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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What book did Orwell write telling of his experiences in London with the unemployed street people?
(a) Down and Out in the Gutters of London.
(b) Down and Out on the Seine.
(c) Down and Out in London.
(d) Down and Out in Paris and London.

2. Who was John Galsworthy?
(a) A revolutionary.
(b) A doctor.
(c) A playwright.
(d) A poet.

3. With what, according to Orwell, is socialism inextricably connected?
(a) The idea of machine production.
(b) The idea of better housing and working conditions.
(c) The idea of overthrow of the rich.
(d) The idea of workers' solidarity.

4. Where did Orwell first go to sleep with the beggars and criminals of the working class?
(a) Orangehouse and Greychapel.
(b) Wigan and Sheffield.
(c) Limehouse and Whitechapel.
(d) London and Sheffield.

5. How did a Northerner visiting Southern England see that part of the country?
(a) As snobbish, cruel and wealthy.
(b) As snobbish, wealthy and unconcerned.
(c) As snobbish, uneducated and fantastic.
(d) As snobbish, effeminate and lazy.

6. What famous line came from Greenwood's play "Love on the Dole?"
(a) "Oh, God, let me get out of here!"
(b) "Oh God, send me some work!"
(c) "Oh God, why have y ou done this to me?"
(d) "Oh God, let me die!"

7. To what did Orwell compare a "shabby-genteel family" in England?
(a) The same as a family of poor farmers in Paris.
(b) The same as a "negro" family living in Manchester.
(c) The same as a family of poor whites living in an all "negro" area.
(d) The same as a family of immigrants in the United States.

8. How did Orwell describe the attitude toward education in the working class?
(a) A child could not wait to get out of school and move south to Dover.
(b) Education was important only to the middle class.
(c) A child could be educated without ever going to school.
(d) A child could not wait to get out of school and go to work to earn money.

9. Who did the work in the house of a married unemployed man?
(a) A woman: the man did not help with any household tasks.
(b) The man helped by maintaining the living and dining rooms.
(c) The man helped with certain chores such as washing dishes.
(d) The couple split the chores in half to get more free time together.

10. What was one way the middle class worked to abolish class distinctions?
(a) Walk to the coal mines together.
(b) Stand side by side in protest rallies.
(c) Attend summer schools with the proletariats.
(d) Give a coal miner a new home.

11. What did Orwell say was the only way to abolish class distinctions in England?
(a) You must be willing to move to northern England.
(b) You must be willing to abolish part of yourself.
(c) You must be willing to incite a revolution.
(d) You must be willing to eat fish and chips.

12. Under the capitalist system, who did Orwell say must live on the edge of starvation so that England can live in comfort?
(a) Thousands of Africans.
(b) One hundred million Indians.
(c) Ten thousand coal miners.
(d) A million Burmese.

13. What were the occupational centers of the thirties?
(a) Places men could go to start new careers as professionals.
(b) Places men could go to receive testing and training.
(c) Places men could go to learn carpentry, boot making and other skills.
(d) Places men could go to watch television in peace and quiet.

14. What was the number of people underfed in England based on Orwell's calculations?
(a) Over twenty million.
(b) Over eleven million.
(c) Under seven million.
(d) Over ten million.

15. When asked who the top ten greatest men living in 1920, who was most often named in Orwell's school class?
(a) Hardy.
(b) Lenin.
(c) Lennon.
(d) Trotsky.

Short Answer Questions

1. What common feeling was shared by all of the different factions of the middle class in England?

2. What was a favorite refuge for the unemployed man in Wigan?

3. What was one commodity that was less expensive in industrialized parts of England than the rest of the country?

4. How was unemployment viewed by people in the late twenties and early thirties in England?

5. What did Orwell think would remind him that our age was not been a bad one to live in?

(see the answer keys)

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