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

2. What was one commodity that was less expensive in industrialized parts of England than the rest of the country?

3. In order to calculate the actual number of people living on unemployment in England, what would one need to do?

4. What did Orwell think would remind him that our age was not been a bad one to live in?

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

Short Essay Questions

1. 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?

2. 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?

3. 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?

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

5. 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?

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

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

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

9. 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?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Orwell described in detail the house in which he stayed with the Brookers, and the houses he visited and reported on for his book. Discuss the housing conditions in Wigan, Sheffield and other towns in northern England in the 1930's. Why were things so deplorable? Who did Orwell believe was responsible for the living conditions of the working and unemployed poor?

Essay Topic 2

Orwell and many other writers have described the horrible work conditions in coal mines all over the world. Describe the conditions in the coal mines in northern England in the 1930's. What challenges and risks did miners face working in the mines? What was Orwell's reactions to being in the mines with the workers? Why?

Essay Topic 3

The Means Test was a method of deciding benefit amounts for the unemployed. Discuss the Means Test, its affect on the unemployed worker, and on the greater community.

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