Sam Walters Period 4

 Old Man (at pub) – (indirect characterization) bent but active old man, has a prawn-like mustache. As Winston is walking through the prole district, he sees an old man walk into a pub and decides to follow him and ask him some questions to figure out if life is actually better now than it was in the past, but the old man’s memory has failed him, and Winston doesn’t obtain a single clue to what life was like in the past. The old man symbolizes that the past has disintegrated and any and all efforts to recover it are gone. Winston makes the statement that the past is left to the proles, who will only forget it.

 Proles – (direct characterization)(derived from Proleteriat, the poorest and lowest rank in Oceania) described as being vary large and have brick-red forearms. In this chapter Winston sees some proles while walking their section of town and restates his thought that they are the only hope for a revolution in the future. He bases this statement on the fact that they make up 85% of the general population, are not monitored by telescreens (for the most part), and therefore could effectively overthrow the government, if only they could be organized and intelligent. He even envies them for having such simple lives.  Dark-Haired Girl – (direct characterization) woman who works in the same ministry as Winston, but in the Fiction Department. Winston knows nothing of her (not even her name), but believes she is against him and a member of the Thought Police that’s goal is to spy on him, catch him and vaporize him. While walking home from Mr. Charrington’s shop, he sees the dark-haired girl and contemplates hitting her on the head with a cobblestone or the paperweight. She represents the looming fear that Winston has that he will be caught by the Thought Police, tortured, and killed. She also seen as a form of foreshadowing as to Winston’s downfall in the future, when he is eventually caught by the Thought Police.

 Mr. Charrington – (indirect characterization) proprietor of the secondhand store in the prole district, that sells Winston his diary and the paperweight. He seems to support Winston and the rebellion, as he sells him the diary and paperweight and shows him an upstairs room. He even appears to be interested in the past, and is friendly and kind to Winston. It is also in the room above his store that Winston sees a photo of St. Clement’s Church and recalls the saying; “Oranges and lemons, say the bells of St. Clement’s / You owe me three farthings, say the bells of St. Martin’s”,and it ends with “Here comes a candle to light you to bed/ Here comes a chopper to chop off your head”, which is mentioned more and more throughout the novel, and can be seen as a foreshadowing events in Winston’s future.

 O’Brien – (direct characterization) a mysterious and powerful member of the Inner Party, he is seen as Winston’s one hope for future rebellion, as Winston believes him to be a member of the Brotherhoood. Winston even thinks of him and the Brotherhood to help calm himself when he starts freaking out thinking the Thought Police are coming to get him. O’Brien seems to be a savior for Winston in his daily loneliness, and gives Winston something to look forward to.

o o o Ownlife – Newspeak for individualism and eccentricity, refers to the tendency to enjoy being solitary. Mentioned when Winston is walking through the prole district, and he realizes that even walking by himself in the proles’ district is suspicious enough to get unwanted attention from the Thought Police. Effectively shows how much of a control the government had on its people. : called, meaning individualism and eccentricity.” Splayed – wide and flat; clumsy or awkward. Used to describe the proles feet as they walk along when Winston was walking through the prole town. Described as “old bent creatures shuffling along on splayed feet”, it gives us a better picture of what the proles actually looked like. : “ of how the proles speak. : “ There was a word for it in Newspeak: ownlife, it was In and out of the dark doorways, and down narrow alley-ways that branched off on either side, people swarmed in astonishing numbers -- girls in full bloom, with crudely lipsticked mouths, and youths who chased the girls, and swollen waddling women who showed you what the girls would be like in ten years' time, and old bent creatures shuffling along on splayed feet, and ragged barefooted children who played in the puddles and then scattered at angry yells from their mothers.” Steamer – a nickname the proles assigned to rocket bombs. The proles have a strange power that allows them to sense when rocket bombs are incoming, even though they are supposedly faster than sound. This occurs as Winston is walking through the prole’s part of town, and a prole yells it, causing Winston to dive on the floor. It gives us a taste “'Steamer!' he yelled. 'Look out, guv'nor! Bang over'ead! Lay down quick!‘”

o Reconnoitering – to inspect, observe, or survey (usually on the subject of the enemy). Word is used to describe when Winston leaves Mr. Charrington’s shop and the way that he observes the street before he cautiously enters it. This heightens the intensity and suspense felt by the reader that something important and possibly bad is going to happen to Winston on his way home. : “ He got away from Mr Charrington and went down the stairs alone, so as not to let the old man see him reconnoitering the street before stepping out of the door.” o Slatternly – slovenly or untidy. Orwell uses it to describe the armchair in the room above Mr. Charrington’s shop, which gives us a better idea of what the room looked like. : “ There was a strip of carpet on the floor, a picture or two on the walls, and a deep, slatternly arm-chair drawn up to the fireplace.” o Pugnaciously – inclined to quarrel or fight readily. Pugnaciously is used to describe the way that the Old Man at the pub was poised, ready for a fight with the barman over a miniscule difference. This shows the frustration that goes on in this chapter and how Oceania has changed; since the old man can’t even get a pint of beer, as the unit of measurement has changed to litres. : “ 'I arst you civil enough, didn't I?' said the old man, straightening his shoulders pugnaciously.” o Wall0p – Proles’ nickname for mild beer. Old man uses it at the pub when talking to Winston about the past. Shows the useless memory of detail but no memory of important events or the general quality of life. : man, mild beer -- wallop we used to call it -- was fourpence a pint. That was before the war, of course.‘” “'The beer was better,' he said finally. 'And cheaper! When I was a young

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“Suddenly his heart seemed to turn to ice and his bowels to water.”

This use of imagery is very effective in showing the reader how terrified and panic-striken Winston was when he saw the dark-haired girl heading straight for him when he was walking home from the prole district.

“They were like the ant, which can see small objects but not large ones.”

This simile compares proles to ants, saying that, like the old man questioned by Winston, the proles only remember useless details, and do not see the big picture. They remember quarrels and arguments, but don’t remember what their general life was like.

“He pushed open the door, and a hideous smell of sour beer hit him in the face.”

Orwell uses this example of personification to show the reader how hideous the smell of the bar was and the feeling of walking in it. Sour beer can be compared to sour milk, which almost everyone knows is a very unpleasant smell, making Orwell’s writing that much more effective.

• • • • •

“If there is hope,' he had written in the diary, 'it lies in the proles.‘ The words kept coming back to him, statement of a mystical truth and a palpable absurdity.”

When Winston is stating that the if there is hope (for the rebellion), it lies in the proles, Orwell uses this metaphor to show how impossible the idea seemed. Winston states two conflicting ideas, showing he is distraught yet hopeful of his idea. Although it was far-fetched and mystical, it still seemed to be the best source of hope for future change, and Winston seems to hang on to his idea. Also, Orwell shows how far-out the idea was by using the word palpable to describe the extent of absurdity the statement had reached.

“From somewhere at the bottom of the passage the smell of roasting coffee-real coffee, not Victory Coffee-came floating out into the street.”

Although this sentence contains personification, as the coffee is not really floating through the street, it is more about where the smell of coffee takes Winston. When he smells it, he has a 2-second flashback to his childhood, which was half-forgotten. This flashback is very mysterious, and the coffee must be connected to his childhood in some way, although the reader is somewhat left in the dark. Also, more irony of the Victory named-brand is used.

Diction, Syntax, and Tone – George Orwell’s diction in this chapter is not as substantially advanced as usual, and since this chapter is mainly on the subject of the proles, he may have done so to mimic the proles’ shortened vocabulary. Although the words are not as complex, he always uses situation specific words such as reconnoitering. Also, his syntax is well-thought out, and fluctuates from scene to scene, and keeps the sentences shorter when there is suspense, such as when Winston passes the dark-haired girl on the street, to give the feel of adrenaline. No matter what sentence, Orwell is always very descriptive. The tone is very frustrated and depressed.

Discussion Questions

  What do you think the paperweight represents and why do you think is it so important to Winston?

The paperweight represents the past because it looks to be from an age not like the present. It also represents Winston’s attempt to recollect it. Also, the piece of pink coral is most likely very old, and is preserved in the glass, like Wiston hopes some other information is preserved as well. It is important to Winston because it shows that there is some remnants from the past, and it gives him hope because if it could survive, then there must be more knowledge of the past out there, he just has to find it. Consequently, when Winston is eventually caught by the Thought Police, the paperweight shatters on the floor, symbolizing the end of his work to try and find out information about the future.

Discussion Questions

  At the end of the chapter, why does Winston contemplate suicide and what does it show you about the way the government operates and remains in power?

He contemplates suicide because he believes the dark haired girl is a member of the Thought Police and that the Thought Police will catch him and torture him before they kill him, so it would be better for him to just die quickly and with less pain. This shows that the government worked on the basis of fear, and try to scare people into being obedient, with terrible and horrific punishments for any wrong-doing.

Discussion Questions

  When the rocket bomb explodes, Winston finds a severed human hand, and kicks it into the gutter. What does this tell you about the government and its effect on the people?

The severed hand shows us how detrimental to society that the government was, and how it hurt people. Kicking it into the gutter resembles the vaporization of a person, and the fact that no one questions the act, but just “kicks it aside” and accepts it. The people of Oceania are fully willing to blindly follow Big Brother, which is a big problem. As a result of the government’s institution of fear, people’s mind set is just to look the other way and not question, which is why the government has been so successful.

Discussion Questions

  What does the St. Clement’s Church picture in the room above Mr. Charrington’s shop symbolize and what events does the rhyme derived from it foreshadow?

The St. Clement’s picture symbolizes the lost past, and also the government’s corrupt and absolute control of the past, as there is a telescreen hidden behind the picture, showing that the government controls the past. The rhyme that ends with “Here comes a chopper to chop off your head.” also foreshadows Winston’s eventual capture by the Thought Police, as the picture was from the past, and it is from the telescreen behind it that Winston can credit for his arrest by the Thought Police.

Discussion Questions

  What is the government attempting to do through the Newspeak language, are they effective, and what kind of effect does it have on the people?

The government is attempting to shorten the spectrum of human thought, so that one day disobedience will become obsolete, and they are quite effective in doing so. Newspeak is essentially mind control, as the government can control the words that its people uses. The effect that it has on the people is that it keeps most of the Outer Party and proles a step lower than the higher ranking government, which keeps them somewhat out of the loop and allows messages to be coded, so they won’t be intercepted and translated.

 As Winston is on his way home, he decides to not to go to the Community Center, but instead wanders off into the labyrinth of London, enjoying his solitude. He enters the Prole District and begins walking aimlessly around. A prole warns of a steamer, which is a rocket bomb, and Winston dives to the ground. When he gets up and walks about 100 feet, he finds a human’s hand severed at wrist and kicks it into the gutter. He moves on, and eventually spots a very old man entering a prole pub. He quickly decides to follow the prole into the pub, with the intent of asking him some questions to really find out if life was worse before the revolution than after the revolution, like the government says, or if life was actually better before than after. He gets the old man alone at the bar and questions him, but the old man’s memory has failed him and Winston does not get any new information. Frustrated, he leaves the bar and realizes that the past has been left to the proles, who will inevitably forget it. While in deep thought, he unconsciously walks back to Mr. Charrington’s shop where he bought his diary. Once he realizes where his feet have taken him, he enters the shop to not be seen by the street patrols. Mr. Charrington recognizes him, and they talk for a little bit while Winston wanders the store and eventually finds a paperweight with a small piece of pink coral trapped in the center that is very appealing to him. He likes it because it seems to belong to an age quite different from the present. Before Winston leaves, Mr. Charrington shows him an upstairs room, which is very disorderly but has all of the

 necessities for spending a night or two there, and the thought even passes through Winston’s head to rent it. Also, the room has no telescreen (Winston believes) which greatly appeals to Winston more than anything in the room. There is also a picture of St. Clement’s Dane Church, which brings a rhyme out of Winston: “Oranges and lemons, say the bells of St. Clement’s / You owe me three farthings, say the bells of St. Martin’s”,and it ends with “Here comes a candle to light you to bed/ Here comes a chopper to chop off your head”, but he cannot remember the rest of it. He realizes it is getting late, and leaves the store. He is absolutely petrified when he sees the dark-haired girl from the Fiction Department walking towards him. He believes that she is a spy from the Thought Police, and this current finding seems to coincide with his earlier beliefs. He considers smashing her in the head with a cobblestone or a paperweight, but instead walks right past her and hurries home. Once home, he starts breaking down from the thought that the Thought Police are coming for him. He considers suicide because if he gets caught by the Thought Police they will torture him and then kill him, so it is better to get over with quickly. However, he is calmed by thinking of the Brotherhood and of O’Brien in his dreams. He takes out a coin, and cannot help think of the three slogans of Big Brother: WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY, and IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH.

 This chapter is used to show that the past has been erased from books, periodicals, and even people’s memories. Winston tries to ask a old man at the pub about the past, and whether it was better than life is now. The old man is unable to provide any information on the subject, and seems to only remember useless small details. Orwell clearly shows that Winston will most likely not learn anything of the past. Some themes of this chapter are the government’s corrupt control over the past, as they are able to erase it and rewrite it as they please. Another theme in this chapter is frustration but also perseverance. Although Winston does not gain any information from the old man at the pub, he still continues to try and find answers to his questions about the past. Orwell has Winston buy the paperweight to signify that he is still trying to hold on to the past, and that the paperweight shows Winston is still determined to have his questions answered. Also, the rhyme that comes into Winston’s head when he sees the St. Clement’s Church picture seems to be important and foreshadowing events to come later. At the end when Winston recalls the slogans of Big Brother, it shows the extent that the government has brainwashed and controlled people that even a rebel like Winston recalls them when he sees the face of Big Brother. The tone of this chapter is very frustrated and depressing. This chapter also gives us an insight on how animalistic and filthy the proles live, and how much freedom they have, but don’t even realize it; and they are only hope for revolution.