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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. How does the narrator describe Paddy's ignorance?

2. For what is Paddy put in prison?

3. What does the narrator say that society misunderstands?

4. Who do the tramps jeer at during the service?

5. What do the tramps have to hand over before they enter a spike?

Short Essay Questions

1. What are spikes?

2. What does the narrator believe he has learned from his experiences?

3. Why does Paddy want to bury his five pence?

4. What does the narrator discover about England in chapter 25?

5. What reason does the carpenter give for throwing away all the food?

6. What ideas does the narrator have to improve the tramp's lives?

7. In what way does the young man affect the narrator in chapter 29?

8. Summarize chapter 37.

9. Why do you think the author includes this apparently irrelevant chapter in the book?

10. How is Bozo more interesting than other homeless people he has met in the book?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Identify the main themes of the story. Why do you think these themes are so important to the story? How does Orwell use character and setting to express these themes?

Essay Topic 2

Examine Orwell's writing style. How would you describe Orwell's prose style? What kind of vocabulary does he use? Does he use any specific writing techniques? What meaning does Orwell's style give to the story?

Essay Topic 3

How does the narrator represent working class life? In what ways does the book display both the good and bad sides of working class life?

(see the answer keys)

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