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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What should be the starting point to Winston's thoughts, as stated in Part 3, Chapter 3?

2. What are the three stages to Winston's reintegration?

3. What special privilege do Inner Party members have?

4. According to Part 2, Chapter 7, what remains impregnable?

5. What does the area where Inner Party members live smell like?

Short Essay Questions

1. Winston tells Julia that she is "only a rebel from the waist downwards." What does he mean by this, and is it true?

2. Why might George Orwell have made the book's conclusion so tragic? What is he trying to express?

3. What does Winston think O'Brien will say is the reason the Party seeks power?

4. How does Winston feel towards O'Brien in Part 3, Chapter 2? Why do you think this is?

5. What does Winston's betrayal reveal about his character? What do you think of him now?

6. How does Winston feel about physical pain? How does this relate to what you know about Winston's character?

7. How does Winston betray Julia? What is the significance of this?

8. What "progress" has Winston made by Part 3, Chapter 4? What does Winston have to do before his re-education is complete?

9. What is unusual about O'Brien? Do you think he can be trusted? Why or why not?

10. How can Winston still achieve victory over the Party in Part 3, Chapter 4?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Winston has a terrible fear of pain. He hates it more than anything else and is willing to do almost anything in order to avoid pain. Write an essay on pain, and Winston's experience with it. Be sure to cover:

1) How pain influences Winston throughout the book.

2) Possible reasons why Winston fears pain so much.

3) Possible ways that Winston could have controlled his fear of pain.

4) How your attitude towards pain is similar or different to that of Winston.

Essay Topic 2

Privacy is a highly relevant issue in the modern world. Possibilities for surveillance and citizen control have expanded significantly since George Orwell's time, and this trend frequently inspires references in the news and pop culture to Nineteen Eighty-Four. Write an essay on the topic of privacy, stating:

1) What privacy means to you.

2) The importance of privacy to a society as a whole.

3) Your opinion on the current debate over privacy, security, terrorism, and the constitution.

Essay Topic 3

One of the most important warnings in Nineteen-Eighty-Four is that the past can be erased and history can be changed. "Who controls the past, controls the future: who controls the present controls the past."

Write a short essay on a real historical event about which historians disagree. Be sure to show both sides, and in the conclusion, explain what you think really happened and why.

(see the answer keys)

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