English Language

Literary Analysis

4,495 Questions

Analyze classic and modernist novels, autobiographies, plays, and graphic novels across various genres. This topic tests your familiarity with prominent authors, literary movements, and thematic elements. Questions appear regularly in the English language sections of SSC, banking, and teaching competency exams.

Classic and modernist novelsAutobiographies and biographiesPoetic language and farcesThematic literary elements

Literary Analysis Questions

Multiple choice

Which of the following is an example of a Neoclassical literary work?

  1. The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer

  2. Hamlet by William Shakespeare

  3. The Rape of the Lock by Alexander Pope

  4. Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
C Correct answer
Explanation

The Rape of the Lock is a mock-epic poem by Alexander Pope that satirizes the social conventions and manners of the upper classes in 18th-century England.

Multiple choice

Who is the author of the novel (\The Handmaid's Tale), a dystopian tale that explores the oppression of women in a totalitarian society?

  1. Margaret Atwood

  2. Ursula K. Le Guin

  3. Octavia E. Butler

  4. Doris Lessing
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

Margaret Atwood is the author of (\The Handmaid's Tale), a thought-provoking and chilling novel that depicts a dystopian society where women are stripped of their rights and forced into servitude.

Multiple choice

Which of the following is an example of a well-known memoir?

  1. The Diary of Anne Frank

  2. A Moveable Feast

  3. The Glass Castle

  4. All of the above
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

The Diary of Anne Frank, A Moveable Feast, and The Glass Castle are all examples of well-known memoirs that have gained critical acclaim and popularity among readers.

Multiple choice

Which autobiography begins with the line, 'I was born in a small town in Mississippi, in the year 1925'?

  1. The Autobiography of Malcolm X

  2. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass

  3. Up from Slavery

  4. Just Mercy
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

The opening line of Malcolm X's autobiography is 'I was born in a small town in Mississippi, in the year 1925'.

Multiple choice

Which autobiography begins with the line, 'I was born in a small town in Ohio, in the year 1965'?

  1. Hillbilly Elegy

  2. The Education of a WASP

  3. Glass Castle

  4. Educated
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

The opening line of J.D. Vance's autobiography 'Hillbilly Elegy' is 'I was born in a small town in Ohio, in the year 1965'.

Multiple choice

Which autobiography begins with the line, 'I was born in a small town in Idaho, in the year 1986'?

  1. Educated

  2. The Glass Castle

  3. Hillbilly Elegy

  4. The Education of a WASP
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

The opening line of Tara Westover's autobiography 'Educated' is 'I was born in a small town in Idaho, in the year 1986'.

Multiple choice

Which autobiography begins with the line, 'I was born in a small town in West Virginia, in the year 1939'?

  1. The Glass Castle

  2. Educated

  3. Hillbilly Elegy

  4. The Education of a WASP
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

The opening line of Jeannette Walls' autobiography 'The Glass Castle' is 'I was born in a small town in West Virginia, in the year 1939'.

Multiple choice

Which autobiography begins with the line, 'I was born in a small town in Virginia, in the year 1951'?

  1. The New Jim Crow

  2. Between the World and Me

  3. Stamped from the Beginning

  4. Just Mercy
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

The opening line of Michelle Alexander's autobiography 'The New Jim Crow' is 'I was born in a small town in Virginia, in the year 1951'.

Multiple choice

In her autobiography, 'The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family', Annette Gordon-Reed explores the lives of the Hemings family, enslaved people at Thomas Jefferson's Monticello estate. What was the name of the law school where Gordon-Reed teaches?

  1. Harvard Law School

  2. Yale Law School

  3. Columbia Law School

  4. Stanford Law School
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

Annette Gordon-Reed teaches at Harvard Law School.

Multiple choice

Which famous novel by Mark Twain satirizes the American society and its obsession with wealth and status?

  1. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

  2. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

  3. A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

  4. The Gilded Age
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

The Gilded Age is a satirical novel by Mark Twain that criticizes the American society of the Gilded Age, a period of rapid economic growth and industrialization.

Multiple choice

Which satirical novel by George Orwell depicts a dystopian society where the government controls every aspect of people's lives?

  1. Animal Farm

  2. 1984

  3. Brave New World

  4. Fahrenheit 451
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

1984 is a dystopian novel by George Orwell that satirizes totalitarianism and the dangers of government surveillance and control.

Multiple choice

Which satirical play by Aristophanes criticizes the Peloponnesian War and the Athenian democracy?

  1. Lysistrata

  2. The Clouds

  3. The Frogs

  4. The Birds
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

Lysistrata is a satirical play by Aristophanes that criticizes the Peloponnesian War and the Athenian democracy by depicting a group of women who withhold sex from their husbands until they agree to make peace.

Multiple choice

Which satirical novel by Joseph Heller criticizes the absurdity and futility of war?

  1. Catch-22

  2. Slaughterhouse-Five

  3. The Naked and the Dead

  4. From Here to Eternity
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

Catch-22 is a satirical novel by Joseph Heller that criticizes the absurdity and futility of war.

Multiple choice

Which satirical novel by Kurt Vonnegut criticizes the arms race and the Cold War?

  1. Cat's Cradle

  2. Slaughterhouse-Five

  3. The Sirens of Titan

  4. Player Piano
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

Cat's Cradle is a satirical novel by Kurt Vonnegut that criticizes the arms race and the Cold War.

Multiple choice

Which satirical novel by Evelyn Waugh criticizes the British upper class and their obsession with social status?

  1. Decline and Fall

  2. Brideshead Revisited

  3. Scoop

  4. A Handful of Dust
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

Decline and Fall is a satirical novel by Evelyn Waugh that criticizes the British upper class and their obsession with social status.