Tuesday 26 April 2011

Map of the Cold War - 1980



WHAT IS YOUR GREATEST FEAR?

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Here is another political map of the 80s

Thursday 21 April 2011

1984 BOOK II Study Questions

Book Two, Chapter 8—9

1. Contrast the living quarters and style of the Inner Party members with those of the Outer Party members and proles.
2. How does O’Brien test Julia and Winston?
3. What information does O’Brien give them about the Brotherhood?
4. How will O’Brien get The Book to Winston?


Book Two, Chapter 9

1. Why does Orwell include detailed passages from Goldstein’s Book in 1984?
2. What three classes of people have always existed?
3. In What ways have these three classes changed?
4. What is the purpose of war in the world of 1984?
5. What are the two aims of the Party?
6. What are the two problems with which the Party is concerned?
7. Why do all three superpowers forbid their citizens from associating with foreigners?
8. The governments of the three superpowers are alike in essence even though their forms of government have different names. Identify these similarities and explain why they exist?
9.. What is the real "war" fought in each of the three governments? Your answer will explain the party slogan, "War is Peace."
10. What are the aims of the three groups?
11. What changes in the pattern occurred in the nineteenth century?
12. How did socialism change in the twentieth century?
13. Why are the rulers in the twentieth century better at maintaining power than earlier tyrants?
14. What are the four ways an elite group falls from power?
15. How does the Inner Party make certain it will not fall from power?
16. How is a person’s class determined in the 1984 world?
17. What is doublethink and what is its purpose to the ruling class?
18. Why is the mutability of the past important to the ruling class?

Thursday 14 April 2011

1984 Book II chapter 3-4

Book Two, Chapter 3

How and where do Julia and Winston meet?
What is Julia’s job?
What is her background?
What is her attitude toward the Party?
Describe the quote “ With Julia, everything came back to her own sexuality. As soon as this was touched upon in any way she was capable of great acuteness”. What does Winston think about Julia?
Why does the Party think the sexual impulse as well as the familial love dangerous?

Book Two, Chapter 4

How does Winston react to the singing Prole woman?
What pleasures of the senses are mentioned in this chapter? What is Orwell’s point in mentioning them?
What is Winston’s reaction to rats? Julia’s reaction?
Winston is interested in the church bells that once played in the city even though he is not religious. What do church bells mean to him?
Winston sees the coral paperweight as a symbol of what?

Chapter 5

Who has vanished? How does Winston confirm this?
Describe the preparations for Hate Week. In what ways does the Inner Party excel in building spirit?
Julia and Winston have some differences. Explain them.
Connect chapters 2-3 in Book Two to two different themes.

Wednesday 13 April 2011

Book II Study Questions

Book Two, Chapter 1

How does Winston react to the note from Julia before he reads it?
How does Winston react to the note after he reads it?
Where do they manage to talk for the first time?
Where do they plan to meet?
What do Winston and Julia do before they part?

Book Two, Chapter 2

Why is Winston ill at ease once he is alone with Julia?
What does Julia bring with her that she has obtained on the black market?
What are Julia’s ideas about the Party?
What familiar sign does Winston find?
What is the significance of the thrush music?
What does Winston mean when he says that he loves Julia all the more because she has had scores of sexual encounters?