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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What did Saintsbury say about unemployment insurance?
(a) It was simply "a manifestation of the ignorance of capitalism."
(b) It was simply "woefully inadequate to deal with the problem."
(c) It was simply "contributing to the poverty of the entire nation."
(d) It was simply "contributing to the support of lazy ne'er-do-wells."

2. How long was Orwell a member of the Indian Police?
(a) Five years.
(b) Ten years.
(c) Seven years.
(d) Four months.

3. What did Orwell think was more important than changes in dynasties or changes of religion?
(a) Changes of diet.
(b) Changes of clothing and cloth.
(c) Changes of the seasons.
(d) Changes of housing materials.

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

5. What did Orwell find hopeful about the unemployed men he met?
(a) They continued to exerecise in case work should come available in the mines.
(b) They could talk about their experiences and learn from them.
(c) They relied on each other for food and money.
(d) They had not gone to pieces spiritually.

6. What did Orwell find amazing about the unemployed men he met after returning from Burma?
(a) That they were well fed and well clothed.
(b) That they were shiftless and uneducated.
(c) That they were ashamed of being unemployed.
(d) That they were angry and bitter people.

7. What was "scrambling for the coal?"
(a) Poor men running up the slag piles, digging out coal and putting it in their poclets.
(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 shoveling through the slag from the mines and passing the coal to their wives.

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

9. What were some of the misconceptions Orwell noted about Socialists in 1930's England?
(a) They are all eccentric, pacifists and cranks.
(b) They were all determined to undermine the class structure of the community.
(c) They were all closet Facists.
(d) They were all pseudo-intellectuals.

10. 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 not wait to get out of school and go to work to earn money.
(d) A child could be educated without ever going to school.

11. Who was Comrade X?
(a) A member of the A.C.L.U. and a politician.
(b) A member of the C.P.G.B. and an author.
(c) A member of the N.W.P. and an author.
(d) A member of the R.S.V.P. and a politician.

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

13. What were the "Clothing Clubs?"
(a) Clubs in industrial towns in which unemployed men could buy new clothes.
(b) Clubs in industrial towns in which unemployed men could trade old clothing for new.
(c) Clubs in industrial towns in which unemployed men were given loans for clothing.
(d) Clubs in industrial towns in which unemployed men could send their wives for clothes.

14. What class did Orwell say he was born into?
(a) The lower-middle-upper-class.
(b) The middle-upper class.
(c) The middle-upper-middle class.
(d) The lower-upper-middle-class.

15. How did unemployment affect the life of the married man?
(a) Unemployment raised the crime rate.
(b) Unemployment encouraged men to do housework.
(c) Unemployment drove men to drink.
(d) Unemployment did not make much difference in the home.

Short Answer Questions

1. What playwright said that you can only bring a working man on stage "as an object of compassion?"

2. Where did Orwell first go to sleep with the beggars and criminals of the working class?

3. What famous line came from Greenwood's play "Love on the Dole?"

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

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

(see the answer keys)

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