Online Book Club - 1984 - Week One Discussion
I'm Mare Alos, your new Young Adult Librarian, and after a few months' hiatus we're joining the West Springfield High School Library's Book Club and reading George Orwell's 1984 and Victoria Aveyard's Red Queen. I'm currently listening to the audio version of Red Queen in my car and reading 1984 on my couch.
Here are a few discussion questions for 1984, courtesy of Ms. Rowe:April 6th - Read pages 1-27 and the appendix, starting at page 246.
1. What is a totalitarian regime? How does such a regime attain, maintain, and increase power? What is its main concern? How does it compare with other political structures?--Democracy, for example.
2. What role does technology play in this book? In what ways does the Party employ technology? In what ways does technology make the overall themes of this book possible?
3. Which is worse: mind control or physical control? In what sense are they one and the same?
4. Think about Newspeak. Does language shape thought? Action? Is language necessary for either thought or action? Without language, does reality exist? Does perception?
Discussion questions for Red Queen are forthcoming...so stay tuned and keep reading!
