1984, Chapter 8 quiz

Questions and answers

1. 1

   Question 1. What is the most significant privilege O'Brien demonstrates in his flat?

   • He has a private telephone line
   • Correct answer: He can turn off his telescreen
   • He owns printed books from before the Revolution
   • He has a window that opens onto a garden

   O'Brien switches off his telescreen, a privilege available only to Inner Party members. This astonishes Winston, who has never seen a telescreen turned off.

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2. 2

   Question 2. Who is Martin in this chapter?

   • Correct answer: O'Brien's servant, presented as a Brotherhood member
   • A Ministry of Truth colleague of Winston's
   • A messenger sent by Emmanuel Goldstein to deliver the book
   • A Thought Police agent disguised as a prole

   Martin is O'Brien's dark-haired servant. O'Brien introduces him as a fellow member of the Brotherhood and has him sit down with them during the initiation.

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3. 3

   Question 3. Which of the following does O'Brien NOT ask Winston and Julia if they are willing to do?

   • Spread venereal diseases
   • Commit murder
   • Throw acid in a child's face
   • Correct answer: Assassinate Big Brother

   O'Brien asks about murder, sabotage, acid attacks, spreading disease, and other extreme acts, but never asks whether they would assassinate Big Brother.

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4. 4

   Question 4. What is the one thing Winston and Julia refuse to agree to during the oath?

   • Committing suicide if captured
   • Throwing acid in a child's face
   • Correct answer: Being separated and never seeing each other again
   • Betraying other Brotherhood members under torture

   When O'Brien asks if they would be willing to separate permanently and never see each other again, Julia cries "No!" and Winston echoes her. They agree to everything else.

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5. 5

   Question 5. Who refuses the separation first—Winston or Julia?

   • Neither refuses; they accept reluctantly
   • Winston refuses immediately
   • Correct answer: Julia refuses first, and Winston follows
   • They both refuse at exactly the same time

   Julia says "No!" immediately and instinctively. Winston pauses before echoing her refusal, showing Julia's more spontaneous emotional nature.

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6. 6

   Question 6. What toast does Winston propose when O'Brien serves wine?

   • Correct answer: To the past
   • To the downfall of Big Brother
   • To freedom
   • To the Brotherhood

   Winston proposes the toast "To the past," affirming his belief that an objective historical past exists despite the Party's relentless efforts to rewrite and control it.

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7. 7

   Question 7. What is significant about the wine O'Brien serves?

   • It is Victory Wine, the standard drink issued to the Outer Party
   • It was smuggled in from Eastasia
   • It is drugged to make Winston and Julia confess
   • Correct answer: Neither Winston nor Julia has ever tasted wine before

   The dark-red wine is a luxury that rarely reaches the Outer Party ("Not much of it gets to the Outer Party"). Winston has only read and dreamed about it, and Julia sniffs her glass with frank curiosity, highlighting the vast gap between Inner and Outer Party lifestyles.

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8. 8

   Question 8. With which line does O'Brien end the "Oranges and lemons" stanza after Winston recites its opening?

   • I do not know, says the great bell of Bow
   • Correct answer: When I grow rich, say the bells of Shoreditch
   • Pray what will that be? I'm sure I can't say, says the bell of Stepney
   • Here comes a candle to light you to bed

   Winston begins the rhyme, and O'Brien completes the stanza through "When I grow rich, say the bells of Shoreditch", prompting Winston's surprised "You knew the last line!"

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9. 9

   Question 9. From whom did Winston first learn parts of the "Oranges and lemons" rhyme?

   • His mother, in a childhood memory
   • Julia, who learned it from her grandfather
   • Correct answer: Mr. Charrington, the antique shop owner
   • Syme, before his disappearance

   Mr. Charrington had supplied Winston with fragments of old rhymes, "Oranges and lemons" among them. In this chapter Winston links wine with "Mr Charrington's half-remembered rhymes" as relics of the vanished past, and O'Brien surprises him by completing the stanza.

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10. 10

    Question 10. What does O'Brien promise to deliver to Winston?

    • A map of Brotherhood safe houses
    • Correct answer: A copy of Goldstein's book, hidden in a brief-case handed to him in the street
    • A list of Brotherhood members in the Ministry of Truth
    • Forged identity documents for Winston and Julia

    O'Brien promises to send Winston "THE BOOK", Goldstein's book, from which he "will learn the true nature of the society we live in". A man in the street will hand him a brief-case containing it, to be returned within fourteen days.

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11. 11

    Question 11. What literary device shapes O'Brien's questioning, in which question after question begins "You are prepared to"?

    • Correct answer: Anaphora
    • Allegory
    • Flashback
    • Stream of consciousness

    O'Brien's questions repeat the same opening, "You are prepared to", again and again, like "a sort of catechism"; the anaphora builds a rising list of crimes, and Winston answers "Yes" to each until the question of separating from Julia.

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12. 12

    Question 12. What does O'Brien say about the structure of the Brotherhood?

    • Every member knows every other member for mutual protection
    • It operates openly in Eurasia and Eastasia
    • It has a strict hierarchy with regional commanders
    • Correct answer: Members will never know more than a few other members, and it is held together by an idea

    O'Brien explains that the Brotherhood is held together by an idea rather than personal loyalty, that members will never know more than a handful of others, and that it therefore can never be fully destroyed.

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13. 13

    Question 13. Why does the contrast between O'Brien's flat and Winston's home matter thematically?

    • It shows that the Brotherhood provides luxury to its members
    • Correct answer: It reveals that the Inner Party enjoys privileges denied to ordinary citizens, undermining claims of equality
    • It proves that O'Brien has been stealing from the Ministry of Plenty
    • It demonstrates that technology is more advanced than Winston realized

    The luxury of O'Brien's flat (the soft carpets, the smells of good food and good tobacco, fine wine) exposes the Party's hypocrisy. Despite preaching collective equality, the Inner Party lives in comfort while Outer Party members endure deprivation.

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