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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 did Orwell say was the distinguishing mark of the upper-middle class before the war in England?
(a) It allowed no other people in its ranks.
(b) It believed in the power of money and education.
(c) It consisted of mainly military, official and professional people.
(d) It was known for its gluttony.

2. Who did Orwell go to hear speak while he was in Sheffield?
(a) A lecture by a clergyman.
(b) A town hall meeting.
(c) A movie.
(d) A play.

3. What was one way the middle class worked to abolish class distinctions?
(a) Attend summer schools with the proletariats.
(b) Stand side by side in protest rallies.
(c) Give a coal miner a new home.
(d) Walk to the coal mines together.

4. Who was John Galsworthy?
(a) A doctor.
(b) A revolutionary.
(c) A playwright.
(d) A poet.

5. What did "The Sleeper Awakes" and "Brave New World" have in common in Orwell's opinion?
(a) Both are written about the future of mankind.
(b) Both are written about the future of America.
(c) Both are written about the fall of machines.
(d) Both are written about a pessimistic utopia.

Short Answer Questions

1. What were the occupational centers of the thirties?

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

3. What did Orwell believe every unemployed man should be given if he wanted it?

4. In Orwell's opinion, what was one way the working class man differed from the middle class man?

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

Short Essay Questions

1. What was "scrambling for the coal?"

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

3. What was the Means Test? Why did people dislike the Means Test?

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

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

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

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

10. 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?

(see the answer keys)

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