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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. What did Socialism mean to the average, ordinary working man in England?
(a) Better wages, medical insurance, and no bosses.
(b) Better wages, longer vacations, and no bosses.
(c) Better wages, better working conditions, and positive work environments.
(d) Better wages, shorter hours, and no one bossing you around.

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

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

4. What did Orwell think would remind him that our age was not been a bad one to live in?
(a) The memory of slag heaps and coal mines.
(b) The memory of working class homes and their families.
(c) The memory of trees and playgrounds.
(d) The memory of working class heroes and their stories.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. What did the Socialists think of the occupational centers?

2. Who was Comrade X?

3. What portion of the population of Wigan was living on unemployment, including family members?

4. Who was the typical Socialist of the late 1930's in England?

5. What things did Orwell believe a good writer needed that an unemployed man could not find?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. What was a "shabby-genteel" family in Orwell's opinion? What were some of the characteristics of a shabby-genteel family?

3. What were the reasons Orwell cited for Socialism being intrinsically tied to machine industrialization?

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

5. What was the unemployment situation in England in the 1930's? How did Orwell's figures differ from official government figures?

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

9. 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?

10. How did Orwell argue against the common misconception that the poor and unemployed are simply lazy?

(see the answer keys)

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