View a FREE sample

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

Short Answer Questions

1. What were the street folk families like?

2. What did Hemyng say about the French woman?

3. What does Mayhew say about the photographer's business?

4. What would the street clown prefer to do than being a clown?

5. Where does the puppeteer perform his Punch and Judy show?

Short Essay Questions

1. What was the difference between a conductor and other street people?

2. What was the photographer's business like according to Mayhew?

3. What did bus drivers own, what did they do and what other work had many of them done? How often did they work and what did their work prevent?

4. What was pornography and why did it become illegal in London?

5. What was a "Dolly mop" and who did the author consider one?

6. How many visits were done by the London City Mission and what were the results of those visits?

7. What differentiated street folk from patterers?

8. What did the London City Mission do?

9. Why did the author say "Dolly shops" were suspect?

10. What was an ongoing problem for the company from conductors and how did the bus companies combat that problem?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Costermongers usually lived in a drab, dreary, dirty rented room. Often it was shared with other family members. A mother, father and four or more children might live in a single room.

1. Discuss how living conditions such as in the statement above might affect a family. Use examples from the text and your own life to support your answer.

2. Refute or defend the following statement: Human beings have a right to food, shelter and safety. Use examples from the text and your own life to support your answer.

3. Explore some of the similarities and differences between the living conditions of costermongers in London during the era of this book and the slums of modern cities. Use examples from the text and your own life to support your answer.

Essay Topic 2

Mayhew portrayed the Jewish traders as seldom being drinkers or gamblers, but having an extreme love of money and an unquenchable thirst for speculation in any commodity.

1. Do you think the fact that the Jewish immigrants were usually not drinkers or gamblers might account for some of the Jewish financial success? Explain your answer using examples from the text and your own life.

2. Explain what you might think Mayhew's feelings towards Jews might be from the above statement. Use examples from the text and your own life to support your answer.

3. Discuss ways in which "extreme love of money" might manifest in a person's life. Use examples from the text and your own life to support your answer.

Essay Topic 3

The emaciated, depressed man with sunken eyes and wrinkles had worked as a clown for 16 years. He would prefer to be a groom or a police officer, anything except a clown. However, now that he had a wife and children to support, he clowned from 8 am to dark every day for 6 shillings per week. Ashamed, he hid his occupation from the neighbors.

1. Discuss the symptoms of depression you think is evident in this clown's story. Use examples from the text and your own life to support your answer.

2. How would being ashamed of a person's occupation affect the quality of his or her life? Use examples from the text and your own life to support your answer.

3. Discuss the ways in which this clown could be considered courageous for persisting in a job that he hated and was ashamed of for the benefit of his wife and children. Use examples from the text and your own life to support your answer.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,193 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample