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Lesson 4

We will continue reading Chapter 1 of 1984. We will further examine the influence of government on the individuals and general society in the novel.

Lesson Goals

  • Can I attend to details in 1984 to draw inferences from the novel?

  • Can I analyze and explain the impact of specific word choices on meaning in 1984?

  • Can I understand paradoxes to distinguish what is directly stated in 1984 from what is really meant?

Texts

Core

  • Tradebook
    • 1984, George Orwell, Signet Classics, 1949

Materials

Tools

Question Sets

Editable Google Docs

Activity 1: Read – Discuss – Write

We will discuss our answers to the guiding questions for paragraphs 1–6 of chapter 1.

As a class, discuss the beginning of 1984. Use your notes from Paragraphs 1-6 to respond to the following question:

  1. What is interesting or curious to you about the society in 1984?

Use the discussion to make revisions to your notes in your Learning Log, as needed.

Activity 2: Read – Discuss – Write

We will read paragraphs 7–18 of chapter 1.

Independently read and annotate Paragraphs 7-18 of Chapter 1 of 1984. Use the following questions to guide your reading:

  1. What are the names of the country and city in which Winston lives? Which is real and which is fictional?

  2. What is the stated function of each ministry of the government?

  3. What act of rebellion does Winston commit?

  4. How would you describe the mood of these paragraphs? How does Orwell further develop the mood of the novel in these paragraphs? What evidence from the text supports this interpretation?

Once you have completed your independent reading and annotation, discuss the mood of the text as a class.

Use your questions to help guide your discussion. Use the discussion to make revisions to your notes, as needed.

Activity 3: Read – Discuss – Write

We will closely read and analyze specific sentences from paragraph 7–18 of chapter 1.

Reread the following excerpt from Paragraph 7:

WAR IS PEACE

FREEDOM IS SLAVERY

IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH

  1. What do you notice about these sentences?

Each sentence is an example of a paradox. A paradox is a seemingly absurd or self-contradictory statement that, when closely examined, might prove to be true. Write down the term paradox in your Vocabulary Journal.

With a partner, discuss the following questions:

  1. How do these statements represent a paradox?

  2. Given what you have learned so far about the dystopian world of 1984, how might the statements be true?

Write down your ideas in your Learning Log. As you read additional chapters, you will be able to refine your understanding of these paradoxical slogans of the government in Oceania.

Activity 4: Read – Discuss – Write

We will reread and analyze the significance of select sentences from paragraphs 7–18 of chapter 1.

Reread the following sentences from Paragraph 13.

The thing that he was about to do was to open a diary. This was not illegal (nothing was illegal, since there were no longer any laws), but if detected it was reasonably certain that it would be punished by death, or at least by twenty-five years in a forced labor camp.

With a partner, discuss the following questions:

  1. What do these sentences reveal about the power of the government in Oceania?

  2. What mood do these sentences create? What words does the author use to create this mood?

Activity 5: Read – Write

For homework, we will read the rest of chapter 1 of 1984 and answer a set of guiding questions.

For homework, read and annotate the rest of Chapter 1 of 1984. Use the following questions to guide your annotations.

  1. What is the Two Minute Hate? What is its purpose?

  2. How does Winston feel about women? What details from the chapter support that conclusion?

  3. Who is O’Brien? How does Winston regard him?

  4. Who is Emmanual Goldstein? How do Winston’s coworkers regard him?

  5. What are The Brotherhood and The Book? What is their importance to the text?

  6. What is a thoughtcrime? How has Winston committed one? What evidence from the text supports this interpretation?

  7. How does Orwell create suspense at the end of Chapter 1? What evidence from the text supports your claim?

Be prepared to share your answers in the next lesson.

Write new or interesting words you encounter in your Vocabulary Journal. Write down any sentences that stand out to you as interesting or that represent a strong example of a particular concept you have learned in your Mentor Sentence Journal.