1984, Chapter 10 quiz

Questions and answers

1. 1

   Question 1. What is the prole woman doing when Winston watches her from the window?

   • Correct answer: Hanging laundry and singing
   • Arguing with a neighbor
   • Reading a banned newspaper
   • Feeding pigeons in the courtyard

   The prole washerwoman is hanging laundry on a clothesline in the yard below while singing a popular song produced by a versificator.

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2. 2

   Question 2. What does Winston come to believe about the proles in this chapter?

   • They are secretly organized against the Party
   • Correct answer: They are immortal and will outlast the Party
   • They are just as controlled as Party members
   • They are too ignorant to ever change anything

   Winston reflects that the proles carry the future within them: they are immortal, they keep alive the vitality the Party cannot kill, and one day their awakening will overturn the world.

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3. 3

   Question 3. What words do Winston and Julia say together just before the arrest?

   • "Two plus two make four"
   • "She's beautiful"
   • "Now they can see us"
   • Correct answer: "We are the dead"

   Winston and Julia together declare "We are the dead," echoing a phrase Winston has used before, only for the telescreen to immediately reply "You are the dead."

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4. 4

   Question 4. Where has the telescreen been hidden?

   • Inside the glass paperweight on the table
   • Inside the mattress of the bed
   • Correct answer: Behind the print of St. Clement's Church
   • Under the floorboards

   The telescreen was concealed behind the picture of St. Clement's Church — the same print that Charrington had shown Winston and that prompted the nursery rhyme.

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5. 5

   Question 5. How do the Thought Police enter the room?

   • Correct answer: By crashing through the window
   • They were already hiding in the room
   • Through a panel behind the picture
   • Down through a trapdoor in the ceiling

   A ladder is thrust through the window and a man climbs in while boots stampede up the stairs; the room fills with men in black uniforms, who punch Julia and kick Winston.

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6. 6

   Question 6. What object is smashed during the arrest, and what does it symbolize?

   • A mirror — symbolizing shattered self-identity
   • The clock — symbolizing the end of time
   • Correct answer: The glass paperweight — symbolizing their fragile private world
   • The picture frame — symbolizing the destruction of art

   One of the Thought Police officers picks up the glass paperweight and smashes it against the hearthstone. It has symbolized the fragile private world Winston and Julia built together throughout Part Two.

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7. 7

   Question 7. What is revealed about the coral inside the smashed paperweight?

   • It is a different color than expected
   • It is actually a listening device
   • It turns to dust immediately
   • Correct answer: It is tiny and insignificant

   When the paperweight shatters, the coral inside is revealed to be tiny — suggesting that the beautiful private world Winston and Julia created was always smaller and more fragile than they imagined.

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8. 8

   Question 8. How does Mr. Charrington's appearance change when his true identity is revealed?

   • He puts on a Party uniform and cap
   • Correct answer: His hair turns black, his face becomes younger, and his accent disappears
   • He simply removes a pair of spectacles
   • He reveals scars from past service to the Party

   Charrington is transformed: his white hair is now black, his face is smoother and younger (about 35), his stooped posture is gone, and his cockney accent has vanished entirely.

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9. 9

   Question 9. What is Mr. Charrington's actual role?

   • A prole informant motivated by reward money
   • A member of the Brotherhood working undercover
   • An Inner Party official conducting an experiment
   • Correct answer: A member of the Thought Police

   Mr. Charrington is revealed to be a member of the Thought Police who maintained an elaborate disguise as a kindly old shopkeeper specifically to trap thoughtcriminals.

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10. 10

    Question 10. What final line of the nursery rhyme does Charrington complete?

    • Correct answer: "Here comes a candle to light you to bed, here comes a chopper to chop off your head"
    • "It was only an 'opeless fancy"
    • "You may as well say good-bye"
    • "They sye that time 'eals all things"

    Charrington completes the Oranges and Lemons nursery rhyme with its violent final couplet, which has been foreshadowed throughout the novel as various characters contributed fragments of the rhyme.

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11. 11

    Question 11. What earlier image does the singing prole woman recall?

    • The Party anthem played on telescreens during the Hate Week processions
    • The singing at a Hate Week rally
    • Correct answer: The thrush singing at the edge of the wood on their first day together
    • A banned recording of classical music

    The prole woman's singing recalls the thrush that Winston and Julia heard during their first secret meeting in the countryside — both represent natural, unself-conscious freedom that exists outside the Party's control.

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12. 12

    Question 12. What does the hidden telescreen reveal about the Party's surveillance methods?

    • The Party relies entirely on citizen informants
    • Correct answer: The Party actively creates traps and false sanctuaries to catch dissidents
    • The Party's technology is actually quite limited
    • The Party only monitors known criminals

    The elaborate trap — a fake shopkeeper, a room that appears telescreen-free, months of patient surveillance — reveals that the Party proactively constructs false sanctuaries where dissidents feel safe enough to expose themselves fully.

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13. 13

    Question 13. What happens to Julia during the arrest?

    • She reveals herself as another Thought Police agent
    • She fights off the guards and is shot
    • She escapes through a back door
    • Correct answer: She is dragged away and separated from Winston

    Julia is punched in the solar plexus, doubling her up, and two men carry her out of the room like a sack. Winston glimpses her face, and that is the last he sees of her.

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