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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 does Orwell send to get an elephant rifle before he goes looking for the elephant?

2. What is one of the schools that Crossgates graduates attend?

3. Who delivers the beatings to Orwell for wetting his bed?

4. Why does Orwell shoot the elephant?

5. Orwell believes that Kipling's poetry is remembered because of what?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why has bad English been successful in the political arena?

2. What describes the purpose of the semi-illicit postcards most newsstands carry?

3. What is "bad English writing," according to Orwell?

4. What, according to the headmaster, is Orwell's only function at the school?

5. What are the common writing errors that Orwell enumerates in his "Politics and the English Language" essay?

6. Why does Orwell not consider Dickens a revolutionary writer?

7. What is the plot of "No Orchids for Miss Blandish"?

8. What is the standard joke about home life that the semi-illicit postcards use?

9. Why is Orwell hated in Moulmein?

10. What, according to Orwell, do the various deficiencies in Dickens's novels lead a person to conclude?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Does Orwell believe that England is essentially a good place? Why or why not? Use examples from the various essays to support your answer.

Essay Topic 2

Orwell states, in "Why I Write," that he writes solid prose when his political purpose is well defined. Do you agree with Orwell's characterization of himself? Why or why not? Support your answer with examples from the various essays.

Essay Topic 3

How does Orwell's ethnocentrism invade his writing? Does it? Use examples from the text to support your answer.

(see the answer keys)

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