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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 were the "Clothing Clubs?"
(a) Clubs in industrial towns in which unemployed men could trade old clothing for new.
(b) Clubs in industrial towns in which unemployed men could buy new clothes.
(c) Clubs in industrial towns in which unemployed men were given loans for clothing.
(d) Clubs in industrial towns in which unemployed men could send their wives for clothes.

2. What did Orwell find was the basis of the diet for families of the unemployed?
(a) White bread, butter, chipped beef, sugared tea and carrots.
(b) White bread, margerine, corned beef, sugared tea and potatoes.
(c) White bread, butter, tinny beef, sugared tea and potatoes.
(d) White bread, butter, roast beef, sugared tea and carrots.

3. What was one commodity that was less expensive in industrialized parts of England than the rest of the country?
(a) Electricity.
(b) Fuel.
(c) Cable.
(d) Telephones.

4. What did Orwell say was the primary preoccupation of a single unemployed man in winter?
(a) Begging for money.
(b) Finding work.
(c) Keeping warm.
(d) Finding food.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. How did unemployment affect the life of the married man?

2. What percentage of a person's income, whether employed or on unemployment, was given over to rent in Wigan?

3. What was "scrambling for the coal?"

4. What four words did Orwell discuss in detail as the reason for class distinctions?

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

Short Essay Questions

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

2. 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?

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

4. 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?

5. 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?

6. 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?

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

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 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. Why did Orwell think the working class people were rarely pure Socialists?

(see the answer keys)

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