1984
What is the purpose of Newspeak?
To limit thought by reducing language.
Why do the villagers continue the lottery?
Tradition
Why is Josef K. arrested?
He is never told (a symbol of senseless bureaucracy)
Why is the child kept suffering?
The city’s happiness depends on it.
What is surveillance?
Watching people to influence or control behavior.
Why is the Two Minutes Hate effective?
It channels emotion toward Party enemies and creates unity through hatred. It creates a common enemy to unite them.
What does the black box symbolize?
Outdated customs that no one questions.
What emotion does Kafka emphasize in the interrogation scene?
Anxiety, confusion, loss of agency.
What emotion do people feel when they first see the child?
Guilt, anger, shock, disgust.
Why do totalitarian systems try to manipulate or rewrite truth?
To control what people believe and remember.
What makes Room 101 different from normal torture?
It uses a person’s worst fear to psychologically break their identity and cause them to submit to The Party
How does mob mentality make individual resistance almost impossible in The Lottery?
In The Lottery, mob mentality overpowers individual conscience and makes it nearly impossible for anyone to resist the ritual. Because the whole village moves together with unquestioned certainty and because standing out could make someone a target, people feel forced to participate in violence they may secretly disagree with.
What makes Kafka’s world “Kafkaesque”?
Illogical rules, confusing systems, impossible processes.
Why do some people walk away from Omelas?
They refuse to accept happiness built on injustice.
How does fear keep people obedient?
People avoid punishment by complying, even if they disagree.
Why does Winston betray Julia in Room 101?
Terror of rats overwhelms his loyalty; fear destroys his inner self by telling them to punish Julia.
What does the villagers’ behavior reveal about conformity?
People obey harmful traditions to avoid standing out.
How is Kafka’s system similar to 1984?
Both show systems that trap individuals through fear, confusion, and authority. (Will possibly take other answers if they are specific and detailed)
What does the suffering child symbolize?
The hidden cost of a “perfect” society; marginalized groups.
Explain how language can be a tool of power.
It shapes thought, limits ideas, and frames reality.
Explain how censorship, surveillance, and fear work together in 1984 to make resistance almost impossible.
Censorship controls what people know. By rewriting newspapers, destroying records, and inventing new “truths,” the Party makes it impossible for citizens to form arguments against them.
Surveillance controls what people think. Telescreens and the Thought Police make citizens believe they are always being watched.
Fear controls what people become. The threat of vaporization, torture, and Room 101 breaks a person’s sense of self. Winston learns that when fear becomes overwhelming, his loyalty to Julia collapses. The Party’s aim is not just obedience, but psychological submission.
Why does Mrs. Delacroix grab a large stone at the end?
Her own friend is brainwashed by mob mentality (OR you could make the argument that she wanted to put her out of her misery faster)
How do the clerks, lawyers, and guards connect to the Banality of Evil?
Ordinary people can commit harm by blindly following the rules
How is moral complicity explored in the story?
People justify cruelty for comfort, similarly to real-world ethical compromises.
Why is fear more effective than violence in maintaining totalitarian control across the texts we’ve read?
Fear creates self-policing: in 1984 people censor their own thoughts; in The Lottery villagers follow the ritual to avoid becoming targets; in The Trial Josef K obeys a system he doesn’t understand; and in Animal Farm animals accept lies to avoid punishment. Violence enforces control, but fear makes people enforce it on themselves.