I” and blames a habit with a word like “invariably”, and a closing question that opens with “Perhaps” and leaves the time to the listener. The second is two sentences about someone doing something in plain view: a sentence of small, exact details under one adverb, like “Somewhat absent-mindedly”, and a long sentence that first says where the act happens and who could see it, then ends on three quick verbs.
Debate Take sides on the last written question. One side argues that Winston is being carried, and gathers “involuntary”, “He knew that sooner or later he would obey”, “a process that had started years ago” and “The end was contained in the beginning.” The other argues that he is choosing, and gathers the diary, the address learned by heart, the page destroyed, “Perhaps tomorrow, perhaps after a long delay” and “He had accepted it.” Each side must answer the other’s best line, and neither may call his fear cowardice or drop the grave. Neither may say what O’Brien intends or what happens in the Ministry of Love; the chapter gives only Winston’s reading and his expectation.
Purpose Close on the chapter’s shape. It opens with Winston who “had been waiting for this to happen” all his life and closes on a grave that “was there and waiting for him.” Between the two waits is a talk of two minutes about verbs and a dictionary that cuts words away. Ask why the chapter spends so few lines on the meeting and so many on Winston’s reading of it, and what it gains by stopping on the grave rather than on the conspiracy he is sure he has found.
Easier Read the chapter aloud in its three stretches. As you go, make two columns: what O’Brien says or does, and what Winston takes it to mean. Talk through the second and third discussion questions, then answer the last written question aloud, using Winston’s list of steps, before writing it.
On level Talk through all four discussion questions in order, then write both written questions as a thesis, the strongest objection and a revised thesis, each with lines from the chapter.
Harder Ask for one argued essay on O’Brien’s two kinds of signal in the copied passages: words that take the long way round, and a deed done in full view of a telescreen. The essay should weigh which of the two Winston is right to read as a message, using the forgotten expert, the excuse of a bad memory and the address in a world with “no directories”, and meet the objection that every one of these could be innocent. It must not say what O’Brien intends.
1. 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
What it asks It asks the student to explain Winston’s first words in the meeting he has waited for. O’Brien opens, “I had been hoping for an opportunity of talking to you,” and asks, “You take a scholarly interest in Newspeak, I believe?” Winston, who “had recovered part of his self-possession”, answers: “Hardly scholarly,” and then, “I’m only an amateur. It’s not my subject. I have never had anything to do with the actual construction of the language.” O’Brien does not let it go: “But you write it very elegantly,” he says, and then comes the friend who is an expert. The student says why Winston plays himself down at the moment he has hoped for. The card must not call Winston a coward, nor say whether O’Brien is a friend or a danger; the chapter gives only Winston’s reading of him.
A move. A short, true, dull answer gives nothing away, to O’Brien or to anyone who might be listening. Winston has only just got hold of himself again, and he will not be the one to step forward first. Playing himself down leaves the next move to O’Brien, and O’Brien makes it.
Winston had recovered part of his self-possession.
But you write it very elegantly
A retreat. A moment ago his only impulse was to run, and he could not speak. The modest answer is that urge put into words: it closes the door O’Brien has just opened. But O’Brien has carried the meeting from his first step, and he carries it on now, whether Winston steps forward or not.
it seemed that his only impulse was to run away
O’Brien, however, had continued forward in the same movement
A strong answer A strong response says why Winston plays himself down, and argues from his answer to O’Brien’s praise. One reader calls it a move: a short, true answer gives nothing away, to O’Brien or to anyone listening, and leaves the next step to O’Brien, who takes it. Another calls it a retreat: the urge to run put into words, while O’Brien carries the talk forward anyway. The best answers hear “part of his self-possession”, notice that O’Brien does not accept the answer, and do not call Winston a coward.
2. 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
What it asks It asks the student to explain how Winston hears O’Brien’s remark about the expert. O’Brien praises Winston’s Newspeak and adds, “I was talking recently to a friend of yours who is certainly an expert. His name has slipped my memory for the moment.” Winston takes it at once as Syme: “It was inconceivable that this was anything other than a reference to Syme.” Syme is “abolished, an unperson”, and “Any identifiable reference to him would have been mortally dangerous.” Winston concludes that by “sharing a small act of thoughtcrime” O’Brien has made the two of them “accomplices”. The student says how a forgotten name can be a crime two men share. The card must not say that O’Brien is truly a conspirator or that he is setting a trap; the chapter gives only Winston’s reading.
The crime is in pointing at him at all. A loyal man would have no expert to forget, because Syme never existed. By marking the gap, “a friend of yours who is certainly an expert”, O’Brien admits that someone was there. The forgetting is only a polite cover laid over a remembering.
I was talking recently to a friend of yours who is certainly an expert.
Any identifiable reference to him would have been mortally dangerous.
The forgetting is the code. O’Brien leaves the name unsaid, and Winston fills it in. Neither man speaks the dangerous word, so neither could be caught saying it, yet each now knows the other knows. The crime is shared because it takes both of them to finish it.
His name has slipped my memory for the moment.
By sharing a small act of thoughtcrime he had turned the two of them into accomplices.
A strong answer A strong response explains how a forgotten name can make the two men “accomplices”, and argues from the paragraph on Syme. One reader says the crime is in pointing at him at all: a loyal man would have nothing to forget, and “a friend of yours who is certainly an expert” admits that someone was there. Another says the forgetting is the code: the dangerous word is never spoken, and the crime is shared because Winston has to finish it. The best answers hear how sure Winston is, notice O’Brien’s second forgetting, and do not decide what O’Brien meant.
3. 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
What it asks It asks the student to look at the handing-over of the address from outside. “They were standing in front of a telescreen.” O’Brien feels two of his pockets “Somewhat absent-mindedly”, brings out “a small leather-covered notebook and a gold ink-pencil”, and “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.” The student imagines the watcher and says what that person sees and what they miss. The card must not say that O’Brien is a conspirator or that he is setting a trap; the chapter gives only Winston’s reading.
Nothing worth a second look. An Inner Party man offers to lend a dictionary to a man who writes about Newspeak, and says where to collect it. Everything the watcher could hear is about verbs and editions. What they miss is what Winston hears in it. Doing it in plain view is what makes it look harmless.
The reduction in the number of verbs – that is the point that will appeal to you, I think.
in such a position that anyone who was watching at the other end of the instrument could read what he was writing
An address changing hands, and in this world that is not small. No one can find where anyone lives except by asking, so the watcher sees what Winston sees: an open door. If the address is the signal Winston takes it for, then writing it where a watcher can read it means O’Brien is either sure his excuse will hold or not afraid of the screen. The chapter does not say which, or whether it is a signal at all.
This was necessary, because except by direct enquiry it was never possible to discover where anyone lived.
There were no directories of any kind.
A strong answer A strong response pictures the watcher, says what they see and miss, and argues from the paragraph beneath the telescreen. One reader says they see nothing worth a second look: a dictionary lent, talk of verbs, and the plain view is what makes it look harmless. Another says they see an address change hands in a world with “no directories”, an open door to anyone who knows it, so O’Brien is either sure of his excuse or unafraid of the screen. The best answers weigh the absent-minded gestures, set the page beside Julia’s hidden note, and leave O’Brien’s purpose open.
4. 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
What it asks It asks the student to weigh what Winston does with the page. “He was gone, leaving Winston holding the scrap of paper, which this time there was no need to conceal. Nevertheless he carefully memorised what was written on it, and some hours later dropped it into the memory hole along with a mass of other papers.” The paper is destroyed; the address is not. The student says what it would now take to be rid of the address, and what that says about the step Winston has just taken. The card must not say when Winston goes to the flat; that does not happen in this chapter.
Nothing he can do. The memory hole takes the paper in a moment, but nothing takes back what he has learned, and he cannot decide to forget it. Before he learned it, he could have let the page go and kept nothing. Now the address goes wherever he goes. Learning it is his first deed after the meeting, and it is the one he cannot undo.
Nevertheless he carefully memorised what was written on it
He had moved from thoughts to words, and now from words to actions.
Very little. Knowing where a man lives is not the same as going there. A page can be found or read over his shoulder; what he knows by heart cannot, so learning it is plain caution. He even waits “some hours”, so the page goes down with a pile of other papers and looks like the day’s work. The address in his head is safe, and by itself it binds him to nothing.
which this time there was no need to conceal
some hours later dropped it into the memory hole along with a mass of other papers
A strong answer A strong response says what it would take to be rid of the address, and argues from the two sentences on the scrap of paper. One reader says nothing he can do: the memory hole takes the paper, but nothing takes back what he has learned, and learning it is his first deed after the meeting. Another says very little: knowing an address is not going there, a page can be found and a memory cannot, and he lets the page vanish among “a mass of other papers”. The best answers hear “Nevertheless”, notice that he uses the Party’s memory hole, meet his certainty that he “would obey”, and do not say when he goes to the flat.
1. 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?
What it asks It asks the student to judge Winston’s reading of the meeting. Afterwards he reasons: “They had been talking to one another for a couple of minutes at the most. There was only one meaning that the episode could possibly have. It had been contrived as a way of letting Winston know O’Brien’s address.” He adds that “except by direct enquiry it was never possible to discover where anyone lived”, wonders whether “Perhaps there would even be a message concealed somewhere in the Dictionary”, and ends: “But at any rate, one thing was certain. The conspiracy that he had dreamed of did exist, and he had reached the outer edges of it.” The student builds a thesis on how sure Winston can be: how much he knows, and how much he only guesses or hopes, meets the strongest objection, and revises. The card must not say that O’Brien is truly a conspirator or that he is setting a trap, nor that a message is hidden in the Dictionary.
A good deal. The signs stack up. O’Brien points at an unperson, which no careful man would do; he offers a reason to visit; and he gives an address in a world with no directories, the one thing Winston could never find for himself. Each sign alone might be innocent. All three in two minutes are hard to explain any other way.
It had been contrived as a way of letting Winston know O’Brien’s address.
There were no directories of any kind.
Very little. Winston has waited all his life for this, and a man who has waited that long sees what he is waiting for. Each sign can be innocent: O’Brien did read the article, the tenth edition is coming, and people forget names. Winston’s own thinking slides from “only one meaning” to “Perhaps”, and the certain thing is the conspiracy he “had dreamed of”.
All his life, it seemed to him, he had been waiting for this to happen.
Perhaps there would even be a message concealed somewhere in the Dictionary.
A strong answer A strong response states how sure Winston can be, meets the strongest objection, and revises. One thesis says a good deal: the unperson, the excuse to visit and the address in a world with “no directories” are hard to explain together any other way. The strongest objection is that Winston has waited all his life for exactly this, that each sign alone is innocent, and that his own thinking slides into “Perhaps”. A good revision separates the address, which O’Brien plainly meant him to have, from the conspiracy, which Winston only infers, and never says what O’Brien intends.
2. 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?
What it asks It asks the student to judge Winston’s reckoning at the end of the chapter. He knows “that sooner or later he would obey O’Brien’s summons. Perhaps tomorrow, perhaps after a long delay – he was not certain.” He calls what is happening “only the working-out of a process that had started years ago”: “The first step had been a secret, involuntary thought, the second had been the opening of the diary. He had moved from thoughts to words, and now from words to actions. The last step was something that would happen in the Ministry of Love. He had accepted it. The end was contained in the beginning.” Then: “But it was frightening: or, more exactly, it was like a foretaste of death, like being a little less alive.” The student builds a thesis on whether Winston is choosing this path or being carried along it, meets the strongest objection, and revises. The card must not say what happens in the Ministry of Love, when Winston goes to the flat, or that O’Brien is what Winston takes him for.
Carried. Winston says so himself. The first step was “involuntary”, each step since has grown out of the one before, and the end was there from the start. He does not decide to obey; he “knew” he would. Even the grave was always there and waiting, and he is only arriving at it.
What was happening was only the working-out of a process that had started years ago.
The end was contained in the beginning.
Choosing. Only the first thought was involuntary. Opening the diary was a deed, and so are learning the address and destroying the page. He keeps the timing in his own hands. “He had accepted it” is something a man does, not something done to him. Calling the road fate may be how he finds the nerve to walk it.
Perhaps tomorrow, perhaps after a long delay – he was not certain.
He had accepted it.
A strong answer A strong response states whether Winston is choosing his path or being carried along it, meets the strongest objection, and revises. One thesis says carried: the first step was “involuntary”, he “knew” he would obey, and “The end was contained in the beginning.” The strongest objection is everything he does: the diary, the memorised address, the page destroyed, and the delay he keeps in his own hands. A thesis of choice must meet his own words, “a process that had started years ago”. A good revision may hold that he chooses a road he believes he cannot leave, and it keeps the grave in view rather than calling the meeting a triumph.
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.
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.
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.