Outrages In Kent

Questions on vocabulary, language, and understanding main ideas.

Suggested answers. These should help you to check your own answers, and also
to help you to understand the process of finding the answer.

1. In what sense is the word “bodies” used in line 3?

Answer: groups. Clue given in the word “assemble” which means to form a group.

2. In what sense is the word “alarm” used in line 7?

Answer: panic. The context helps here – look at what is described in the previous
papargraph. This is a short concluding sentence which sums up the effects of the
events described in the rest of the first paragraph.

3. In your own words explain the writer’s main idea in paragraph 2.

Answer: a gloss (ie in your own words) of “Leniency and severity seem alike
employed in vain.” For example: no matter what approach is taken (soft or hard) no
difference is made.

4. How does the context in which it appears help you to understand the meaning of
the expression “borne down” in line 14?

Answer: the word “opressed” gives the idea of being forcibly controlled.

5. How does the language used by the writer in paragraph 3 (lines 14-24) help to
create sympathy for the plight of the “labouring classes”?

Answer: when a question asks you about the writer’s use of language, remember that
you have to select an aspect (or aspects) of the language used by the writer. For
example, you could comment on word choice, or sentence structure, or punctuation,
or imagery, depending on the language used in the section identified.

Word choice
“bourne down” or “opressed” suggest that the workers have been treated with
extreme cruelty or excessive control
“trampled on” suggests that workers have been treated with comtempt, in an
inhuman way, etc.
“driven to starvation” – the word “driven” suggests that workers have been
deliberately deprived of food/necessities
“misery” – made very unhappy
“despair” – can see no future
“accursed game laws” – the word “accursed” suggests universally hated because of
the unfairness involved
Etc
Sentence structure
Listing – lines 20 -24 listing of unfair treatments creates sympathy for labouring
classes.
Construction of opening sentence of paragraph – starting with”The fact is” suggests
certainty, inviting reader to agree with view expressed.

6. How does the writer expand on his idea expressed in the opening sentence of
paragraph 4 “The bond which once attached the agricultural labourer to his employer
has long been broken”?

Answer – employer was once considered friend/father/family member, thus

suggesting close relationship, now barriers have been erected. Workers now treated
as farm animals (dehumanised) or as slaves (no rights, as possessions).