Suggestions
Use up and down arrows to review and enter to select.Please wait while we process your payment
If you don't see it, please check your spam folder. Sometimes it can end up there.
If you don't see it, please check your spam folder. Sometimes it can end up there.
Please wait while we process your payment
By signing up you agree to our terms and privacy policy.
Don’t have an account? Subscribe now
Create Your Account
Sign up for your FREE 7-day trial
Already have an account? Log in
Your Email
Choose Your Plan
Save over 50% with a SparkNotes PLUS Annual Plan!
Purchasing SparkNotes PLUS for a group?
Get Annual Plans at a discount when you buy 2 or more!
Price
$24.99 $18.74 /subscription + tax
Subtotal $37.48 + tax
Save 25% on 2-49 accounts
Save 30% on 50-99 accounts
Want 100 or more? Contact us for a customized plan.
Your Plan
Payment Details
Payment Summary
SparkNotes Plus
You'll be billed after your free trial ends.
7-Day Free Trial
Not Applicable
Renews June 7, 2023 May 31, 2023
Discounts (applied to next billing)
DUE NOW
US $0.00
SNPLUSROCKS20 | 20% Discount
This is not a valid promo code.
Discount Code (one code per order)
SparkNotes Plus subscription is $4.99/month or $24.99/year as selected above. The free trial period is the first 7 days of your subscription. TO CANCEL YOUR SUBSCRIPTION AND AVOID BEING CHARGED, YOU MUST CANCEL BEFORE THE END OF THE FREE TRIAL PERIOD. You may cancel your subscription on your Subscription and Billing page or contact Customer Support at custserv@bn.com. Your subscription will continue automatically once the free trial period is over. Free trial is available to new customers only.
Choose Your Plan
For the next 7 days, you'll have access to awesome PLUS stuff like AP English test prep, No Fear Shakespeare translations and audio, a note-taking tool, personalized dashboard, & much more!
You’ve successfully purchased a group discount. Your group members can use the joining link below to redeem their group membership. You'll also receive an email with the link.
Members will be prompted to log in or create an account to redeem their group membership.
Thanks for creating a SparkNotes account! Continue to start your free trial.
Please wait while we process your payment
Your PLUS subscription has expired
Please wait while we process your payment
Please wait while we process your payment
In the far distance a helicopter skimmed down between the roofs, hovered for an instant like a bluebottle, and darted away again with a curving flight.
In this simile, the narrator compares the flight of a helicopter to a bluebottle, a type of fly that can hover and dart about in the air.
It resembled the face of a sheep, and the voice, too, had a sheep-like quality.
In this simile, the narrator compares the face and voice of Goldstein, who has white hair and a goatee, to that of a sheep.
He went to the bathroom and carefully scrubbed the ink away with the gritty dark brown soap which rasped your skin like sandpaper and was therefore well adapted for this purpose.
In this simile, the narrator compares the texture of Winston’s soap to that of sandpaper, which scrapes a surface in order to make it smooth.
He was a lonely ghost uttering a truth that nobody would ever hear.
In this metaphor, the narrator compares the writings in Winston’s diary to the words of a ghost, which no one else will ever hear.
He seemed to be breaking up before one's eyes, like a mountain crumbling.
In this simile, the narrator compares Rutherford, a large but aging man who was once physically imposing, to an eroding mountain.
Her voice seemed to stick into his brain like jagged splinters of glass.
In this simile, Winston tries to write something down, but his mind can’t focus because of the singing coming from the telescreen, which the narrator describes as being as detrimental to his focus as if there were shards of glass stuck in his brain.
In this game that we're playing, we can't win.
In this metaphor, Winston compares life in Oceania to an unwinnable game because he’s given up all hope of ever being able to overcome the Inner Party’s control over his life
What mattered was that the room over the junk-shop should exist. . . . The room was a world, a pocket of the past where extinct animals could walk. Mr. Charrington, thought Winston, was another extinct animal.
This metaphor compares Winston, Julia, and Mr. Charrington to extinct animals, suggesting that people like them do not belong in the present; the room over Mr. Charrington’s junk shop, however, is a special “pocket of the past” where these extinct animals are free to roam.
His tiny sister, clinging to her mother with both hands, exactly like a baby monkey, sat looking over her shoulder at him with large, mournful eyes.
While Winston recalls a childhood memory of stealing food from his sister, he compares her to a baby monkey because the lack of food has made her thin, but this comparison also shows how people are driven to dehumanize one another in this society.
O'Brien took the decanter by the neck and filled up the glasses with a dark-red liquid. . . . Seen from the top the stuff looked almost black, but in the decanter it gleamed like a ruby.
In this simile, the narrator compares the appearance of wine—which Winston has never seen before—to that of a ruby, a precious red stone.
Please wait while we process your payment