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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

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

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

3. What were the "Clothing Clubs?"

4. What did Orwell believe was the deeper implications of Socialism?

5. What were some of the misconceptions Orwell noted about Socialists in 1930's England?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

4. 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?

5. Describe the slag heaps found in northern England. What did they look like? What were they eventually used for in Wigan?

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

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

8. 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?

9. 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?

10. 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?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In his descriptions of unemployment in the middle and working classes, Orwell explained that the men and their families in each class had a vastly different reaction to the condition. Orwell contended that the working class man was better equipped to lose his job and become unemployed than the middle class man. What were some of the reasons Orwell cited for this? Can you find proof in studying the middle and working classes to support Orwell's contention that one class was better equipped than another to be out of work?

Essay Topic 2

There is an inherent conflict on Socialism between the advancement of the machine state and industrialization and the working man's job. How did Orwell address this conflict? How did he believe Socialism should address the conflict? Do you believe the two--the machine state and the working man--are by nature at odds with each other? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 3

Orwell spent a good deal of his life promoting Socialism and struggling with the issue of class differences and prejudices. He contended that to abolish class distinction, a person must be willing to abolish part of himself. What did he mean by this?

(see the answer keys)

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