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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What did "The Sleeper Awakes" and "Brave New World" have in common in Orwell's opinion?

2. What did Orwell envision a home in the future?

3. What did Orwell say was the distinguishing mark of the upper-middle class before the war in England?

4. What class did Orwell say he was born into?

5. When Orwell said he was "advocatus diaboli" what did he mean?

Short Essay Questions

1. How did Orwell's time in the military police effect his thinking about government and oppression?

2. How did Orwell see the clash between the Socialist idea of the machine state and the working people Socialism wished to bring into the fold?

3. What was the unemployment situation in England in the 1930's? How did Orwell's figures differ from official government figures?

4. Why did Orwell think the working class people were rarely pure Socialists?

5. What does the statement by Napoleon "an army marches on its stomach" mean in context of life in industrialized England?

6. What were some of the negative affects of unemployment on any town despite unemployment benefits?

7. What was the Means Test? Why did people dislike the Means Test?

8. What were the attributes of the Northern snobbishness Orwell writes about?

9. How did Orwell argue against the common misconception that the poor and unemployed are simply lazy?

10. What story did Orwell relate about the beer bottle? How did this support his dislike of the working class body? How did he say he was able to overcome this dislike?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In the first chapter, Orwell described the meals provided by the Brookers to their lodgers. These meals were non-nutritious and in no way sated a man's hunger. How is this nutritional issue symbolic of other themes in his book, such as the poor and the country's need for Socialism?

Essay Topic 2

Orwell and many other writers have described the horrible work conditions in coal mines all over the world. Describe the conditions in the coal mines in northern England in the 1930's. What challenges and risks did miners face working in the mines? What was Orwell's reactions to being in the mines with the workers? Why?

Essay Topic 3

Four political ideologies are presented in Orwell's book: Socialism, Capitalism, Fascism and Communism. Compare and contrast the four ideologies. Which are incompatible with each other? Were Orwell not a Socialist, what would he most likely have been committed to and why?

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