Activity 12

Chapter 1:

1. A telescreen is an electronic device that acts as surveillance. It is the eyes and ears of The Party. Each telescreen has hidden microphones and cameras to monitor what each and every individual is doing at all times. It could be possible to create a television that is capable of seeing and hearing everything, similar to a telescreen. The real challenge would be trying to make everyone comply with the wishes of the government and be at peace with the idea of constant surveillance. This type of device would definitely be beneficial to expose criminals, however, it would create great controversy and end up causing more harm than help.
2. The four ministries of Oceania are: The Ministry of Peace, the Ministry of Plenty, the Ministry of Truth, and the Ministry of Love. The government departments in todays society are much different than those of Oceania. The systems existing in our world generally function to benefit society and are not oppressing departments created to manipulate and brainwash citizens.
3. Winston Smith keeps a diary because it is the only way he can safely express his thoughts and beliefs, or so he things. Any other method would be directly monitored by the party and would result in cruel punishments. Even though there ate no laws, Winston could suffer consequences because he is committing what is called 'thought crime' for speaking against Big Brother as well as writing in Oldspeak rather than the current language of Newspeak.
4. "Two-Minutes Hate" is a program that promotes hatred toward Emanuel Goldstein, a founder of the Party who was sentenced to death and mysteriously escaped after attempting to lead counterrevolutionary actions. It is important for the people to show hate toward Goldstein because is gives Big Brother faith in their obedience and appreciation of the government.

Chapter 2:

1. Parents in Oceania are afraid of their children because children are a part of the Junior Spies, a group of kids who are trained to tell the thought police about any person, even their own parents, that is rebelling against the government. This typically leads to arrest and imprisonment of the accused person.

2. In Winston's dream, O’Brien reveals, “We shall meet in the place where there is no darkness” (25). I think this statement means that O’Brien and Winston will not see each other again until after a major revolution that overflows the ‘darkness’ in Big Brother’s regime.

Chapter 3:


1. Winston dreams about the past and his younger life with his mother. He dreams about the days prior to Big Brother when he was able to relax with his mother and enjoy being with her. This dream tells the reader that Winston misses the past when he was with his mother and desires that time to come again.

2. The exercise instructor can see that Winston is not touching his toes because he, like every other citizen in Oceania, is being monitored through their telescreens at home.

Chapter 4:

 

1. Winston's job at the Ministry of Truth is to improvise history by changing old news articles in ways that make Big Brother look favorable.  According to his employers, Winston is good at what he does, but Winston does not like doing it because then it brings Big Brother more undeserved praise.

Chapter 5:

1. The purpose of Newspeak is to censor what the citizens of Oceania can and can not say. The ultimate goal is to create a new language that allows citizens to only speak positively in regard to Big Brother. Eventually, all citizens of Oceania will be speaking in Newspeak.

2. The Thought Police are the police force for Oceania. They monitor everything that citizens say, do, or even think. They even have Junior Spies, which are young kids that rat out what is being said by the citizens.

3. Winston thinks that his colleague Symes will be “vaporized” because Symes is too intelligent, sees too clearly, and speaks too plainly, which are characteristics that the Party despises in people

Chapter 6:

1. Winston’s marriage was an encouraged separation by the Party, after only 15 months, because Winston and Katherine (a tall, fair-haired girl with a bold, aquiline face) never conceived children. Thus, Winston lives alone since the Party did not allow his marriage.

Chapter 7:

1. The proles are the ordinary civilians of Oceania that make up about 85% of the Oceanic population. Winston writes that “if there is hope, it lies with the proles” because they make up so much of the population that if they were to all rise up and rebel against Big Brother, there would be nothing the government or Big Brother could do to stop them.

2. There is some truth behind the “capitalists” in frock coats and top hats that used to run Landon because that is a description of Winston Churchill and the British Parliament. However, there is no way to check the accuracy since the records of such events were censored by the Ministry of Truth’s Record Department.

3. The Chestnut Tree Café is an underground café that Winston occasionally visits after work to get some drinks. Jones, Aaronson, and Rutherford are convicted thought criminals that the Thought Police arrest at the Chestnut Tree Café.

4. When Winston writes, “I understand HOW. I do not understand WHY.”, he means that he understood how the Inner Party was scapegoating these men to distract the people from the truth based on the photo he found. However, Winston does not understand the actual reason why the Party is blaming the three men.

Chapter 8:

1. Winston returns to the junk shop where he bought the diary in order to get away from the girl from the fiction department that has been following him. While he is at the gift shop, Winston purchases Coral.

2. Winston is afraid of the girl from the fiction department because she has been following him around ever since he got the diary, leading him to believe that this girl is a member of the Thought Police coming to take him away.