View a FREE sample

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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. 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 old men.
(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 the upper classes.

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

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

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

5. What did "The Sleeper Awakes" and "Brave New World" have in common in Orwell's opinion?
(a) Both are written about the future of America.
(b) Both are written about the future of mankind.
(c) Both are written about a pessimistic utopia.
(d) Both are written about the fall of machines.

Short Answer Questions

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

2. What did Orwell find hopeful about the unemployed men he met?

3. Who said "an army marches on its stomach?"

4. What was the number of people underfed in England based on Orwell's calculations?

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

Short Essay Questions

1. Where did Orwell go to live for five years when he was twenty? What were the difference in class distinctions he observed there?

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

3. What was the Means Test? Why did people dislike the Means Test?

4. How did Orwell explain the attitude toward the family in a working class society? How did it differ in his opinion from the middle class man and his family?

5. 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?

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

7. What did Orwell identify as the two methodologies for abolishing the class system in England? Why did he believe neither of these two to be viable?

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

9. How did Orwell see the clash between the Socialist idea of the machine state and the working people Socialism wished to bring into the fold?

10. Why did Orwell consider Socialism a way out of the social and economic conditions plaguing England in the 1930's? How did he present his argument?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,545 words (approx. 6 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample