1984 (GCSE English Literature) Practice
2024/2025
1. Winston - ANS -A minor member of the ruling Party in near-future London,
Winston Smith is a thin, frail, contemplative, intellectual, and fatalistic
thirty-nine-year-old. Winston hates the totalitarian control and enforced
repression that are characteristic of his government. He harbors
revolutionary dreams.
2. Syme - ANS -An intelligent, outgoing man who works with Winston at the
Ministry of Truth. Syme specializes in language. As the novel opens, he is
working on a new edition of the Newspeak dictionary. Winston believes
Syme is too intelligent to stay in the Party's favor.
3. Katherine - ANS -Winston's wife, who never appears directly in the book
but is discussed at some length. Winston describes her as "unthinkful" and
claims she was absurdly devoted to the Party, to the point where she
, referred to sleeping with Winston to produce offspring as her "duty to the
Party." The two never had children, and eventually separated. Winston
reveals he was once tempted to murder Katharine. However, he did not,
and he assumes Katharine still lives, although he has not seen her in years.
4. Goldstein - ANS -Another figure who exerts an influence on the novel
without ever appearing in it. According to the Party, Goldstein is the
legendary leader of the Brotherhood. He seems to have been a Party leader
who fell out of favor with the regime. In any case, the Party describes him
as the most dangerous and treacherous man in Oceania.
5. Rutherford - ANS -One of the three Inner Party members wrongly arrested
in 1965 and forced to incriminate themselves of various crimes, including
treason and murder. They are eventually killed. Winston finds a clipping
proving their innocence and destroys the document, but never forgets
holding the proof that Party "fact" was fiction.
, 6. Julia - ANS -Winston's lover, a beautiful dark-haired girl working in the
Fiction Department at the Ministry of Truth. Julia enjoys sex, and claims to
have had affairs with many Party members. Julia is pragmatic and
optimistic. Her rebellion against the Party is small and personal, for her own
enjoyment, in contrast to Winston's ideological motivation.
7. Mrs.Parsons - ANS -The wife of Tom Parsons and neighbor of Winston's. A
tired, aged woman with "dust in the creases of her face," Mrs. Parsons is
the mother of two horrific children belonging to the Spies and Youth
League and who are bound to eventually denounce her and her husband to
the Thought Police.
8. old man in pub - ANS -When Winston goes in to the pub, he wants to talk
to the old man and ask him if things were better before the revolution. The
man is too old to tell him. He says that he many remembers too many
random details about his past life, but nothing of importance. He
remembers, for example, when he last saw a top hat, but he no longer has
the clarity of thought needed to think about a "big picture" question.
2024/2025
1. Winston - ANS -A minor member of the ruling Party in near-future London,
Winston Smith is a thin, frail, contemplative, intellectual, and fatalistic
thirty-nine-year-old. Winston hates the totalitarian control and enforced
repression that are characteristic of his government. He harbors
revolutionary dreams.
2. Syme - ANS -An intelligent, outgoing man who works with Winston at the
Ministry of Truth. Syme specializes in language. As the novel opens, he is
working on a new edition of the Newspeak dictionary. Winston believes
Syme is too intelligent to stay in the Party's favor.
3. Katherine - ANS -Winston's wife, who never appears directly in the book
but is discussed at some length. Winston describes her as "unthinkful" and
claims she was absurdly devoted to the Party, to the point where she
, referred to sleeping with Winston to produce offspring as her "duty to the
Party." The two never had children, and eventually separated. Winston
reveals he was once tempted to murder Katharine. However, he did not,
and he assumes Katharine still lives, although he has not seen her in years.
4. Goldstein - ANS -Another figure who exerts an influence on the novel
without ever appearing in it. According to the Party, Goldstein is the
legendary leader of the Brotherhood. He seems to have been a Party leader
who fell out of favor with the regime. In any case, the Party describes him
as the most dangerous and treacherous man in Oceania.
5. Rutherford - ANS -One of the three Inner Party members wrongly arrested
in 1965 and forced to incriminate themselves of various crimes, including
treason and murder. They are eventually killed. Winston finds a clipping
proving their innocence and destroys the document, but never forgets
holding the proof that Party "fact" was fiction.
, 6. Julia - ANS -Winston's lover, a beautiful dark-haired girl working in the
Fiction Department at the Ministry of Truth. Julia enjoys sex, and claims to
have had affairs with many Party members. Julia is pragmatic and
optimistic. Her rebellion against the Party is small and personal, for her own
enjoyment, in contrast to Winston's ideological motivation.
7. Mrs.Parsons - ANS -The wife of Tom Parsons and neighbor of Winston's. A
tired, aged woman with "dust in the creases of her face," Mrs. Parsons is
the mother of two horrific children belonging to the Spies and Youth
League and who are bound to eventually denounce her and her husband to
the Thought Police.
8. old man in pub - ANS -When Winston goes in to the pub, he wants to talk
to the old man and ask him if things were better before the revolution. The
man is too old to tell him. He says that he many remembers too many
random details about his past life, but nothing of importance. He
remembers, for example, when he last saw a top hat, but he no longer has
the clarity of thought needed to think about a "big picture" question.
