1984, Chapter 2 quiz

Questions and answers

1. 1

   Question 1. Where do Winston and Julia meet for the first time alone in Part Two, Chapter 2?

   • At a Victory Square cafe
   • In the alcove of Winston's flat in Victory Mansions
   • Correct answer: In a clearing in the countryside outside London
   • In a corridor at the Ministry of Truth

   Julia's directions bring Winston by train and footpath to a hidden clearing in a wood in the country, a tiny grassy knoll shut in by saplings, where the two are alone together for the first time.

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2. 2

   Question 2. What does Winston recognize about the pasture where he and Julia walk?

   • It is a restricted military zone
   • Correct answer: It is the Golden Country from his dreams
   • It is the site of a demolished church
   • It is near the place where his mother disappeared

   Looking out at an old, close-bitten pasture with elms and a footpath, Winston feels a slow shock of recognition: "It's the Golden Country—almost," a landscape he has seen in dreams.

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3. 3

   Question 3. What item does Julia remove and throw aside as a symbolic act of rebellion?

   • Her Party membership badge
   • Her telescreen wristband
   • The sticking-plaster on her wrist
   • Correct answer: Her scarlet Junior Anti-Sex League sash

   Julia rips off the scarlet sash of the Junior Anti-Sex League and flings it on to a bough, blaming the sash for making Winston think she was a good Party member.

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4. 4

   Question 4. What black-market luxury does Julia share with Winston?

   • Correct answer: A slab of real chocolate
   • A bottle of wine
   • White bread
   • A lump of black-market butter

   Julia takes a small slab of dark, shiny chocolate in silver paper from her overalls pocket, far better than the usual dull-brown, crumbly stuff, and says she got it on the black market.

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5. 5

   Question 5. How does Winston react when Julia tells him she has had many lovers?

   • He is disgusted and questions her loyalty
   • He is indifferent and changes the subject
   • Correct answer: He is delighted because it means more people have defied the Party
   • He is jealous and threatens to end the affair

   Winston's heart leaps. Any hint of corruption fills him with wild hope that the Party is rotten under the surface, and he tells her, "The more men you've had, the more I love you."

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6. 6

   Question 6. What bird sings near the clearing where Winston and Julia meet?

   • Correct answer: A thrush
   • A blackbird
   • A nightingale
   • A lark

   A thrush alights on a bough a few metres away at the edge of the wood and pours out a long, varied song while Winston and Julia watch from the shade.

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7. 7

   Question 7. What does the thrush's song symbolize in this chapter?

   • The mechanical reproduction of propaganda
   • The Party's hidden surveillance methods
   • Winston's guilt about betraying Katharine
   • Correct answer: Purposeless natural beauty and freedom outside the Party's control

   The thrush sings for no audience at all ("No mate, no rival was watching it"), pouring its music "into nothingness." Its song is beauty with no purpose the Party could use, and for a while it drives all speculation out of Winston's mind.

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8. 8

   Question 8. What does Julia call herself after Winston says he wants everyone to be corrupt?

   • A soldier of the Brotherhood
   • Correct answer: Corrupt to the bones
   • A faithful Party member
   • An enemy of the state

   When Winston says he wants everyone to be "corrupt to the bones," Julia answers that she ought to suit him, since she is corrupt to the bones herself.

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9. 9

   Question 9. What best describes the difference between Winston's and Julia's rebellions?

   • Winston rebels for Julia's sake; Julia rebels for political theory
   • Winston rebels through planned violence; Julia rebels through public propaganda
   • Correct answer: Winston rebels intellectually; Julia rebels instinctively and personally
   • Winston rebels publicly; Julia rebels within the Party hierarchy

   Winston thinks of their affair in political terms, as "a blow struck against the Party." Julia's revolt is practical and personal: she breaks the rules for her own pleasure while outwardly following her motto, "Always yell with the crowd."

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10. 10

    Question 10. Why does Winston consider their sexual act a "political act"?

    • Because they do it in front of a telescreen to make a statement
    • Correct answer: Because the Party seeks to eliminate sexual pleasure, making desire itself rebellion
    • Because it is part of an organized Brotherhood plot
    • Because Julia is a member of the Inner Party

    Winston believes simple desire is "the force that would tear the Party to pieces." Because the Party's cult is self-denial and every feeling is mixed with fear, their embrace is "a blow struck against the Party."

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11. 11

    Question 11. What literary device does Orwell use when the real countryside matches Winston's earlier dream?

    • Unreliable narration
    • Dramatic irony
    • Stream of consciousness
    • Correct answer: Dream fulfillment

    The pasture Winston sees is almost exactly the landscape he has dreamed of, so a place he knew only from sleep turns out to exist in waking life: "It's the Golden Country—almost."

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12. 12

    Question 12. What does the Golden Country represent in the novel?

    • Correct answer: Natural freedom and a pre-totalitarian world untouched by the Party
    • Winston's childhood home in the countryside
    • The Party's vision of a perfected rural landscape after the war is won
    • An enemy territory beyond Oceania's borders

    In this chapter the dream landscape turns out to be a real pasture, with swaying elms and, nearby, a stream full of fish. It stands for a natural world that the Party has not touched.

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13. 13

    Question 13. Which of these events actually happened in this chapter?

    • Julia is interested in reading Goldstein's book and understanding the Party's ideology.

      Didn't happen

      Goldstein's book never comes up in this chapter, and Julia shows no interest in Party ideology. Her rule is "Always yell with the crowd," because "It's the only way to be safe."

    • The Junior Anti-Sex League sash that Julia wears is used as a cover for her secret rebellious activities.

      Happened

      Julia admits the sash makes her look like a good Party member. She does voluntary work for the League, and she takes Winston's fear of her as a tribute to "the excellence of her disguise."

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14. 14

    Question 14. What literary tradition does the Golden Country scene draw upon?

    • Modernist stream of consciousness
    • Classical Greek tragedy
    • Gothic horror
    • Correct answer: The English pastoral tradition

    The scene draws on the pastoral: bluebells, droning ring-doves, an old pasture with elms and a stream, and lovers hidden in a green retreat, set against Winston's sooty London.

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