G.

Orwell “1984”
Discussion questions for Part II

1. What did you find as the most surprising in the second part of the book?
2. After receiving Julia’s note, why didn’t Winston ever think about refusing her
advances? After all, he did consider her to be an agent for the Thought Police
at one point, and he had been imagining her death at another.
3. In your opinion, why is there Oliver Cromwell’s statue in Victory Square?
(Who was he and how can he be associated with Party’s ideas? Maybe he
shouldn’t be?)
4. When reading about the foreigners/war prisoner’s Winston and Julia
observed, could you find any connection to different historical events or
maybe even nowadays?
5. Why did Julia love Winston even though she didn’t even know him before
handing him the “I love you” note?
6. In the paragraphs describing Winston’s and Julia’s secret rendezvous in the
meadow, we can read about Winston observing and listening to a bird.
During these moments, he thinks about the purpose of its song. “No mate,
no rival was watching it. What made it sit at the edge of the lonely wood and
pour its music into nothingness?” is stated in the text. How would you
answer these questions?
7. Winston states that he hates purity and goodness (when referring to Julia,
and possibly other women). Why do you think he is against such supposedly
good qualities?
8. How was their intimate relationship a political act? Can rebellious acts
performed in an utter solitude be perceived as rebellion?
9. According to Julia, “if you kept the small rules, you could break the big ones.”
Do you agree? Why yes/no? What would be the small and big rules
nowadays if we kept to this philosophy?
10. Why was being picked out to work in Pornosec a sign of good reputation?