MCQs Post Modernism

SET-I

Q.1. Who is considered the author of A Handful of Dust, often associated with early postmodernist tendencies in British fiction?

1. Aldous Huxley

2. Evelyn Waugh

3. Graham Greene

4. George Orwell

Answer: 2

Explanation: Evelyn Waugh’s A Handful of Dust (1934) blends satire, irony, and tragic absurdity—characteristics that anticipate postmodern sensibilities.



Q.2. Which of the following novels by Evelyn Waugh centers the backdrop of the pre-World War II ?

1. Scoop

2. Brideshead Revisited

3. Decline and Fall

4. Vile Bodies

Answer: 2

Explanation: Brideshead Revisited explores the decline of the English aristocracy through nostalgic and religious overtones, often seen as Waugh’s most emotionally rich work.



Q.3. Which Evelyn Waugh novel portrays the absurdity of modern journalism through biting satire?

1. Scoop

2. A Handful of Dust

3. Vile Bodies

4. Decline and Fall

Answer: 1

Explanation: Scoop (1938) is a satirical take on the press industry, exposing the sensationalism and moral bankruptcy of modern media.



Q.4. Postmodern fiction often blurs boundaries between:

1. Realism and romance

2. Fiction and reality

3. Poetry and drama

4. History and myth

Answer: 2

Explanation: Postmodern techniques often include unreliable narrators, creating a sense of ambiguity that makes readers question what is true and what is fabricated. These techniques often blur the lines between reality and fiction, inviting readers to question the nature of truth and representation in literature.





Q.5. Which of the following best defines metafiction, a key element of postmodern writing?

1. Fiction that describes scientific reality

2. Fiction that reflects on its own nature as fiction

3. Fiction that focuses on mythical history

4. Fiction written in multiple languages

Answer: 2

Explanation: Metafiction draws attention to its own constructedness—postmodern writers often comment on the process of writing itself.



Q.6. In postmodern literature, pastiche refers to:

1. A unified narrative voice

2. The imitation or collage of different styles and genres

3. The avoidance of parody

4. The exclusive use of traditional narrative forms

Answer: 2

Explanation: Pastiche is a collage of styles or imitation of different genres, used without mockery—unlike parody, it celebrates multiplicity.



Q.7. Which postmodern technique undermines the reliability of narrators and the idea of an objective truth?

1. Stream of consciousness

2. Fragmentation

3. Magical realism

4. Unreliable narration

Answer: 4

Explanation: The unreliable narrator, central to postmodern texts, destabilizes truth, allowing multiple interpretations and subjectivities.



Q.8. In Homage to Catalonia, Orwell documents his experiences in:

1. World War I

2. The Spanish Civil War

3. World War II

4. The Cold War

Answer: 2

Explanation: Homage to Catalonia (1938) is Orwell’s eyewitness account of the Spanish Civil War and the betrayal of revolutionary socialism.





Q.9. The term “anti-hero”, common in postmodern literature, describes:

1. A morally perfect protagonist

2. A flawed central character lacking traditional heroic qualities

3. A mythical figure from epic literature

4. A purely comic figure

Answer: 2

Explanation: The anti-hero subverts traditional heroic ideals, embodying moral ambiguity and existential uncertainty typical of postmodernism.



Q.10. In Orwell’s Animal Farm, the pigs gradually represent:

1. The working class

2. The capitalist elite

3. The corrupt ruling class of communism

4. The clergy

Answer: 3

Explanation: The pigs symbolize the Soviet leadership—especially Stalin—who betray revolutionary ideals and exploit others.



Q.11. Which of the following novels by Aldous Huxley envisions a dystopian future dominated by technology and conditioning?

1. Point Counter Point

2. Crome Yellow

3. Brave New World

4. Eyeless in Gaza

Answer: 3

Explanation: Brave New World (1932) presents a scientifically controlled society where individuality is suppressed—an early form of dystopian satire.



Q.12. Huxley’s Point Counter Point employs which narrative technique?

1. Linear storytelling

2. Stream of consciousness

3. Polyphonic or contrapuntal structure

4. Third-person omniscient narrative

Answer: 3

Explanation: Point Counter Point (1928) uses a contrapuntal structure—multiple voices and perspectives that mirror musical counterpoint, anticipating postmodern fragmentation.



Q.13. The Room 101 in Orwell’s 1984 symbolizes:

1. Political indoctrination

2. Religious salvation

3. One’s ultimate personal fear

4. A public confession chamber

Answer: 3

Explanation: Room 101 represents the worst thing imaginable for each individual—used to break psychological resistance.





Q.14. Which Huxley work explores spiritual transcendence as an answer to modern disillusionment?

1. Eyeless in Gaza

2. Crome Yellow

3. Antic Hay

4. After Many a Summer Dies the Swan

Answer: 1

Explanation: Eyeless in Gaza (1936) moves beyond satire to seek spiritual awakening and meaning amid modern chaos.



Q.15. In which novel by Graham Greene does a double agent use classic works of fiction to encode secret information — beginning with the line, “He put Clarissa Harlowe back in the bookcase”, and later drawing on War and Peace and The Way We Live Now as matrices for secret transmissions?

1. The Man Within

2. The Human Factor

3. The Confidential Agent

4. Our Man in Havana

Answer: 2

Explanation: In The Human Factor (1978), Graham Greene portrays a British intelligence officer who betrays secrets using literary codes. The references to Clarissa Harlowe, War and Peace, and The Way We Live Now are key clues to his covert activities, reflecting Greene’s interest in moral ambiguity, loyalty, and espionage.





Q.16. Graham Greene’s novels are often described as:

1. Historical romances

2. Catholic novels or novels of moral crisis

3. Detective thrillers without moral concern

4. Purely political satires

Answer: 2

Explanation: Greene’s works—like The Power and the Glory and The Heart of the Matter—explore faith, sin, and moral ambiguity, blending Catholicism with existential doubt.



Q.17. Which of the following novels by Graham Greene is set during the Mexican revolution?

1. The Heart of the Matter

2. Brighton Rock

3. The Power and the Glory

4. A Burnt-Out Case

Answer: 3

Explanation: The Power and the Glory (1940) portrays a “whisky priest” in revolutionary Mexico, torn between guilt and grace.



Q.18. The protagonist Pinkie Brown appears in which Graham Greene novel?

1. Brighton Rock

2. The End of the Affair

3. The Quiet American

4. The Comedians

Answer: 1

Explanation: Pinkie Brown, the teenage gangster in Brighton Rock, embodies evil within a moral framework influenced by Greene’s Catholicism.



Q.19. In The Heart of the Matter, Scobie’s moral conflict arises mainly from:

1. Greed and ambition

2. Love, guilt, and faith

3. Political betrayal

4. Nationalist loyalty

Answer: 2

Explanation: Scobie’s tragedy reflects his divided loyalties between duty, love, and religion—central to Greene’s exploration of human frailty. Throughout the novel, Scobie struggles with feelings of guilt and despair, partly due to his wife Louise’s unhappiness and his own sense of isolation. As the war intensifies, Scobie becomes involved in various moral dilemmas.





Q.20. The term “Newspeak” in 1984 refers to:

1. A fictional language of Oceania

2. Secret military communication

3. Satirical newspaper writing

4. The language of rebellion

Answer: 1

Explanation: “Newspeak” is a fiction language, designed to limit thought by reducing vocabulary—making dissent literally unthinkable. Newspeak is a controlled, simplified version of English.





Q.21. George Orwell’s real name was:

1. Eric Arthur Blair

2. George Henry Wells

3. John Eric Blair

4. Arthur George Orwell

Answer: 1

Explanation: Orwell was born Eric Arthur Blair (1903–1950); he adopted “George Orwell” as a pen name reflecting English identity.



Q.22. Orwell’s Animal Farm is an allegory of:

1. The French Revolution

2. The rise and corruption of Soviet Communism

3. British colonialism in India

4. American capitalism

Answer: 2

Explanation: Animal Farm (1945) satirizes the Russian Revolution and Stalinist dictatorship through the allegory of farm animals’ rebellion.



Q.23. The character “Big Brother” appears in which of Orwell’s novels?

1. Homage to Catalonia

2. Coming Up for Air

3. 1984

4. Down and Out in Paris and London

Answer: 3

Explanation: In 1984 (1949), Big Brother symbolizes the omnipresent surveillance and totalitarian control of the Party.



Q.24. The slogan “War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength” reflects which concept from 1984?

1. Doublethink

2. Newspeak

3. Thoughtcrime

4. Orthodoxy

Answer: 1

Explanation: Doublethink is the acceptance of contradictory beliefs—central to Orwell’s portrayal of political manipulation.



Q.25. Which Orwell essay discusses the relationship between political language and deceit?

1. “Politics and the English Language”

2. “The Lion and the Unicorn”

3. “Shooting an Elephant”

4. “Why I Write”

Answer: 1

Explanation: Orwell’s 1946 essay critiques the decay of language under political propaganda and advocates for clarity and honesty in prose.

SET-II

Q.1. Who among the following playwrights is known for contributing to the poetic revival in drama along with T. S. Eliot?

1. Christopher Fry

2. John Arden

3. Tom Stoppard

4. C. P. Snow

Answer: 1

Explanation: Christopher Fry (1907–2005) was a British poet and playwright who contributed to the revival of verse drama, like T. S. Eliot. His best-known play is The Lady’s Not for Burning (1948).



Q.2. The play The Lady’s Not for Burning (1948) by Christopher Fry is set in:

1. Modern London

2. The Middle Ages

3. Post-war England

4. Victorian England

Answer: 2

Explanation: Fry’s play The Lady’s Not for Burning is a verse drama set in the Middle Ages, centering on a soldier who wishes to die and a woman accused of witchcraft who wishes to live.



Q.3. Which of the following plays by John Arden deals with the resettlement of gypsies and explores antisocial behavior?

1. Sergeant Musgrave’s Dance

2. Live Like Pigs

3. The Workhouse Donkey

4. The Happy Haven

Answer: 2

Explanation: Live Like Pigs (1958) by John Arden portrays the resettlement of a Romani (gypsy) family and explores themes of antisocial behavior and social prejudice.



Q.4. John Arden described his play Sergeant Musgrave’s Dance as:

1. A historical tragedy

2. A realistic, but not naturalistic play

3. A comic parable

4. A poetic melodrama

Answer: 2

Explanation: Arden called Sergeant Musgrave’s Dance (1959) “a realistic, but not a naturalistic play.” It’s an unhistorical parable combining music, symbolism, and anti-materialist themes.



Q.5. Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (1966) is inspired by which of Shakespeare’s plays?

1. Hamlet

2. Macbeth

3. King Lear

4. Twelfth Night

Answer: 1

Explanation: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead reimagines Hamlet from the viewpoint of two minor characters, turning the tragedy into an absurdist tragicomedy — a classic example of intertextuality.



Q.6. Which of the following plays by Tom Stoppard is a reworking of E. M. Forster’s A Passage to India?

1. Arcadia

2. Indian Ink

3. The Coast of Utopia

4. Travesties

Answer: 2

Explanation: Indian Ink (1995) by Tom Stoppard reinterprets A Passage to India and examines cultural and colonial relationships between Britain and India through the eyes of an English poet.



Q.7. The trilogy Voyage, Shipwreck, and Salvage together form:

1. The Coast of Utopia

2. The Lady’s Not for Burning

3. A Dance to the Music of Time

4. The Empire Trilogy

Answer: 1

Explanation: Tom Stoppard’s The Coast of Utopia (2002) is a trilogy comprising Voyage, Shipwreck, and Salvage, exploring philosophical and revolutionary debates in 19th-century Russia.



Q.8. The character Horace Rumpole, a barrister who defends criminals in the Old Bailey, was created by:

1. John Mortimer

2. John Fowles

3. Graham Greene

4. Anthony Powell

Answer: 1

Explanation: Sir John Mortimer created the character Rumpole of the Bailey, inspired by his father. The “Old Bailey” refers to the Central Criminal Court of London.



Q.9. In C. P. Snow’s The Masters (1951), the story revolves around:

1. An Oxford student’s moral crisis

2. The internal politics of a Cambridge college

3. A legal case in the Old Bailey

4. A British intelligence officer’s betrayal

Answer: 2

Explanation: The Masters is one of the novels in C. P. Snow’s Strangers and Brothers series. It focuses on power struggles and academic politics in a Cambridge college.



Q.10. The title of Evelyn Waugh’s A Handful of Dust is taken from a line in which poem?

1. The Waste Land by T. S. Eliot

2. The Hollow Men by T. S. Eliot

3. Dover Beach by Matthew Arnold

4. Kubla Khan by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Answer: 1

Explanation: The title A Handful of Dust is derived from T. S. Eliot’s The Waste Land: “I will show you fear in a handful of dust.” The novel critiques upper-class moral decay.



Q.11. In Evelyn Waugh’s A Handful of Dust, what is the name of the mule that drank rum and died, as mentioned by John Andrew?

1. Peppermint

2. Dynamo

3. Dopey

4. Pookey

Answer: 1

Explanation: The mule’s name is Peppermint. The anecdote foreshadows the comic-tragic tone and symbolic absurdity characteristic of Waugh’s satirical style.



Q.12. Which of the following is not part of Evelyn Waugh’s Sword of Honour trilogy?

1. Men at Arms

2. Officers and Gentlemen

3. Unconditional Surrender

4. A Handful of Dust

Answer: 4

Explanation: Sword of Honour trilogy includes Men at Arms (1952), Officers and Gentlemen (1955), and Unconditional Surrender (1961). A Handful of Dust is a separate earlier novel (1934).



Q.13. Which of the following novels by Kingsley Amis won the Somerset Maugham Award in 1955?

1. Lucky Jim

2. That Uncertain Feeling

3. I Like It Here

4. Take a Girl Like You

Answer: 1

Explanation: Lucky Jim (1954) won the Somerset Maugham Award in 1955. It is one of the earliest and best-known examples of the “Angry Young Man” novels.



Q.14. Jim Dixon, the protagonist of Lucky Jim, works as a:

1. Journalist

2. University lecturer in medieval history

3. Lawyer

4. Civil servant

Answer: 2

Explanation: Jim Dixon is a history lecturer struggling with the pretensions of academia. His frustration and irreverent humor typify postwar British satire.



Q.15. Which of the following is not a novel by Kingsley Amis?

1. That Uncertain Feeling

2. I Like It Here

3. The Old Devils

4. The Sea, The Sea

Answer: 4

Explanation: The Sea, The Sea is by Iris Murdoch. Amis wrote That Uncertain Feeling, I Like It Here, and The Old Devils (which won the Booker Prize in 1986).



Q.16. Anthony Powell’s A Dance to the Music of Time is:

1. A single novel

2. A trilogy

3. A 12-volume series of novels

4. A two-volume memoir

Answer: 3

Explanation: A Dance to the Music of Time is a 12-volume sequence of novels published between 1951 and 1975, chronicling English social life across generations.



Q.17. The title A Dance to the Music of Time is inspired by:

1. A poem by T. S. Eliot

2. A painting by Nicolas Poussin

3. A Shakespearean sonnet

4. A line from Milton’s Paradise Lost

Answer: 2

Explanation: The title comes from a painting by French artist Nicolas Poussin, symbolizing the cyclical nature of life, society, and relationships.



Q.18. Which of the following is the first novel in Anthony Powell’s A Dance to the Music of Time series?

1. A Buyer’s Market

2. A Question of Upbringing

3. Casanova’s Chinese Restaurant

4. The Valley of Bones

Answer: 2

Explanation: A Question of Upbringing (1951) opens the sequence and introduces narrator Nicholas Jenkins and his circle, setting the tone for the social chronicle.



Q.19 Jean Baudrillard’s concept of “hyperreality” refers to:

1. A heightened form of realism in literature

2. The collapse of the distinction between reality and simulation

3. An artistic exaggeration of emotion

4. A new psychological realism

Answer: 2

Explanation: Baudrillard’s “hyperreality” describes a state where simulations and media images replace and become more real than reality itself.



Q.20. Which Iris Murdoch novel won the Booker Prize in 1978?

1. The Black Prince

2. A Severed Head

3. The Sea, The Sea

4. Under the Net

Answer: 3

Explanation: The Sea, The Sea (1978) won the Booker Prize. It follows Charles Arrowby, a retired theatre director, who retreats to the seaside to write his memoirs.



Q.21. Under the Net, the debut novel of Iris Murdoch, was published in:

1. 1949

2. 1954

3. 1959

4. 1965

Answer: 2

Explanation: Under the Net (1954) is Murdoch’s first novel, combining philosophy and farce. It introduces themes of illusion, love, and the search for authenticity.



Q.22. William Golding’s Lord of the Flies allegorically represents:

1. The conflict between civilization and savagery

2. The journey from childhood to adulthood

3. The moral hypocrisy of Victorian society

4. The triumph of reason over instinct

Answer: 1

Explanation: Lord of the Flies (1954) depicts boys stranded on an island descending into barbarism, symbolizing humanity’s inherent capacity for evil.



Q.23. In Lord of the Flies, the conch shell symbolizes:

1. Authority and democratic order

2. Violence and chaos

3. Childhood innocence

4. Fear and superstition

Answer: 1

Explanation: The conch represents civilization, order, and structured governance. Its destruction signifies the collapse of social norms.



Q.24 The phrase “The Medium is the Message” was popularized by:

1. Marshall McLuhan

2. Roland Barthes

3. Jean Baudrillard

4. Fredric Jameson

Answer: 1

Explanation: McLuhan’s idea that the form of media, not its content, shapes society and consciousness profoundly influenced postmodern cultural theory.





Q.25. Which of the following themes best describes William Golding’s fiction?

1. Rational humanism and optimism

2. The darkness within human nature

3. Social mobility and class humor

4. Political realism

Answer: 2

Explanation: Golding’s novels consistently explore the innate evil and moral fragility of humans when stripped of civilization’s veneer.



Q.26. John Fowles’ The French Lieutenant’s Woman is notable for:

1. Its strict realism

2. Its metafictional and postmodern narrative

3. Its historical documentary style

4. Its mythic and symbolic unity

Answer: 2

Explanation: Fowles’ The French Lieutenant’s Woman (1969) employs metafiction, alternative endings, and authorial intrusion—hallmarks of postmodern fiction.



Q.27. The main female character in The French Lieutenant’s Woman is:

1. Sarah Woodruff

2. Molly Bloom

3. Helen Graham

4. Anna Wulf

Answer: 1

Explanation: Sarah Woodruff, the “fallen woman” of Lyme Regis, is a complex figure embodying both Victorian repression and modern self-awareness.



Q.28. John Fowles’ The Collector (1963) revolves around:

1. A bank robbery

2. A kidnapping of a young art student

3. A political conspiracy

4. A ghostly haunting

Answer: 2

Explanation: The Collector tells the story of a lonely butterfly collector who kidnaps a woman he admires, blending psychological realism with moral allegory.



Q.29. Muriel Spark’s The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie is set in:

1. London

2. Edinburgh

3. Dublin

4. Oxford

Answer: 2

Explanation: The novel is set in Edinburgh and follows Miss Jean Brodie, an unorthodox teacher whose influence over her students leads to tragic consequences.



Q.30. What is the name of the invented slang language used in A Clockwork Orange?

1. Pidgin

2. Nadsat

3. Newspeak

4. Creole

Answer: 2

Explanation: Nadsat, a hybrid of Russian and English slang, is used by the narrator Alex—symbolizing youth subculture and linguistic manipulation.