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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. To what did Orwell compare a "shabby-genteel family" in England?
2. What did Orwell find was the basis of the diet for families of the unemployed?
3. Who wrote "Erewhon?"
4. How does a machine evolve in Orwell's opinion?
5. Why did Orwell reference "Punch" in his discussion of class?
Short Essay Questions
1. Describe the slag heaps found in northern England. What did they look like? What were they eventually used for in Wigan?
2. Orwell described the view from a street in Sheffield. Describe what he saw when he looked around the town.
3. What was the unemployment situation in England in the 1930's? How did Orwell's figures differ from official government figures?
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. 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?
6. What was the employment situation in Wigan and Sheffield, the two towns Orwell wrote about?
7. 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?
8. How did Orwell argue against the common misconception that the poor and unemployed are simply lazy?
9. What was a "shabby-genteel" family in Orwell's opinion? What were some of the characteristics of a shabby-genteel family?
10. Where did Orwell go to live for five years when he was twenty? What were the difference in class distinctions he observed there?
Essay Topics
Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:
Essay Topic 1
Orwell was an outspoken and literate man in England in the 1930's. Why did Orwell come to write "The Road to Wigan Pier?" Who were the people involved in the book's publication and what was their interest in the project? What was the reaction to his manuscript?
Essay Topic 2
Orwell believed that as economies become more depressed, class distinctions become more pronounced. Do you think this was true in pre-war England? What was the economy like in the 1930's? Based on what we have experienced here in the last four years, do you believe that class distinctions are greater as our economy has become depressed? Discuss.
Essay Topic 3
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?
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This section contains 1,447 words (approx. 5 pages at 300 words per page) |
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