Darkness at Noon by Arthur Koestler

Study Questions
1. What is the "pendulum movement" in history?

2. What does Rubashov think has happened to Rip van Winkle?

3. Where does the peasant come from?

4. Who was the woman in man’s trousers, and why did she prick the children of the peasant’s village?

5. What is No. 402’s concept of honor?

Answers
1. The pendulum movement in history is the tendency for countries to alternate between democracy and absolute dictatorship.

2. Rubashov thinks Rip van Winkle has been taken away from the prison.

3. The peasant comes from D., a remote province in the east of the Party’s homeland.

4. The woman in man’s trousers was a doctor who pricked the children of the peasant’s village in order to vaccinate them.

5. No. 402 believes honor is living and dying for your beliefs