1984 Chapter 2, Part 1

Please read the chapter and answer the questions below. There are two options available here for
how to read the novel. You can either click here for the audio version or here for the text version. 

Chapter 2 questions: 

1. Did anything in this chapter change your opinion about Winston, or add to your knowledge
about him? Explain. 

Winston becomes certain that he will be caught by the Thought Police and that he will  die
because ‘’Thoughtcrime does not entail death: thoughtcrime IS death. Also, he discovers who the
audience is for his diary, his colleague O’Brien. 

2. Who are the “Thought Police” and what are they responsible for? 

Thought Police is a secret police of the state of Oceania which is entitled to discover and
arrest peoples who commit crimes against the Party beliefs. Even conceding ideas or thoughts
against their beliefs was considered a thoughtcrime, and sooner or later the Thought Police will
arrest those people. They usually arrest people during the night, and after that they have no trial
and  no report of the arrest would be made. Those people will be removed from registers, and their
entire existence will be  erased, ‘’vaporized’’.

3. What does the existence of the “Junior Spies” tell you about the society in 1984?
The society of 1984 was one ruled by fear, where families were not valued for love and a nurturing
environment, but instead young children were trained as spies by the Junior Spies organization to
suspect any actions or  remarks made by their family members. That was such an effective way of
the Party ruling and controlling everyone's lives that most parents were frightened of their own
children. The Junior Spies turned children into ‘’little savages’’ but interestingly that this ‘’produced
in them no tendency to rebel against the discipline of the Party’’. The patriotism was so
indoctrinated in them that nothing else was more valued for them than the Party’s doctrine. ‘’The
children ‘’adored the Party and everything connected with it’’.  

4. Explain why Winston considers himself a “dead man.”

 Winston realizes that the power, the controlling, the surveillance of the Party is so efficient
that he cannot imagine the possibility of hiding something from the Party.  He thinks that it is only
a matter of time until he will be caught by the Thought Police, and he is certain that he will be
‘’vaporized’’ for those crimes.  Therefore, he thinks he will not be able to conceal his crimes forever
‘’Thoughtcrime does not entail death: thoughtcrime IS death’’, and he considers himself a ‘’dead
man’’ because of his thoughtcrime and the crime of possessing a diary, a physical
record/evidence.  Winston’s goal becomes of staying alive as long as possible because he already
‘’recognized himself as a dead man’’.

5. Why does Mrs. Parsons seem fearful of her own children?

Mrs. Parsons and many other parents were fearful of their own children for ‘’good reason’’ because
every week ‘’The Times’’ carried a paragraph describing how some ‘’child hero’’ had denounced its
parents because of overhearing them making compromising remarks against the Party. The
children were trained as spies by the ‘’Junior Spies’’, and many around the  age of ten they already
denounced someone.