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. How did Orwell describe the attitude toward education in the working class?
(a) A child could not wait to get out of school and go to work to earn money.
(b) A child could be educated without ever going to school.
(c) A child could not wait to get out of school and move south to Dover.
(d) Education was important only to the middle class.

2. What things did Orwell believe a good writer needed that an unemployed man could not find?
(a) Peace of mind, and extra cash.
(b) Peace of mind, and quiet.
(c) Peace of mind, and a new, modern typewriter.
(d) Peace of mind, and a room of his own to work.

3. 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 the fall of machines.
(d) Both are written about a pessimistic utopia.

4. Who said "an army marches on its stomach?"
(a) Aristotle.
(b) Homer.
(c) Hitler.
(d) Napoleon.

5. What did the Socialists think of the occupational centers?
(a) They believed the centers were run by Marxists.
(b) They believed the centers were there to keep the unemployed quiet and hopeful.
(c) They believed the centers should do more training.
(d) They believed the centers were brainwashing men.

Short Answer Questions

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

2. What did Orwell find was the basis of the diet for families of the unemployed?

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

4. To what did Orwell compare a "shabby-genteel family" in England?

5. What was one way the middle class worked to abolish class distinctions?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. 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?

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

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

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

6. What were some of the benefits available to unemployed workers in Wigan and Sheffield? How long did benefits last? How long could someone remain unemployed before running out of benefits?

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

8. What were some of the negative affects of unemployment on any town despite unemployment benefits?

9. 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?

10. 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?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,505 words (approx. 6 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample