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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Why were the industrial towns in England so ugly and noxious?
(a) The modern methods of steel construction and smoke abatement were unknown.
(b) The mayors did not enforce local laws of trash and smoke abatement.
(c) The people were so poor they threw trash in the streets and did not paint their houses.
(d) The government had given up helping this area of the country to deal with their filth.

2. What did Orwell believe every unemployed man should be given if he wanted it?
(a) A patch of land and one hundred pounds.
(b) A patch of land and a cow.
(c) A patch of land and tools with which to grow his own food.
(d) A patch of land and a horse drawn wagon.

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

4. What did the Socialists think of the occupational centers?
(a) They believed the centers were run by Marxists.
(b) They believed the centers were there to keep the unemployed quiet and hopeful.
(c) They believed the centers were brainwashing men.
(d) They believed the centers should do more training.

5. What portion of the population of Wigan was living on unemployment, including family members?
(a) One half.
(b) One eighth.
(c) One forth.
(d) One third.

6. What playwright said that you can only bring a working man on stage "as an object of compassion?"
(a) Eugene Ionesco.
(b) D.H. Lawrence.
(c) George Bernard Shaw.
(d) Eugene O'Neil.

7. Who did Orwell believe was doing the best work for the unemployed in the thirties?
(a) The National Employment Readiness Centers.
(b) The National Center for Employment Benefits.
(c) The National Unemployed Workers' Union.
(d) The National Communist Party.

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

9. What four words did Orwell discuss in detail as the reason for class distinctions?
(a) The upper class steal.
(b) The upper-middle class cheat.
(c) The middle class lie.
(d) The lower class smell.

10. Why did Orwell have the opportunity to receive an expensive public school education?
(a) He was at the school as the guest of the Prime Minister.
(b) He was at the school on a scholarship.
(c) He was allowed to attend the school free because his father was an alum.
(d) He was sent to school by his wealthy uncle.

11. What was "scrambling for the coal?"
(a) Poor men hijacking train cars and shoveling through them for coins.
(b) Poor men fighting each other for lumps of coal in the slag.
(c) Poor men shoveling through the slag from the mines and passing the coal to their wives.
(d) Poor men running up the slag piles, digging out coal and putting it in their poclets.

12. What did Orwell say was the distinguishing mark of the upper-middle class before the war in England?
(a) It was known for its gluttony.
(b) It allowed no other people in its ranks.
(c) It consisted of mainly military, official and professional people.
(d) It believed in the power of money and education.

13. Why did Orwell reference "Punch" in his discussion of class?
(a) Punch was the weekely magazine read by al classes of people.
(b) Punch was strongly against the class system in England.
(c) Punch often portrayed the middle-class as a figure of fun and joking.
(d) Punch was a sarcastic magazine.

14. What things did Orwell believe a good writer needed that an unemployed man could not find?
(a) Peace of mind, and quiet.
(b) Peace of mind, and a room of his own to work.
(c) Peace of mind, and extra cash.
(d) Peace of mind, and a new, modern typewriter.

15. Where did Orwell go before he turned twenty?
(a) Burma.
(b) Washington D.C.
(c) Belfast.
(d) Sudan.

Short Answer Questions

1. To what did Orwell compare a "shabby-genteel family" in England?

2. How does a machine evolve in Orwell's opinion?

3. Why did Orwell think the upper-middle class were drawn to India, Kenya and Nigeria?

4. What was "the flock mattress?"

5. What did Orwell call "the best example of bourgeois-baiting literature?"

(see the answer keys)

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