View a FREE sample

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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Who was the typical Socialist of the late 1930's in England?
(a) A member of the middle class.
(b) A man.
(c) A woman.
(d) A member of the lower class.

2. In 1918, what was the general feeling throughout England?
(a) One of revolutionary thought due to the war.
(b) One of conservatism due to the war.
(c) One of understanding due to the war.
(d) One of uncertainty due to the war.

3. In order to calculate the actual number of people living on unemployment in England, what would one need to do?
(a) Multiply the official figures by over three.
(b) Multiply the official figure by 2.5.
(c) Multiply the official figure by 4.5.
(d) Divide the figure by more than five.

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

5. How did Orwell describe the attitude toward education in the working class?
(a) Education was important only to the middle class.
(b) A child could not wait to get out of school and move south to Dover.
(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.

6. Why did Orwell reference "Punch" in his discussion of class?
(a) Punch was a sarcastic magazine.
(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 the weekely magazine read by al classes of people.

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

8. 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 people were so poor they threw trash in the streets and did not paint their houses.
(c) The mayors did not enforce local laws of trash and smoke abatement.
(d) The government had given up helping this area of the country to deal with their filth.

9. How was the Socialist world seen when Orwell wrote this book?
(a) Wealthy, organic and organized.
(b) Mechanized, organized and independent.
(c) Mechanized, efficient and organized.
(d) Worker-run, proletariat based and non-classist.

10. What was the most obvious sign of malnourishment in the families of the unemployed men?
(a) Bad hearing.
(b) Bad teeth.
(c) Bad speech.
(d) Bad eyesight.

11. What percentage of a person's income, whether employed or on unemployment, was given over to rent in Wigan?
(a) One half.
(b) One fifth.
(c) One third.
(d) One fourth.

12. How did Orwell describe a slag heap?
(a) "A testiment to man's toil."
(b) "A hideous thing, planless and functionless."
(c) "A thing of beauty rising in the distance."
(d) "A horrid blight on the landscape."

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

14. 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) Eugene O'Neil.
(d) George Bernard Shaw.

15. 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 sent to school by his wealthy uncle.
(d) He was allowed to attend the school free because his father was an alum.

Short Answer Questions

1. What book did Orwell write telling of his experiences in London with the unemployed street people?

2. What did Saintsbury say about unemployment insurance?

3. How did unemployment affect the life of the married man?

4. Why did Orwell say Socialism had not taken hold in England despite its common-sense doctrine?

5. What is left when a slag heap sinks into the ground?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 818 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample