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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Why were the industrial towns in England so ugly and noxious?
(a) The government had given up helping this area of the country to deal with their filth.
(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 modern methods of steel construction and smoke abatement were unknown.

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

3. What did Orwell cite as a reason class hatred seemed to be diminishing in the late 1930's?
(a) These opinions of hatred were those of only the upper classes.
(b) These opinions of hatred were not in print anymore.
(c) These opinions of hatred were not real anymore.
(d) These opinions of hatred were those of only old men.

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

5. What was a favorite refuge for the unemployed man in Wigan?
(a) City Hall.
(b) The shopping areas.
(c) The movie theatre.
(d) The alleys.

Short Answer Questions

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

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

3. How was the Socialist world seen when Orwell wrote this book?

4. What did Orwell say was the only way to abolish class distinctions in England?

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

Short Essay Questions

1. Orwell described the view from a street in Sheffield. Describe what he saw when he looked around the town.

2. What was the employment situation in Wigan and Sheffield, the two towns Orwell wrote about?

3. What does the statement by Napoleon "an army marches on its stomach" mean in context of life in industrialized England?

4. How did Orwell's time in the military police effect his thinking about government and oppression?

5. Why did Orwell think Socialism was not on the rise in England? What did he think Socialists were doing to discourage people from participating?

6. What were the attributes of the Northern snobbishness Orwell writes about?

7. What did Orwell do in order to learn more about the working class conditions he had previously not understood? How did he go about trying to be a part of the working class and see the world through their eyes?

8. What one overarching generalization was Orwell taught about the lower classes of people in his town? What author did Orwell quote in support of this theory, and what did the author say?

9. Why did Orwell think the working class people were rarely pure Socialists?

10. What story did Orwell relate about the beer bottle? How did this support his dislike of the working class body? How did he say he was able to overcome this dislike?

(see the answer keys)

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