Alex Faron Reyes, 4th Period 1984 Book two: Chapters 5 & 6 Alex Faron Reyes, 4th Period

Chapter Five As Winston predicted, Syme vanishes. During the preparations for Hate Week, the city comes alive with the heat of the summer, and even the proles seem rowdy. Parsons hangs streamers everywhere and his children sing a new song, called “Hate Song.” Winston becomes increasingly obsessed with the room above the shop, thinking about it even when he cannot go there. He fantasizes that Katherine will die, which would allow him to marry Julia; he even dreams of becoming a prole. Winston and Julia talk about the Brotherhood; he tells her about the strange kinship he feels with O’Brien, and she tells him that she believes the war and Party enemies like Emmanuel Goldstein to be Party inventions. Winston is put off by her thoughtless lack of concern, and says she is just a rebel from the waist down.

Chapter Six O’Brien makes contact with Winston, who has been waiting for this moment all his life. During his short meeting with O’Brien in the hallway at the Ministry of Truth, Winston is anxious and excited. O’Brien mentions Syme and tells Winston that he can see a Newspeak dictionary if he will come to O’Brien’s house one evening. Winston feels that his meeting with O’Brien continues a path in his life begun the day of his first rebellious thought. He thinks gloomily that this path will lead him to the Ministry of Love, where he expects to be killed. Though he accepts his fate, he is thrilled to have O’Brien’s home address.

Discussion Questions

Question One “Syme had vanished. A morning came, and he was missing from work. On the next day nobody mentioned him. On the third day Winston went into the vestibule of the Records Department to look at the notice board. One of the notices carried a printed list of the members of the Chess Committee, of whom Syme had been one. It looked almost exactly as it had looked before–nothing had been crossed out– but it was one name shorter. Syme had ceased to exist; he had never existed.” How is the Party able to simply wipe people out of existence? What power does this give the Party over its members?

Question Two “Four, five, six—seven times they met during the month of June. Winston had dropped his habit of drinking gin at all hours. He seemed to have lost the need for it. He had grown fatter, his varicose ulcer had subsided, leaving only a brown stain. His fits of coughing in the early morning had stopped.” Why do you think Winston’s relationship with Julia is having such a profound affect on him? Is the affect positive, negative, or both?

Question Three “History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right.” Has history really stopped? Is there a better word than stopped to describe history in 1984?

Question Four "Power is tearing human minds apart and putting them back together in new shapes of your own choosing." -O'Brien Why does O’Brien talk so openly about the Party to Winston? How does the Party “tear apart minds and put them back in new shapes?”

Question Five “The rocket bombs which fell daily on London were probably fired by the Government of Oceania itself just to keep people frightened.“ Were the bombs really dropped just for fear? What other reasons may the party have for dropping bombs?

Question Six "Power is not a means, it's an end." -O'Brien What does O’Brien’s quote specifically mean and how does it relate to the Party?

Question Seven "Confession is not betrayal. What you say or do doesn't matter: only feelings matter. If they could make me stop loving you—that would be the real betrayal.“ She thought it over. "They can't do that," she said finally. "It's the one thing they can't do. They can't make you believe it. They can't get inside you.“ "No," he said a little more hopefully, "no; that's quite true. They can't get inside you. If you can feel that staying human is worth while, even when it can't have any result whatever, you've beaten them.“ Why is “staying human” an action against the Party?

Question Eight "The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We know that no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it.” The Party is a greedy, power-hungry political party that will stop at nothing to obtain more power over its citizens. Do you think this kind of party can rake hold here in the USA? Why or why not?

Question Nine “Even while he was speaking to O’Brien, when the meaning of the words had sunk in, a chilly shuddering feeling had taken possession of his body. He had the sensation of stepping into the dampness of a grave, and it was not much better because he had always known that the grave was there and waiting for him” Where did Winston’s “sinking feeling” come from? What does the grave symbolize?

Question Ten “You hate him. Good. The time has come for you to take the last step. You must love Big Brother. It is not enough to obey him, you must love him.” How does hate for Big Brother turn into love?