1984, Chapter 1 quiz

Questions and answers

1. 1

   Question 1. How does the dark-haired girl manage to pass Winston the note?

   • She hides it inside a document sent through internal mail
   • She whispers the message to him in the canteen
   • She leaves it on his desk while he is at the Two Minutes Hate
   • Correct answer: She stages a fall in the corridor and presses it into his hand as he helps her up

   The girl deliberately stumbles and falls in a Ministry corridor. When Winston hurries to help her to her feet, she uses the brief physical contact to slip the folded paper into his palm.

   Read the passage
2. 2

   Question 2. What words are written on the note?

   • Down with Big Brother
   • Meet me tonight
   • Correct answer: I love you
   • Trust no one

   The note contains just "I love you" written in large, unformed handwriting—a simple declaration that carries enormous political weight in a society that forbids private emotional bonds.

   Read the passage
3. 3

   Question 3. Who calls out "Smith!" in the canteen and spoils Winston's first attempt to sit with the girl?

   • The beetle-like man from the canteen queue
   • Correct answer: Wilsher, a young man Winston barely knows
   • Ampleforth, the hairy-eared poet
   • Parsons, enthusiastic about Hate Week

   On Winston's first try, a blond, silly-faced young man named Wilsher calls his name and waves him to a vacant place. Having been recognized, Winston cannot safely go and sit with an unattended girl.

   Read the passage
4. 4

   Question 4. Where do Winston and the girl have their first whispered conversation?

   • Correct answer: At a table in the canteen during the lunch hour
   • In the alcove of Winston's flat
   • Near the monument in Victory Square after working hours
   • In the corridor outside the Fiction Department

   After nearly a week of trying to find an opportunity, Winston gets a seat at her canteen table, across from her. Eating steadily and never looking up, they exchange a few words in low, expressionless voices.

   Read the passage
5. 5

   Question 5. What event provides cover for Winston and the girl to speak in Victory Square?

   • Correct answer: A convoy of Eurasian prisoners of war being driven through
   • A public execution of thought criminals
   • A Two Minutes Hate broadcast on outdoor telescreens
   • A parade of Spies with a papier-mache model of Big Brother's head

   A large crowd gathers in Victory Square to watch Eurasian prisoners being paraded past. The noise and press of bodies allows Winston and the girl to stand side by side and exchange whispered plans.

   Read the passage
6. 6

   Question 6. How does receiving the note affect Winston's attitude toward his own survival?

   • He decides to turn himself in to the Thought Police before he is caught
   • He feels no change because he already expected to be contacted by the Brotherhood
   • He becomes more reckless, believing he has nothing to lose
   • Correct answer: He feels the desire to stay alive surge through him, making his previous risks seem foolish

   The promise of human connection reignites Winston's survival instinct. Where he had previously accepted that he would eventually be caught, the note gives him something to live for.

   Read the passage
7. 7

   Question 7. What literary device does Orwell employ when Winston watches prisoners while thinking of Julia?

   • Personification
   • Correct answer: Foreshadowing
   • Hyperbole
   • Metaphor

   While their hands are clasped, an aged prisoner whose wrists are crossed as though used to being bound gazes mournfully at Winston. Setting these captives beside the lovers' first touch hints at the danger their secret carries.

   Read the passage
8. 8

   Question 8. Why is direct conversation between Winston and the girl so difficult to arrange?

   • Winston's telescreen has a recording function that other telescreens lack
   • They work in different cities and rarely see each other
   • Correct answer: Every public space is monitored by telescreens and being seen talking privately would invite suspicion
   • The girl is a member of the Inner Party and mixing with Outer Party clerks in Records is strictly forbidden

   Telescreens and potential informers are everywhere. Being observed in private conversation with someone of the opposite sex would attract the attention of the Thought Police.

   Read the passage
9. 9

   Question 9. Which of these events actually happened in this chapter?

   • The dark-haired girl tells Winston her name is Julia during their canteen conversation.

     Didn't happen

     The girl does not reveal her name in this chapter; Winston does not even know it. Her name, Julia, is not disclosed until a later chapter.

   • Winston and the girl touch hands briefly in Victory Square while standing in the crowd.

     Happened

     While standing side by side among the spectators, their hands touch for an instant and the girl squeezes Winston's fingers—a small gesture that conveys deep intimacy in their repressive world.

   Read the passage
10. 10

    Question 10. What does "incriminating" mean when Winston hesitates to throw "the incriminating thing" into the memory hole?

    • Concealed in a secret code that outsiders cannot decipher
    • Correct answer: Making someone appear guilty of a crime or wrongdoing
    • Establishing that a person is innocent of an accusation
    • Causing public embarrassment or humiliation to someone

    Something incriminating makes its owner look guilty. Being caught with a love note from the girl could mark Winston as guilty in the Party's eyes, so he destroys it in the memory hole.

    Read the passage
11. 11

    Question 11. What does "fatuous" mean when Winston keeps asking Parsons to repeat "some fatuous remark" in the noisy canteen?

    • Intelligently witty and amusing to the listener
    • Spoken too quietly to be properly understood
    • Deliberately offensive or insulting to others
    • Correct answer: Silly and pointless, showing a lack of thought

    A fatuous remark is foolish and empty. Parsons's chatter about Hate Week is hard to hear in the racket of voices, and Winston finds it not worth hearing anyway.

    Read the passage
12. 12

    Question 12. What does "extricate" mean when Winston and the girl "could not extricate themselves from the crowd"?

    • Correct answer: To free oneself from a tight or difficult situation
    • To extract an object forcibly, as a dentist does
    • To penetrate further into the middle of a crowd
    • To conceal oneself in order to avoid attracting notice

    To extricate oneself is to get free of something that holds one fast. The trucks were still filing past and the gaping crowd hemmed them in, so the two could not yet slip away from each other.

    Read the passage