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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 Orwell call "the best example of bourgeois-baiting literature?"

2. What did the Socialists think of the occupational centers?

3. Who did Orwell go to hear speak while he was in Sheffield?

4. What did Orwell say was the primary preoccupation of a single unemployed man in winter?

5. When asked who the top ten greatest men living in 1920, who was most often named in Orwell's school class?

Short Essay Questions

1. What were the reasons Orwell cited for Socialism being intrinsically tied to machine industrialization?

2. What was "scrambling for the coal?"

3. Describe the slag heaps found in northern England. What did they look like? What were they eventually used for in Wigan?

4. What did Orwell identify as the two methodologies for abolishing the class system in England? Why did he believe neither of these two to be viable?

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

6. How did Orwell explain the attitude toward the family in a working class society? How did it differ in his opinion from the middle class man and his family?

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

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

9. What were some of the benefits available to unemployed workers in Wigan and Sheffield? How long did benefits last? How long could someone remain unemployed before running out of benefits?

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

Orwell described the working class man and said "he does not act. He is acted upon." Do you agree with this statement? Why or why not? Use examples from the reading.

Essay Topic 2

There is an inherent conflict on Socialism between the advancement of the machine state and industrialization and the working man's job. How did Orwell address this conflict? How did he believe Socialism should address the conflict? Do you believe the two--the machine state and the working man--are by nature at odds with each other? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 3

Orwell explained that as a child, he was taught that the lower class, the working class, smells. What did this mean to Orwell as a child? As he grew up, how did this concept of a visceral odor become both literal and figurative? How does the concept of the working class smell affect the struggle Socialism faces with class issues in England?

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