Discussion prompts range from basic to challenging. Copy prompts from this page or download the resource folder for all the printable handouts (PDF), the editable file (DOCX), and the model answer key.
1984 Part 1:
Chapter 1 Discussion Questions:
- Why does Winston suspect that O’Brien might be an ally? How might Winston discover the truth about O’Brien’s views without raising suspicion?
- What is the purpose of the telescreen? Can you make any connections to our lives today?
- Describe the view of London in 1984. Make sure to include the Ministry of Truth Building.
- What is the Two Minutes Hate? Can you infer and explain the purpose behind it?
- Can you guess at the meaning behind the Party slogan “IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH”?
- The woman in the Fiction Department maintains the “novel-writing machines.” Would you care if you learned that a book you loved was written by AI (artificial intelligence)?
- Why do some people feel compelled to keep diaries? Why do you think Winston Smith decides to start a diary in spite of the risks?
- Chapter 1 makes clear that Winston Smith has a problem with women. To what can we attribute his misogyny (hatred of women)?
Chapter 2 Discussion Questions:
- What is ironic (the opposite of what is expected or appropriate) about the name of Winston’s building? Can you think of similar examples of irony that you have observed?
- “It was almost normal for people over thirty to be frightened of their own children” (24). Why are people in 1984 afraid of their own children?
- How would you characterize Winston Smith based on what you know so far? Does he fit the conventional image of a heroic figure?
- What might be the significance of the Party slogan “FREEDOM IS SLAVERY”?
Chapter 3 Discussion Questions:
- Winston Smith dreams some vivid dreams. What has he dreamt about so far? Do you place any special importance on the meaning of your dreams? Explain.
- What are some things about the past that Winston can remember? What does he mean in thinking that “his memory was not satisfactorily under control” (34)?
- Explain the principle of “doublethink” in your own words.
- The Party states that “Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past” (34). Do you agree? Can you control the past?
Chapter 4 Discussion Questions:
- What does Winston Smith do for a living? Describe daily life in the Ministry of Truth.
- What qualities make Winston good at his job?
- How does the Ministry of Truth create fake photographs in the novel? How does this compare to the creation of fake photographs today?
- “Winston’s greatest pleasure in life was in his work” (43). How can this be true when Winston knows that everything he works on is a heap of lies?
- What are the many responsibilities of the Ministry of Truth? Why does the Party dedicate seemingly endless resources to the agency? Why is it so important?
- How does an understanding of the Ministry of Truth illuminate the meaning of the Party slogan “IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH”?
- Language naturally evolves and changes over time and space. Why do you think the Party aims to accelerate the process through the implementation of Newspeak?
- What would be the worst aspect of life in 1984 for you?
Chapter 5 Discussion Questions:
- Why does the Ministry of Truth provide hard alcohol to its workers? (This seems especially illogical given that several of the departments use dangerous machinery.)
- What are some of the sensory details (sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch) that make the ministry cafeteria so disgusting and unpleasant?
- What makes Mr. Parsons proud of his children? Do you think his pride is justified?
- Do you think that everyone else in the ministry cafeteria believes the telescreen announcement about chocolate that Winston knows to be false? Why or why not?
- Even though Syme is on the cutting edge of Newspeak and Party orthodoxy, Winston predicts that Syme will be “vaporized.” Why?
- The cafeteria is a matter of life or death for Winston. What are the perils with which he must contend? (Make sure to include a description of facecrime.)
- According to Syme, “The proles are not human beings” (52). Describe the social hierarchy (levels) portrayed in 1984? How does this social order compare to our society?
- Why do you think people like Syme and the Parsons children enjoy the public executions? Why are many people drawn to witness macabre, dreadful incidents (e.g., car wrecks)?
Chapter 6 Discussion Questions:
- “Your worst enemy, he reflected was your own nervous system.” What does Winston mean?
- Winston and Katherine were a poor match. How do you think they came to be married?
- Winston feels compelled to write about the episode with the prostitute even though thinking about it causes him intense distress. What do we learn about him from this recollection?
- Winston wears blue overalls because he is a member of the Outer Party. How do you think the society decides who belongs to the Inner Party, the Outer Party, and the proles?
Chapter 7 Discussion Questions:
- Would you rather be a prole or a member of the Outer Party? Explain your choice.
- Do you think Winston will meet Big Brother by the end of the novel? Why or why not?
- What do you think is the whole story behind the promotion, arrest, release, and subsequent execution of Jones, Aaronson, and Rutherford?
- Winston deals with the Party’s lies every day, so why does the appearance of the photograph of the Party leaders make such an impression on him?
- Do you agree that any hope for a revolution lies with the proles? Why or why not?
- Winston reflects on how his life experience is different from what the Party portrays in telescreens, newspapers, and flicks. Does this discrepancy correlate to what we experience in our lives? (Think about what you see in commercials, social media, movies, etc.)
- “Capitalism: an economic and political system in which a country’s trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit.” (Oxford) What view do the history books of Oceania take of capitalism? What is your view on the virtues and/or evils of capitalism?
Chapter 8 Discussion Questions:
- Why does the Party discourage personal connections but also discourage alone time?
- What is it about the little, old-fashioned apartment that so strongly appeals to Winston? Have you ever felt an instant connection to an unfamiliar place?
- Why do you think Winston’s attempt to get answers from the old man in the pub fails?
- Agree, disagree, or qualify: “Winston Smith is a likeable protagonist.”
- Winston knows the risks of unorthodox behavior. Why does he risk so much just to wander around the slums and talk to proles? What is the motive behind his behavior?
- The Party uses the lottery to distract and cheat the proles of Oceania. What do you think? Are lotteries harmless fun or an insidious tax on the foolish and unfortunate?
- You will hear more about the nursery rhyme “Oranges and Lemons” as the story progresses. Give a wild guess about the reason behind including this silly rhyme.
- At the end of the chapter, Winston is waiting for the Thought Police to come and take him. What do you think will happen?
1984 Part 2:
1984 Discussion Questions for Socratic seminar (Part 2 of the novel)
Chapter 1 Discussion Questions:
- How do Winston and the woman with the dark hair manage to communicate? What are other ways that people might communicate without alerting the Thought Police?
- How can we explain the sudden and total reversal of Winston’s feelings toward the woman with the dark hair? Have you ever experienced such a reversal?
- What can we say about the woman with the dark hair based on the story so far? What clues give insight to her character?
- Reread the section where the blond man invites Winston to sit at his table. How can we explain the frequency and intensity of Winston’s violent fantasies?
- Identify three examples of figurative language (metaphor, simile, idiom, personification, etc.) from the novel so far. Explain each.
- Winston is with a crowd in Victory Square when he sees a convoy of Eurasian prisoners. What clues can the reader gather from the spectacle?
- Make a prediction regarding the woman with the dark hair. Is Winston wrong to trust her?
Chapter 2 Discussion Questions:
- Why do you think the government is more controlling of Party members than proles?
- How does Julia cultivate her image of perfect Party orthodoxy?
- Why does Winston like the idea that Julia has had many lovers? (Hint: The very end of the chapter gives insight.)
- Identify two examples of figurative language (metaphor, simile, idiom, personification…) from Part 2: Chapter II and explain each.
Chapter 3 Discussion Questions:
- What are the techniques that Julia and Winston use to avoid detection while they continue their relationship? Are they being clever or foolish?
- Why would Winston tell Julia about the time he thought about murdering his wife?
- Explain this principle: “If you kept the small rules you could break the big ones” (129).
- If Julia hates the Party, why does she think that any attempt at organized revolt is stupid?
- Julia and Winston disagree on the appropriate way to live life in 1984. What are their respective views? Which character makes more sense to you?
Chapter 4 Discussion Questions:
- Why do you think the Party ensures that novels and songs are generated by machines and ministry departments rather than individuals?
- Describe Winston’s reaction to the rat in the apartment. Do you have any aversions or even phobias that go beyond a rational avoidance?
- Julia once explained that a good meeting place might be used two times at the most. Why do you think she is willing to break this rule when it comes to the secret apartment?
- What do you think is the whole story behind Julia’s acquisition of the contraband goodies?
- What is the deal with the nursery rhyme? Why does it keep popping up in the story?
- How do you think the society in 1984 came to be? What would have to happen for England to come under the control of such an inhumane, authoritarian government?
- What is behind Winston’s fascination with the prole woman who does laundry in the alley?
- Winston recalls yet another dream in Part 2: Chapter IV. Can you decipher any meaning behind this vague dream? What is going on with Winston’s dreams in general?
Chapter 5 Discussion Questions:
- Based on what we know about people being “vaporized,” what are some possible reasons behind the disappearance of Syme?
- Do you find it suspicious that rocket bomb attacks and distant explosions become more frequent as the people prepare for Hate Week? What might explain this coincidence?
- Which of Julia and Winston’s plans to escape the Party’s tyranny makes the most sense? Can you offer an idea that they have not considered?
- Winston regrets not keeping the photograph of Jones, Aaronson, and Rutherford. Julia thinks he was right when he threw it away years ago. What do you think?
- What might be the meaning of the nonsensical Party slogan “WAR IS PEACE”?
- Do you think Julia is right about the war being an elaborate fraud? Why or why not?
- Why does Winston find Julia’s approach to rebellion inadequate? What kind of rebellion does he desire?
Chapter 6 Discussion Questions:
- What clues tell you that life is quite different for members of the Inner Party?
- What is important about O’Brien referencing Syme when he talks to Winston?
- Winston will go to visit O’Brien’s apartment. Make a prediction about what will transpire.
Chapter 7 Discussion Questions:
- Winston dreams about the mother and child that were killed in the movie he saw. Why does Orwell want the reader to know that the woman is Jewish? Why does that matter?
- Why is it that at the age of thirty-nine Winston suddenly has a clear memory of himself as a child and the circumstances surrounding the disappearances of his parents and sister?
- Does Winston’s recollection of his actions as a boy make you despise him or pity him? Do you think grown-up Winston should feel guilt about how he acted when he was eleven?
- Winston never describes his youth in the Reclamation Center or how he became a member of the Outer Party. What might have happened in these “missing chapters” of his life?
- Winston says that his mother’s love possessed “a kind of nobility” (164). She had no title of nobility (duchess, princess, etc.), so what does he mean?
- Julia believes that even if you are tortured in the Ministry of Love the Party “can’t get inside you” or alter your “inner heart” (166). Do you agree?
- Why is it that the proles are human and Party members are not according to Winston?
Chapter 8 Discussion Questions:
- What more do we learn from this chapter regarding the lifestyle of Inner Party members?
- What is it about O’Brien that inspires such admiration from Winston?
- Why do you think O’Brien basically ignores Julia during the meeting?
- The Brotherhood promises nothing but misery and death. Why do they join? Would you?
- How does the Brotherhood function and endure? What does the Brotherhood expect of its members, and why are O’Brien’s examples so extreme?
- How does Orwell characterize Winston as cowardly in some ways and courageous in others? What impact does Part 2: Chapter 8 have on the characterization of Winston?
- Again with this nursery rhyme!? Now O’Brien is reciting it! What is the meaning of this?
- After a key revelation, it is a good point to update predictions. What do you predict now?
Chapter 9 Discussion Questions:
- Why is Goldstein’s book so important to Winston if it tells him nothing new?
- How do the people react to the sudden changing of the enemy from Eurasia to Eastasia? What do you think is behind this seemingly ill-timed change?
- How can a society with no laws be fixated on thoughtcrime, police, and crimestop?
- Why are poverty, fear, hunger, low technology, and ignorance desirable to the Party?
- Explain the history of class conflict and social upheaval as described in Goldstein’s book. How has the latest power structure been able to stop the cycle of revolution?
- The war cannot be won or lost, and nothing is threatened or gained by the nations involved. What is the point? Why doesn’t one (or all) of the countries simply stop participating?
- There are about 195 countries in the world today. (The exact number is a politically charged issue.) Do you think that one day there will be far fewer nations as imagined in 1984?
- Goldstein writes about crimestop, “reality control,” “mental cheating,” and doublethink. Explain in your words the habits of thought that are required of a citizen in Winston’s society.
Chapter 10 Discussion Questions:
- Why do you think Julia and Winston make no desperate, last-minute attempt to escape?
- What effect or impression is created by the echoing of Julia and Winston’s statements?
- What clues suggest that Winston and Julia slept twelve hours longer than they intended?
- Do you think there is hidden meaning in the lyrics of the “Only an ‘Opless Fancy” song, or does it just add a bit of colorful detail? Explain.
- Winston has been caught in the trap, but how? When was the conspiracy set in motion? How much of Winston’s story was a set-up? Who was involved?
- This chapter mentions fruits, flowers, birds, and turnips, but none of these are present. Explain some of the symbolism or figurative language used in Part 2: Chapter X.
- Why does Winston feel a “mystical reverence” for the prole woman who does laundry?
- What do you think will happen in Part 3? Give a wild, off-the wall prediction and a more serious prediction based on your understanding of the novel.
1984 Part 3:
Chapter 1 Discussion Questions:
- Why do prole and Party prisoners act so differently when they are in the same holding cell?
- If you were in Winston’s position in the first holding cell, would you hope to be sent to the known misery of the labor camps or the dreadful unknown of the Ministry of Love?
- What is significant about prisoner Bumstead trying to give the other man a piece of bread?
- What psychological tortures do we observe in the Ministry of Love so far?
- Winston promptly abandons any resolve and determines that “in the face of pain there are no heroes…” (239). What do you think?
- In what ways are Mr. Ampleforth and Mr. Parsons opposites? What can we conclude from the fact that they end up in the same situation?
- How does Orwell create suspense and mystery surrounding Room 101?
- George Orwell’s Ministry of Love has provided nightmare fuel for generations of readers. What are the details and devices that create the horror in our imaginations?
Chapter 2 Discussion Questions:
- How is it that O’Brien possesses the same newspaper photograph of Jones, Aaronson, and Rutherford that the Ministry of Truth destroyed? What conclusions might we draw?
- Winston suggests that the psychological torture “broke him down more completely than the boots and fists” (242). Explain how the ministry uses different forms of abuse in conjunction.
- In this chapter Winston uses the words “protector,” “friendship,” and even “love” to describe his feelings toward O’Brien. How can we explain this?
- “Everyone knows what is in Room 101” (260). Do you? What are some possibilities?
- Why doesn’t O’Brien say that the Brotherhood is real in answer to Winston’s question? According to his logic, if the Party says it is real than it is real. Why leave Winston in doubt?
- How are O’Brien’s definitions of reality and sanity different than Winston’s?
- Do you think it is possible to break and re-shape someone’s mind as portrayed in 1984?
- Why must the Ministry of Love make Winston a willing and enthusiastic Party member if they are only going to erase him from existence and memory?
Chapter 3 Discussion Questions:
- Were you surprised to learn that O’Brien wrote The Book? Why or why not?
- What point is O’Brien making in showing Winston the ruin of his body?
- O’Brien and Winston agree that Winston has not yet betrayed Juila. How can this be if Winston has already told them everything she did and more?
- O’Brien does not foresee a future without rebellious “stains” like Winston. In fact, he says it is important and necessary that there always be “heretics” to persecute? Why?
- O’Brien believes that his only value is as a disposable part of something powerful and everlasting. What do you think? Is it important to belong to something bigger than yourself?
- According to O’Brien, “Slavery is freedom.” Is there a type of freedom that comes with being a “slave” to a cause, belief system, or institution? Explain your views.
- Do you think Winston is right about the human spirit? Will it foil the Party’s plans?
Chapter 4 Discussion Questions:
- In this chapter, Winston receives more humane treatment and even some small comforts. How can we explain this development in view of the Party’s goals?
- Should Winston believe that he has been under additional surveillance for seven years? If this is so, why have the Thought Police allowed Winston’s unorthodoxy to go so far?
- What role does the Golden Country play in Winston’s mind? Do you have a “happy place” in your imagination? Is it a real place or an invented place? What does it represent to you?
- In what ways is Winston failing to meet O’Brien’s requirements?
Chapter 5 Discussion Questions:
- How do you think O’Brien discovered Winston’s fear of rats? Do you share O’Brien’s belief that everyone has an “unendurable” fear in the back of their mind?
- Why do “guests” in Room 101 receive so much personal attention from the Ministry if Love? (This recognition of individuality seems contrary to the principles of Ingsoc.)
- Did the final torture make your skin crawl? What literary devices and/or language details does Orwell use to create the horror in the mind of the reader?
- Did Room 101 meet your expectations? Why or why not?
Chapter 6 Discussion Questions:
- Describe Winston’s new job. Why do you think the Party gives him such a cushy position?
- Why is Winston so confident that he can talk to Juila with impunity (no punishment)?
- Neither Winston nor Julia desires to revive their relationship. Why is this so?
- What is crimestop? What details in the final chapter suggest that Winston has mastered it?
- Why does Winston conclude that his memory of playing games with his mother is false?
- Give some examples of Winston’s thoughts and/or dreams foretelling the events of his life. Do you think Winston is prescient, or is there something else going on in his psyche?
- What is the connection between the daily chess challenge, the war, and Big Brother?
- Jones, Aaronson, and Rutherford, Goldstein himself, Syme, and now Winston spend time in the Chestnut Tree Café. What is the meaning behind this recurring element? How does the song “Under the Spreading Chestnut tree” connect?
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Hopefully you found some prompts that you can use. You can download 1984 Discussion Questions by Chapter for the PDF handouts, editable format, and model answer key. Print pages as shown or customize to suit your goals. Includes 1984 discussion questions and answers for Parts 1-3. The complete unit includes these handouts as well as a discussion set for each reading (5 discussion sets rather than questions for each chapter).
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