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UNIT 3 — FICTION / SHORT STORY
1. In Frances Burney’s Evelina, the heroine comes out in society in two locations. Which are they?
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(a) Bath
(b) Bristol
(c) Leeds
(d) London
Options:
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(a) & (b)
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(b) & (c)
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(a) & (d)
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(b) & (d)
✔ Answer: (3) Bath and London
✔ Explanation:
Evelina depicts the heroine’s entry into polite society first at Bath, then later in London, where she experiences social complexities and courtship politics.
2. Which of the following recent novels is a retelling of Sophocles’ Antigone?
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(1) Home Fire – Kamila Shamsie
(2) Elmet – Fiona Mozley
(3) Swing Time – Zadie Smith
(4) Exit West – Mohsin Hamid
✔ Answer: (1) Home Fire
✔ Explanation:
Shamsie’s Home Fire reimagines Antigone in a contemporary political context involving immigration, terrorism charges, and family loyalty.
3. Joothan by Om Prakash Valmiki is—
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(A) A collection of poems
(B) A play
(C) An autobiography
(D) A novel
✔ Answer: (C) An autobiography
✔ Explanation:
Joothan is a landmark Dalit autobiography documenting Valmiki’s struggle against caste oppression.
4. Which of the following novels by H. G. Wells deals with the “condition of England as Empire”?
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(A) The Island of Dr. Moreau
(B) The War of the Worlds
(C) Tono-Bungay
(D) The Invisible Man
✔ Answer: (C) Tono-Bungay
✔ Explanation:
Tono-Bungay critiques imperial capitalism, fraud, and the modern consumerist economy.
5. Which among the following texts is the autobiography of a mad German philosopher edited by a fictitious editor?
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(1) Sartor Resartus
(2) The Dream of Gerontius
(3) The Professor
(4) Felix Holt
✔ Answer: (1) Sartor Resartus
✔ Explanation:
Thomas Carlyle’s Sartor Resartus is a metafictional work presenting the life of fictional philosopher Diogenes Teufelsdröckh, written by an anonymous narrator.
6. In Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, which statement is NOT true about Christian & Faithful at Vanity Fair?
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(1) They dress differently
(2) They speak the language of the Bible
(3) They sample every entertainment
(4) They refuse to look at merchandise
✔ Answer: (3) They do not sample every entertainment.
✔ Explanation:
Christian and Faithful refuse worldly temptations, which leads to their persecution.
7. What does the title Morte d’Arthur mean?
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(1) Arthur mortified
(2) Death of Arthur
(3) Castle of Arthur
(4) Burial of Arthur
✔ Answer: (2) Death of Arthur
✔ Explanation:
The title of Malory’s legendary prose romance literally means “The Death of Arthur.”
8. Which writer said: “All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn”?
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(1) Henry James
(2) William Faulkner
(3) Jack London
(4) Ernest Hemingway
✔ Answer: (4) Ernest Hemingway
✔ Explanation:
Hemingway famously claimed that all American narratives stem from Twain’s revolutionary realism.
9. Which of the following novelists writes from Canada?
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(A) V. S. Naipaul
(B) Margaret Atwood
(C) Derek Walcott
(D) James Joyce
✔ Answer: (B) Margaret Atwood
✔ Explanation:
Atwood is one of Canada’s foremost fiction writers (The Handmaid’s Tale, Alias Grace).
10. Which of the following cannot be classified as fantasy fiction?
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(A) The Inheritors – William Golding
(B) The Magus – John Fowles
(C) The Lord of the Rings – J. R. R. Tolkien
(D) The History Man – Malcolm Bradbury
✔ Answer: (D) The History Man
✔ Explanation:
Bradbury’s novel is realist social satire, unlike the others which involve supernatural or fantastical elements.
11. Which Byron work begins “I want a hero …”?
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✔ Already covered above under Unit 2, but it is a fictional narrative poem, so included.
✔ Answer: Don Juan
12. Identify two important works of Paul de Man from the following list:
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(a) Blindness and Insight
(b) Allegories of Reading
(c) Theoretical Essays
(d) Criticism and Ideology
✔ Correct Answer: (1) (a) & (b)
✔ Explanation:
De Man’s contributions are central to deconstruction and narrative theory.
13. Which fictional characters maintain “Life is scientific”?
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(A) Simon
(B) Piggy
(C) Ralph
(D) Jack
✔ Answer: (B) Piggy
✔ Explanation:
In Lord of the Flies, Piggy’s rational worldview contrasts with the boys’ descent into savagery.
14. Assertion–Reason: “Characters in novels are people whose secret lives are visible…”
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✔ Correct Answer: (2)
Both A and R are correct, but R is not the correct explanation.
✔ Explanation:
The assertion describes how fiction provides interiority; the reason describes why novels comfort readers.