1984, Chapter 5 quiz

Questions and answers

1. 1

   Question 1. What happens to Syme at the beginning of Part Two, Chapter 5?

   • He defects to Eurasia during a border assignment
   • Correct answer: He simply stops appearing at work and all records of him are erased
   • He is publicly denounced during a Two Minutes Hate session
   • He is arrested by the Thought Police in front of his Records Department colleagues

   Syme is vaporized — he vanishes without any public event. His name is quietly removed from all records and lists, and within days no one mentions him.

   Read the passage
2. 2

   Question 2. What does Winston tell Julia he would do differently if he again held evidence like the slip of paper about Jones, Aaronson, and Rutherford?

   • He would show it to O'Brien and ask for his help
   • He would give it to Julia to hide for him
   • Correct answer: He would keep it instead of throwing it away
   • He would hide it inside the glass paperweight

   Winston admits he threw the evidence away a few minutes after holding it, but says that "if the same thing happened today, I should keep it." Julia answers that she would not, because she takes risks only for something worth while, not for bits of old newspaper.

   Read the passage
3. 3

   Question 3. How does Winston confirm that Syme has been officially erased?

   • Correct answer: He checks the Chess Committee notice board and finds the list one name shorter
   • He asks Parsons, who claims never to have heard of Syme
   • He notices Syme's desk has been removed from the office
   • He searches the Ministry archives and finds no personnel file

   Winston examines the printed list of Chess Committee members and finds it looks almost exactly as before, but is one name shorter — Syme's name has been removed.

   Read the passage
4. 4

   Question 4. What event is the city of London preparing for throughout this chapter?

   • Big Brother's birthday celebration
   • Victory Day
   • The anniversary of the Revolution
   • Correct answer: Hate Week

   Hate Week is an annual celebration of collective hatred toward Oceania's enemies. The preparations — decorations, propaganda songs, effigy construction — consume the city.

   Read the passage
5. 5

   Question 5. Which character is most enthusiastic about the Hate Week preparations?

   • Winston
   • Syme
   • Correct answer: Parsons
   • O'Brien

   Parsons, Winston's neighbor and the model of unthinking Party loyalty, organizes the squads of volunteers preparing the street, jollies everyone along, and boasts that Victory Mansions alone will display four hundred metres of bunting.

   Read the passage
6. 6

   Question 6. What physical changes does Winston experience during his relationship with Julia?

   • Correct answer: He gains weight, his ulcer heals, and he drinks less gin
   • He loses weight from the anxiety of maintaining the secret affair
   • He begins experiencing blackouts and memory loss
   • He develops new symptoms of stress including insomnia and tremors

   Winston's health measurably improves: he gains weight, his varicose ulcer subsides, he stops coughing, and he cuts back on Victory Gin — symbolizing the restorative power of genuine human connection.

   Read the passage
7. 7

   Question 7. What startling opinion does Julia offer Winston about the war against Eurasia?

   • She believes Eurasian spies guide the bombs by wireless waves
   • Correct answer: She believes the war is not happening and Oceania fires the bombs itself
   • She believes Goldstein's underground army fires the bombs on London
   • She believes Eastasia, not Eurasia, has always been the real enemy

   Julia startles Winston by saying the war is probably not happening and that the rocket bombs falling on London are fired by Oceania's own government "just to keep people frightened". The idea had literally never occurred to him.

   Read the passage
8. 8

   Question 8. How does Julia's approach to rebellion differ from Winston's?

   • Julia believes in violent overthrow while Winston prefers intellectual resistance
   • Julia wants to flee Oceania together while Winston wants to reform the Party from within
   • Julia wants to join the Brotherhood while Winston prefers individual action
   • Correct answer: Julia focuses on personal pleasure and survival while Winston seeks systemic revolution

   Julia's rebellion is instinctive and hedonistic — she carves out private pleasures and has no interest in political theory. Winston is an intellectual rebel who broods about organized resistance and the destruction of the Party.

   Read the passage
9. 9

   Question 9. What does Winston's improved health symbolize in this chapter?

   • Julia's superior knowledge of nutrition and herbal medicine
   • The Party's medical advances improving citizens' lives
   • Correct answer: The healing power of authentic human connection against the Party's deprivation
   • Winston's growing confidence that O'Brien and the Brotherhood will keep him safe

   Orwell uses Winston's physical improvement as a metaphor: genuine intimacy and small comforts can counter the damage of living under constant psychological stress and emotional starvation.

   Read the passage
10. 10

    Question 10. Whom does Winston tell Julia about in this chapter, suggesting a desire for organized resistance?

    • Parsons
    • Correct answer: O'Brien
    • Mr. Charrington
    • Goldstein

    Winston tells Julia of the "strange intimacy" he feels with O'Brien and of his impulse to walk into O'Brien's presence, announce that he is the enemy of the Party, and demand his help, reflecting a craving for resistance on a larger scale than Julia's personal rebellion.

    Read the passage
11. 11

    Question 11. What literary device does Orwell use when he compares people who swallow Party doctrine without absorbing it to "a grain of corn" that will "pass undigested through the body of a bird"?

    • Correct answer: Simile
    • Onomatopoeia
    • Hyperbole
    • Allusion

    The comparison, introduced with "just as", is a simile: people like Julia swallow the Party's doctrine whole, but it leaves "no residue behind", so by lack of understanding they remain sane.

    Read the passage
12. 12

    Question 12. What structural technique does Orwell use by alternating between Hate Week preparations and the lovers' private room?

    • Flashback
    • Epistolary narration
    • Stream of consciousness
    • Correct answer: Juxtaposition

    Orwell juxtaposes the manic public energy of Hate Week with the quiet intimacy of Winston and Julia's sanctuary, highlighting the tension between manufactured collective hatred and genuine individual affection.

    Read the passage
13. 13

    Question 13. What is ironic about the Party's destruction of its most intellectually committed members like Syme?

    • It proves that the Party rewards those who question its methods
    • Correct answer: It reveals the Party secretly values stupidity over intelligence even in its supporters
    • It shows the Party only pretends to value Newspeak development
    • It demonstrates that Syme was actually a Brotherhood agent

    Syme's destruction is deeply ironic: his genuine enthusiasm and brilliant understanding of Newspeak should have made him the ideal Party member, but the Party needs obedient mediocrity, not brilliant comprehension — even when that comprehension is devoted to the Party's own goals.

    Read the passage