DAY 4 - CYCLE 10 - SEMESTER 2

Today, you took the Unit 7 vocabulary quiz, and then we finished the video. I asked you then to make a list of any kind of comparison you could between the novel and the video. Discussion time was short, but you were able to jot down a few notes, which are available on the wikispace. I did ask you to give some thought to the following questions:

1. Is it possible to maintain independence of mind in such a society as Winston's? (Think about the documentary's comments about belief and fear near the end of the video.)
2. Are there any indications that Winston has had problems with too independent a mind in the past?

If you'd like to learn more about North Korea (our overviews of them and their presentations of themselves), please visit:

• US State Department's overview
• North Korea's "official webpage"
• CIA World Fact Book
• North Korean Central News Agency (wow...)
  

Homework
Read up to page 72 with consideration to the two questions above, AND the additional discussion questions below. Non-talkers? Really think about these and start arming yourself with ideas.

1. Why does recalling the evening with the prostitute inspire such violent reactions in Winston?
2. How does life differ for Party members and the proles?
3. “The aim of the Party was not merely to prevent men and women from forming loyalties which it might not be able to control. Its real, undeclared purpose was to remove all pleasure from the sexual act” (58). Why? What purpose does this serve?
4. Why aren’t the proles supposed to have gin? Why are they allowed to be promiscuous and divorce one another, but Party members are not?
5. Why does Winston think “If there is hope, it lies in the proles” (61)? Explain what his reasoning is likely to be.
6. “The ideal set up by the Party was something huge, terrible, and glittering -- a world of steel and concrete, of monstrous machines and terrifying weapons -- a nation of warriors and fanatics, marching forward in perfect unity, all thinking the same thoughts and shouting the same slogans, perpetually working, fighting, triumphing, persecuting -- three hundred million people all with the same face” (65). What about this is appealing?
7. What does the literacy rate imply about life in Oceania?
8. What sort of person hangs out at the Chestnut Tree Café?
9. What do you suppose in meant by the lyrics on page 68?
10. Why did he throw away the photograph then, and why would he keep it now?
11. Why does he think he is writing the diary for O’Brien?
12. Explain the logic that motivates the lines: “Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows” (72).