Summary
Summary Literary Analysis of Chapter 5 of 1984 by George Orwell
Overview of the chapter, authorial choices and analysis. Used in IB English A HL, received grade 6.
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1) Winston has lunch with a man named Syme, an intelligent Party member who works on arevised dictionary of Newspeak, the official language of Oceania. How is Syme presented?
What does Winston think of him? What is his fate? Choose one quote that you believe
defines him as a character and explain why you chose it. What function do you believe he
serves in this novel? Why does Orwell include him? Explain your answer.
Syme is presented as an intelligent man whom Winston enjoys the company of. Winston finds him
interesting but he knows that Syme dislikes him, he thinks that Syme would report him to the Thought
Police given the opportunity. Winston believes that his fate is to be vaporized because he talks too much.
He does things that are unexpected of party members such as going to the Chestnut Tree Cafe where
Goldstein used to frequent. “There was something subtly wrong with Syme. There was something he
lacked; discretion, aloofness, a sort of saving stupidity… a faint air of disreputability always clung to him.
He said things that would've been better unsaid…” (Orwell 58). This quote tells the reader what Winston
thinks about Syme and it sums up his character. I think Syme being included in the book shows that even
the people who blindly follow the government are not safe if they do not fit a standard.
2) Winston is at lunch when the message on the telescreen relates the good news about
increases in production, including that the chocolate ration has been raised to twenty
grams a week. What is Winston thinking as he hears this message? Describe the
inconsistency between the statistics that pour out of the telescreen and the reality of the
citizens’ lives.
Winston recalls that just the previous day the chocolate ration was reduced to 20 grams a week but the
government reports this as an increase. Neither Parsons nor Syme is aware of this fact, Winston believes
that he is the only one who remembers the truth. This shows that citizens believe anything that the
government tells them, they do not question it. They trust the government’s lies over their own memories.
3) What is facecrime? Give an example. How do the Parsons children show their fanatic
patriotism to the party? Give examples of the Parsons children orthodox behavior.
A facecrime is having an expression or acting in a way which indicates that the person is hiding
something. For example a thief sweating and not making eye contact indicates they are guilty so it would
be a facecrime. The Parsons children show their fanatic patriotism for the party by setting fire to a
woman’s skirt because she wrapped sausages in a poster of Big Brother. Their “training” pushes them to
act this way.
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