🌟 BASIC INFORMATION 🌟
🔹 Author: H.E. Bates (Herbert Ernest Bates)
• 🖋️ English novelist and short story writer
• 🌍 Known for depicting rural English life with realism and sensitivity
• 📚 Famous works: Love for Lydia, The Darling Buds of May, Seven by Five (short stories)
📅 Birth: May 16, 1905, Rushden, Northamptonshire, England
⚰️ Death: January 29, 1974, Canterbury, England
🔹 Title: The Ox
📚 Source / Background:
• 📝 Written from Bates’ observations of rural life in England
• 🎭 Reflects the quiet struggles and hardships of working-class families
• 🌀 Captures the drudgery, monotony, and existential struggle of everyday existence
📖 Published in Collection: Seven by Five (1963)
📘 Related Works: The Little Farm, The Black Boxer, The Mill (stories focusing on rural life and hardship)
🔹 Type:
• 📘 Realistic fiction short story
• 🎭 Psychological & social realism
• 🌀 Mid-20th century rural narrative
🏙️ Setting (Contextual):
• 🏡 Rural England, likely a small countryside village
• 🌫️ Post-war working-class environment
• ⚒️ Reflects poverty, labor, and endurance of the Thurlow family
🎭 Themes:
🌹 Struggle, endurance, futility
• 🐂 Absurdity of Human Life – existential pessimism
• 💔 Exploitation of Women’s Labor
• 🏚️ Poverty and Working-Class Hardship
• 💭 Isolation, Silence, and Emotional Repression
• 🌱 Hope invested in children despite futility
👥 Character List:
• 👩 Mrs. Thurlow (Lily) – Protagonist, hardworking, stoic woman carrying her family’s burden (the “ox”)
• 👨 Mr. Thurlow (Bill) – Apathetic, indifferent husband
• 👤 Will – Mrs. Thurlow’s brother, symbol of missed opportunities and neglect
• 👦👦 Two Sons (9 & 13) – Her hope for the future, though emotionally distant
• 👩 Miss Hanley & Mrs. Acott – Retired sisters, part of the village background
• 📷 Retired Photographer, Mr. George – Community figures reflecting social surroundings
• 👩 Mrs. Thurlow’s Mother & Sister-in-law – Family ties reinforcing her responsibilities
• 👮 Policemen and Inspector – Village authority figures
• ⚒️ Joe Woods – A blacksmith, another figure from her environment
🗣️ Narrative Voice:
• 👁️🗨️ Third-Person Limited Omniscient
• 🖋️ Focuses mainly on Mrs. Thurlow’s inner life and perspective
• 🎭 Creates empathy for her struggles while maintaining an objective distance
🎨 Techniques / Symbols:
• 🔄 The Ox – Symbol of Mrs. Thurlow’s endless labor and resilience
• 🚲 The Bicycle – Her monotonous daily routine, symbol of repetitive endurance
• 🌫️ Weather & Landscape – Grayness and barrenness mirroring her emotional state
• 🤐 Silence – Emotional repression and lack of communication
• 💰 Money – Represents her sons’ future prosperity (her only hope)
• 🏚️ The House – Symbol of her lonely, burdened life
📌 Important Facts:
• 📘 The Ox presents Mrs. Thurlow as a symbol of silent suffering and endurance
• 🐂 The title metaphor reflects how women in rural, working-class families were treated as beasts of burden
• 💔 Highlights the gendered exploitation of women within family and society
• 🌀 The story’s existential pessimism reflects post-war uncertainty and futility
• 🎭 Considered one of Bates’ most powerful depictions of working-class stoicism
📚MCQ QUESTIONS WITH ANSWERS📚
◼️ 1. Who is the author of the short story The Ox?
(a) Katherine Mansfield (b) H.E. Bates (c) Thomas Hardy (d) James Joyce.
✅ Answer: (b) H.E. Bates.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: The Ox is written by H.E. Bates, an English novelist and short story writer.
◼️ 2. What does H.E. Bates primarily depict in his writings?
(a) Urban life (b) Rural English life (c) War stories (d) Historical romances.
✅ Answer: (b) Rural English life.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: Bates is known for depicting rural English life with realism and sensitivity.
◼️ 3. When was H.E. Bates born?
(a) 1903 (b) 1905 (c) 1908 (d) 1910.
✅ Answer: (b) 1905.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: He was born on May 16, 1905, in Rushden, Northamptonshire, England.
◼️ 4. In which year did H.E. Bates die?
(a) 1965 (b) 1968 (c) 1970 (d) 1974.
✅ Answer: (d) 1974.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: Bates died on January 29, 1974, in Canterbury, England.
◼️ 5. Which of the following is NOT a famous work of H.E. Bates?
(a) The Darling Buds of May (b) Love for Lydia (c) The Fly (d) Seven by Five.
✅ Answer: (c) The Fly.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: The Fly is by Katherine Mansfield, while the others are by H.E. Bates.
◼️ 6. In which collection was The Ox published?
(a) The Garden Party (b) Seven by Five (c) Bliss (d) Prelude.
✅ Answer: (b) Seven by Five.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: The story was published in the 1963 collection Seven by Five.
◼️ 7. What is the genre of The Ox?
(a) Fantasy (b) Realistic fiction (c) Historical fiction (d) Science fiction.
✅ Answer: (b) Realistic fiction.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: The Ox is a realistic fiction short story reflecting working-class struggles.
◼️ 8. What type of realism is highlighted in The Ox?
(a) Magical realism (b) Psychological & social realism (c) Dramatic realism (d) Romantic realism.
✅ Answer: (b) Psychological & social realism.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: The story reflects psychological and social realism of mid-20th century rural life.
◼️ 9. In which year was The Ox first published?
(a) 1923 (b) 1945 (c) 1963 (d) 1974.
✅ Answer: (c) 1963.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: The story was published in the collection Seven by Five in 1963.
◼️ 10. Where is the story The Ox set?
(a) A large city (b) A rural English village (c) A seaside town (d) An industrial factory.
✅ Answer: (b) A rural English village.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: The story is set in rural England, focusing on the Thurlow family.
◼️ 11. What post-war condition does the setting reflect?
(a) Luxury (b) Prosperity (c) Working-class hardship (d) Aristocratic lifestyle.
✅ Answer: (c) Working-class hardship.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: The setting mirrors post-war poverty, labor, and endurance of the Thurlows.
◼️ 12. Which theme dominates the story The Ox?
(a) Romantic love (b) Heroism in war (c) Struggle and endurance (d) Adventure.
✅ Answer: (c) Struggle and endurance.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: The themes include struggle, endurance, futility, and existential pessimism.
◼️ 13. What does the ox symbolize in the story?
(a) Wealth (b) Endless labor and resilience (c) Freedom (d) Youth.
✅ Answer: (b) Endless labor and resilience.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: The ox is a metaphor for Mrs. Thurlow’s unyielding labor and burden.
◼️ 14. Who is the protagonist of The Ox?
(a) Mr. Thurlow (b) Mrs. Thurlow (c) Will (d) Joe Woods.
✅ Answer: (b) Mrs. Thurlow.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: Mrs. Thurlow, a hardworking and stoic woman, is the protagonist.
◼️ 15. What is Mrs. Thurlow’s nickname metaphorically in the story?
(a) Horse (b) Ox (c) Sparrow (d) Ant.
✅ Answer: (b) Ox.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: She is metaphorically compared to an ox for carrying her family’s burdens.
◼️ 16. What is the name of Mrs. Thurlow’s husband?
(a) Will (b) Bill (c) George (d) Joe.
✅ Answer: (b) Bill.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: Mr. Thurlow, named Bill, is portrayed as apathetic and indifferent.
◼️ 17. Who represents missed opportunities in Mrs. Thurlow’s life?
(a) Bill (b) George (c) Will (d) Joe Woods.
✅ Answer: (c) Will.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: Her brother Will symbolizes missed opportunities and neglect.
◼️ 18. How many sons does Mrs. Thurlow have?
(a) One (b) Two (c) Three (d) Four.
✅ Answer: (b) Two.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: She has two sons, aged 9 and 13, who represent her hope and purpose.
◼️ 19. What does the bicycle symbolize?
(a) Luxury (b) Monotonous daily routine (c) Freedom (d) Adventure.
✅ Answer: (b) Monotonous daily routine.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: The bicycle represents Mrs. Thurlow’s endless repetitive work.
◼️ 20. What do weather and landscape symbolize in the story?
(a) Growth (b) Joy (c) Emotional state (d) Prosperity.
✅ Answer: (c) Emotional state.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: The grayness and barrenness mirror Mrs. Thurlow’s inner life.
◼️ 21. What does silence symbolize?
(a) Peace (b) Happiness (c) Emotional repression (d) Prosperity.
✅ Answer: (c) Emotional repression.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: Silence in the story represents lack of communication and repression.
◼️ 22. What does money symbolize in The Ox?
(a) Greed (b) Wealth (c) Children’s future (d) Happiness.
✅ Answer: (c) Children’s future.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: Money symbolizes Mrs. Thurlow’s hope for her sons’ prosperity.
◼️ 23. What does Mrs. Thurlow’s house symbolize?
(a) Her comfort (b) Her hard and lonely life (c) Her freedom (d) Her wealth.
✅ Answer: (b) Her hard and lonely life.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: The house is a symbol of Mrs. Thurlow’s isolation and burden.
◼️ 24. What kind of narrative technique is used in The Ox?
(a) First-person (b) Second-person (c) Third-person limited omniscient (d) Stream of consciousness.
✅ Answer: (c) Third-person limited omniscient.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: The story is narrated from a third-person perspective, focusing on Mrs. Thurlow.
◼️ 25. What is the tone of the narrative?
(a) Comic (b) Detached yet empathetic (c) Sarcastic (d) Optimistic.
✅ Answer: (b) Detached yet empathetic.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: The narrator maintains objectivity but evokes empathy for Mrs. Thurlow.
◼️ 26. Who is Joe Woods in the story?
(a) Policeman (b) Inspector (c) Blacksmith (d) Photographer.
✅ Answer: (c) Blacksmith.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: Joe Woods is a blacksmith in the village environment.
◼️ 27. Which community figures appear in the story?
(a) Retired photographer, Mr. George (b) Miss Hanley & Mrs. Acott (c) Policemen and inspector (d) All of these.
✅ Answer: (d) All of these.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: The story includes several village figures reflecting social surroundings.
◼️ 28. Which major theme does the story highlight about women?
(a) Freedom (b) Exploitation of labor (c) Political rights (d) Happiness in marriage.
✅ Answer: (b) Exploitation of labor.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: The story critiques how women like Mrs. Thurlow were exploited as burden-bearers.
◼️ 29. Which philosophical outlook does the story emphasize?
(a) Optimism (b) Existential pessimism (c) Romantic idealism (d) Humanism.
✅ Answer: (b) Existential pessimism.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: The Ox reflects the absurdity of human life and existential pessimism.
◼️ 30. What does The Ox ultimately portray Mrs. Thurlow as?
(a) A symbol of joy (b) A symbol of silent suffering (c) A symbol of rebellion (d) A symbol of wealth.
✅ Answer: (b) A symbol of silent suffering.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: Mrs. Thurlow embodies the burden, endurance, and suffering of working-class women.
31. Where did the Thurlows live?
(a) In a valley (b) On a plain (c) On a small hill (d) Near a river.
✅ Answer: (c) On a small hill.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: "The Thurlows lived on a small hill."
32. How was the Thurlows’ house positioned?
(a) On stone pillars (b) On invisible stilts (c) On wooden wheels (d) On flat ground.
✅ Answer: (b) On invisible stilts.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: "The house was raised up, as on invisible stilts."
33. Which natural force is highlighted as striking the house?
(a) Rain (b) Storm (c) Wind (d) Snow.
✅ Answer: (c) Wind.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: "Exposed and isolated, the wind striking at it from all quarters."
34. How did the house appear in relation to the landscape?
(a) United with it (b) Detached from it (c) Higher than trees (d) Surrounded by gardens.
✅ Answer: (b) Detached from it.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: "It seemed to have no part with the surrounding landscape."
35. What stretched away on all sides in wintertime?
(a) Meadows (b) Empty ploughed lands (c) Forests (d) Villages.
✅ Answer: (b) Empty ploughed lands.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: "Empty ploughed lands, in wintertime, stretched away on all sides."
36. At what time did Mrs. Thurlow leave home in the morning?
(a) Seven (b) Six (c) Half-past seven (d) Eight.
✅ Answer: (c) Half-past seven.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: "At half-past seven every morning Mrs. Thurlow pushed her great rusty bicycle down the hill."
37. What time did she usually return home in the evening?
(a) Six (b) Five (c) Seven (d) Half-past six.
✅ Answer: (a) Six.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: "At six every evening she pushed it back."
38. How is the bicycle described?
(a) Bright and new (b) Rusty and great (c) Small and broken (d) Painted and clean.
✅ Answer: (b) Rusty and great.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: "Mrs. Thurlow pushed her great rusty bicycle."
39. Why could the bicycle never be ridden?
(a) It was broken (b) It had no tires (c) It was always overloaded (d) She did not like riding.
✅ Answer: (c) It was always overloaded.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: "Loaded, always, ... the bicycle could never be ridden."
40. Which metaphor is used to describe her relation with the bicycle?
(a) Rider to horse (b) Beast to cart (c) Sailor to ship (d) Farmer to plough.
✅ Answer: (b) Beast to cart.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: "Her relationship to it was that of a beast to a cart."
41. Which objects are NOT mentioned as bicycle loads?
(a) Cabbages (b) Oilcans (c) Blankets (d) Chicken food.
✅ Answer: (c) Blankets.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: The list includes "washing, oilcans, sacks, cabbages, ... chicken food," but not blankets.
42. How is Mrs. Thurlow’s walking style described?
(a) Elegant and smooth (b) Slopping and heavy (c) Quick and graceful (d) Light and airy.
✅ Answer: (b) Slopping and heavy.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: "Slopping along beside it, flat heavy feet pounding painfully."
43. What imagery is used to describe Mrs. Thurlow physically?
(a) Beautifully curved (b) Ugly with lumpy angles (c) Graceful and tall (d) Thin and fragile.
✅ Answer: (b) Ugly with lumpy angles.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: "Her face and body ugly with lumpy angles of bone."
44. To what is Mrs. Thurlow compared?
(a) A bird (b) A beast of burden (c) A machine (d) A prisoner.
✅ Answer: (b) A beast of burden.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: "She was like a beast of burden."
45. What is meant by “country of wide horizons”?
(a) Scenic landscape (b) Expansive countryside (c) Sea coast (d) Forest.
✅ Answer: (b) Expansive countryside.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: "She stepped into a country of wide horizons."
46. What did the “wide horizons” mean to Mrs. Thurlow?
(a) A chance of freedom (b) Nothing (c) Great opportunities (d) A source of joy.
✅ Answer: (b) Nothing.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: "This fact meant nothing to her."
47. How many lines defined her working life?
(a) Four (b) Two (c) Three (d) Five.
✅ Answer: (a) Four.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: "She did not think of going beyond the four lines which made up the square of her life."
48. What work did she do between six and nine?
(a) For a blacksmith (b) For retired sisters (c) For her family (d) For the photographer.
✅ Answer: (b) For retired sisters.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: "From six to nine she cleaned for the two retired sisters."
49. Who employed her between nine and twelve?
(a) Mr. George (b) Photographer (c) Poultry farmer (d) Inspector.
✅ Answer: (b) Photographer.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: "Nine to twelve for the retired photographer."
50. What time was spent at the poultry farm?
(a) Twelve to three (b) Twelve-thirty to three (c) Ten to two (d) Three to six.
✅ Answer: (b) Twelve-thirty to three.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: "Twelve-thirty to three for the poultry farm."
51. Who employed her from four to six?
(a) Middle-aged bachelor (b) Blacksmith (c) Policeman (d) Brother.
✅ Answer: (a) Middle-aged bachelor.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: "Four to six for the middle-aged bachelor."
52. What habit had she developed?
(a) To save money (b) Not to think about herself (c) To travel often (d) To gossip.
✅ Answer: (b) Not to think about herself.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: "She had somehow got into the habit of not thinking about herself."
53. What was the age of Mrs. Thurlow’s sons?
(a) 10 & 12 (b) 8 & 11 (c) 9 & 13 (d) 7 & 14.
✅ Answer: (c) 9 & 13.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: "The boys were nine and thirteen."
54. What did Mrs. Thurlow envision for her sons?
(a) Soldiers (b) Assistants, clerks, butlers (c) Farmers (d) Painters.
✅ Answer: (b) Assistants, clerks, butlers.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: "She saw them ... as assistants in shops, as clerks in offices, even as butlers."
55. How are the sons physically described?
(a) Handsome (b) With angular boniness (c) Weak and thin (d) Strong and muscular.
✅ Answer: (b) With angular boniness.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: "Faces having her own angular boniness."
56. What did they usually do while moving?
(a) Kept eyes on ground (b) Watched people (c) Talked loudly (d) Ran quickly.
✅ Answer: (a) Kept eyes on ground.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: "They moved with eyes on the ground."
57. For how many years had Mrs. Thurlow saved money?
(a) Ten (b) Fifteen (c) Twenty (d) Twelve.
✅ Answer: (b) Fifteen.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: "For fifteen years she had hoarded."
58. Where did she hide her savings?
(a) In a trunk (b) In a bran bag under mattress (c) In a cupboard (d) In a box in kitchen.
✅ Answer: (b) In a bran bag under mattress.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: "Keeping it in a bran bag under a mattress."
59. Who knew about her savings?
(a) Her sons (b) Thurlow (c) No one (d) Her brother.
✅ Answer: (c) No one.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: "They did not know of it; she felt that no one, not even Thurlow, knew of it."
60. What is the deeper meaning of her secret savings?
(a) Greed (b) Hope for sons’ future (c) Escape plan (d) Investment in land.
✅ Answer: (b) Hope for sons’ future.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: The savings symbolize her unspoken hope for her sons’ prosperity despite her own suffering.
61. Thurlow believed his silver plate made him—
(a) weak (b) ordinary (c) special (d) inferior.
✅ Answer: (c) special.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: In his own eyes it set him apart from other men.
62. Thurlow was wounded in—
(a) Normandy (b) The Marne (c) Waterloo (d) Dunkirk.
✅ Answer: (b) The Marne.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: Wounded on the Marne, and now walking about with the silver plate in his head.
63. Thurlow used his injury as—
(a) A source of pride (b) A burden (c) An excuse for idleness (d) A shameful secret.
✅ Answer: (c) An excuse for idleness.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: He said, “I did n’t ought to stoop. I did n’t ought to do nothing.”
64. Thurlow’s profession was—
(a) Farmer (b) Hedge cutter (c) Carpenter (d) Blacksmith.
✅ Answer: (b) Hedge cutter.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: He was a hedge cutter.
65. How did Thurlow describe his plate?
(a) Steel plate (b) Bronze plate (c) Silver plate (d) Iron plate.
✅ Answer: (c) Silver plate.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: “I got a plate in me head. Solid silver.”
66. Thurlow sometimes acted wildly because—
(a) He wanted attention (b) The plate hurt him (c) He was lazy (d) He was drunk.
✅ Answer: (b) The plate hurt him.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: He clawed his scalp as though to wrench out the plate and the pain.
67. Thurlow’s bicycle-riding on weekends is described as—
(a) Graceful (b) Comic (c) Dangerous (d) Ordinary.
✅ Answer: (b) Comic.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: Riding his bicycle up the hill like some comic rider in a circus.
68. What was Thurlow’s only theme in pubs?
(a) Farming (b) His bicycle (c) His silver plate (d) His poverty.
✅ Answer: (c) His silver plate.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: “I got a plate in me head. Solid silver,” recited in pubs.
69. Mrs. Thurlow’s creed was—
(a) Hope (b) Religion (c) Saving money (d) Education.
✅ Answer: (c) Saving money.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: All the time Mrs. Thurlow saved money. It was her creed.
70. In absence of cleaning work, Mrs. Thurlow—
(a) Rested (b) Spent time with family (c) Did field work (d) Slept more.
✅ Answer: (c) Did field work.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: She made up the gap by picking potatoes, dibbing cabbages, pea picking etc.
71. In the fields, Mrs. Thurlow’s skirt made her look like—
(a) A bird (b) A horse (c) A bony ox (d) A tree.
✅ Answer: (c) A bony ox.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: Skirt stuck out like a tail, making her look like some bony ox.
72. Mrs. Thurlow worked from—
(a) 7 am to 7 pm (b) 5 am to 10 pm (c) 9 am to 5 pm (d) 6 am to 6 pm.
✅ Answer: (b) 5 am to 10 pm.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: She did washing from five to six, ironing from nine to ten, and more.
73. Her movements in work were—
(a) Mechanical (b) Slow (c) Lazy (d) Joyful.
✅ Answer: (a) Mechanical.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: Her movements were largely instinctive, as if she could work in darkness.
74. After work, Mrs. Thurlow often—
(a) Played with her sons (b) Folded clothes or cleaned boots (c) Went to pubs (d) Slept early.
✅ Answer: (b) Folded clothes or cleaned boots.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: At ten she sat folding the clothes or cleaning boots.
75. Mrs. Thurlow’s savings amounted to—
(a) 40 pounds (b) 54 pounds (c) 60 pounds (d) 100 pounds.
✅ Answer: (b) 54 pounds.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: She had saved fifty-four pounds.
76. Her ultimate goal was to save—
(a) 70 pounds (b) 80 pounds (c) 100 pounds (d) 120 pounds.
✅ Answer: (c) 100 pounds.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: She would make it a hundred.
77. She trusted in a power that was—
(a) Obscure and providential (b) Strict and punishing (c) Human and kind (d) Worldly and material.
✅ Answer: (a) Obscure and providential.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: She trusted in some obscure providential power.
78. Mrs. Thurlow went to bed at—
(a) 9 pm (b) 10 pm (c) 11 pm (d) Midnight.
✅ Answer: (c) 11 pm.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: At eleven she went to bed.
79. In bed she wore—
(a) A white gown (b) A heavy gray nightgown (c) Her day clothes (d) A blanket.
✅ Answer: (b) A heavy gray nightgown.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: Replaced by a heavy gray nightgown that made her seem larger.
80. Her dreams often mirrored—
(a) Luxury (b) Her daily labors (c) Travel (d) Her husband’s work.
✅ Answer: (b) Her daily labors.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: She dreamed she was pushing the bicycle, scrubbing floors, ironing, picking roots.
81. The “silver plate” in Thurlow’s head symbolizes—
(a) Heroism (b) Martyrdom & excuse (c) Wealth (d) Misfortune.
✅ Answer: (b) Martyrdom & excuse.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: It became his constant theme to avoid work and seek sympathy.
82. The “bicycle” for Mrs. Thurlow is a symbol of—
(a) Freedom (b) Burden (c) Leisure (d) Escape.
✅ Answer: (b) Burden.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: The bicycle was a vehicle of necessity, always overloaded.
83. Her skirt sticking like a tail is an example of—
(a) Simile (b) Metaphor (c) Hyperbole (d) Personification.
✅ Answer: (a) Simile.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: Her skirt stuck out behind her like a thick stiff tail.
84. “Comic rider in a circus” is an example of—
(a) Metaphor (b) Irony (c) Simile (d) Personification.
✅ Answer: (c) Simile.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: Thurlow riding is compared to a comic circus rider.
85. “Ox” as an image represents—
(a) Pride (b) Burden & drudgery (c) Freedom (d) Religion.
✅ Answer: (b) Burden & drudgery.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: Her heavy labor and body are compared to a beast of burden.
86. “It was her creed” implies—
(a) Religious faith (b) Money-saving as her guiding principle (c) Doubt (d) Hope.
✅ Answer: (b) Money-saving as her guiding principle.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: All the time Mrs. Thurlow saved money.
87. “Obscure providential power” suggests—
(a) Luck (b) Faith in divine justice (c) Her sons (d) Destiny of poverty.
✅ Answer: (b) Faith in divine justice.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: She trusted in a power as tireless as herself.
88. Her habit of “counting money in fear” reveals—
(a) Greed (b) Anxiety of loss (c) Joy (d) Stinginess.
✅ Answer: (b) Anxiety of loss.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: She counted it again in terror it might be gone in the morning.
89. “Comic rider in a circus” carries an inner meaning of—
(a) Joyful life (b) His foolish pride despite weakness (c) Heroism (d) Escape.
✅ Answer: (b) His foolish pride despite weakness.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: Thurlow’s drunken bicycle riding appears ridiculous, not heroic.
90. The “division in herself” signifies—
(a) Her laziness (b) Conflict between duty and desire for sons’ future (c) Love of leisure (d) Illness.
✅ Answer: (b) Conflict between duty and desire for sons’ future.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: One part labored stolidly, the other was desperate for a better world for her sons.
◼️ 91. What was Mrs. Thurlow’s only relaxation?
(a) Sleeping (b) Reading newspapers (c) Talking to neighbors (d) Walking outside.
✅ Answer: (b) Reading newspapers.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: She had one relaxation. On Sunday afternoons she sat in the kitchen alone, and read the newspapers.
◼️ 92. From where did Mrs. Thurlow collect the newspapers?
(a) Local shop (b) Her neighbors (c) Houses where she scrubbed (d) Her sons’ school.
✅ Answer: (c) Houses where she scrubbed.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: She had collected them from the houses where she scrubbed, bearing them home on the bicycle.
◼️ 93. What kind of newspapers did Mrs. Thurlow usually read?
(a) Latest editions (b) Old issues of previous weeks (c) Foreign papers (d) Political papers only.
✅ Answer: (b) Old issues of previous weeks.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: They were not the newspapers of the day, but of all the previous week and perhaps of the week before that.
◼️ 94. How did Mrs. Thurlow transport the newspapers home?
(a) In her bag (b) By hand (c) On her bicycle (d) In a basket.
✅ Answer: (c) On her bicycle.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: She had collected them from the houses where she scrubbed, bearing them home on the bicycle.
◼️ 95. Into whose lives did the newspapers allow Mrs. Thurlow to make excursions?
(a) Only writers (b) Ordinary workers (c) Lovers, kings, suicides, ministers (d) School children.
✅ Answer: (c) Lovers, kings, suicides, ministers.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: She made excursions into the lives of other people: tragic lovers, cabinet ministers, Atlantic fliers, suicides, society beauties, murderers, kings.
◼️ 96. What was Mrs. Thurlow’s facial expression while reading the newspapers?
(a) Excited (b) Tearful (c) Oxlike impassivity (d) Smiling.
✅ Answer: (c) Oxlike impassivity.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: But emotionally, as she read, her face showed no impression. It remained oxlike in its impassivity.
◼️ 97. At what time did Thurlow usually come home on Sundays?
(a) About 2 o’clock (b) About 3 o’clock (c) About 5 o’clock (d) About 6 o’clock.
✅ Answer: (b) About 3 o’clock.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: About three o’clock as she sat reading, Thurlow would come in, lumber upstairs, and sleep until about half-past four.
◼️ 98. On the unusual Sunday, when did Thurlow return?
(a) After two (b) After three (c) After four (d) After midnight.
✅ Answer: (c) After four.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: One Sunday he did not come in at three o’clock. It was after four when she heard the bicycle tinkle.
◼️ 99. What noise indicated Thurlow’s arrival on that Sunday?
(a) Barking of dogs (b) Bicycle tinkle (c) Shouting (d) Footsteps.
✅ Answer: (b) Bicycle tinkle.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: It was after four when she heard the bicycle tinkle against the woodshed outside.
◼️ 100. What object did Mrs. Thurlow suspect under Thurlow’s coat?
(a) Hammer (b) Saw (c) Billhook (d) Bicycle chain.
✅ Answer: (c) Billhook.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: She thought it seemed like his billhook. She was not sure.
◼️ 101. What excuse did Thurlow give for carrying the object?
(a) He was going to sell it (b) He needed it for work (c) He was taking his saw for sharpening (d) He was lending it to a friend.
✅ Answer: (c) He was taking his saw for sharpening.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: ‘Your saw don’t need sharpening again a’ready, does it?’ … ‘That it does,’ he said.
◼️ 102. Whom did Thurlow name as the saw-sharpener?
(a) Joe Woods (b) John Farmer (c) Bill Harper (d) Tom Green.
✅ Answer: (a) Joe Woods.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: ‘That’s just what it does. Joe Woods is going to sharp it.’
◼️ 103. Where was the actual saw at that moment?
(a) In the shed (b) Under his coat (c) In the fields (d) Already at Joe’s.
✅ Answer: (a) In the shed.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: All the time she could see the saw itself hanging in the darkness of the woodshed behind him.
◼️ 104. How did Thurlow ride away with the hidden object?
(a) With perfect balance (b) His coat bunched up, bicycle unsteady (c) Walking beside it (d) On someone else’s cart.
✅ Answer: (b) His coat bunched up, bicycle unsteady.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: His coat bunched up, the bicycle slightly crazy as he drove with one tipsy hand.
◼️ 105. What did Mrs. Thurlow check immediately after he left?
(a) The chickens (b) The cupboard (c) The hidden money (d) The tools.
✅ Answer: (c) The hidden money.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: Something made her rush upstairs. She went into the back bedroom and flung the clothes off the mattress … The money: it was all right.
◼️ 106. Where was the money hidden?
(a) Inside a cupboard (b) Beneath the mattress of an unused bed (c) In a trunk (d) In the kitchen.
✅ Answer: (b) Beneath the mattress of an unused bed.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: She went into the back bedroom and flung the clothes off the mattress of the small iron bed that was never slept in.
◼️ 107. How much money had Mrs. Thurlow saved earlier?
(a) £24 (b) £36 (c) £54 (d) £100.
✅ Answer: (c) £54.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: She had saved fifty-four pounds.
◼️ 108. How did she react after ensuring the money was safe?
(a) She fainted (b) She regained calm (c) She accused him (d) She wept bitterly.
✅ Answer: (b) She regained calm.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: After a moment’s anxiety her color returned again — the solid, immeasurably passive calm.
◼️ 109. What kind of work did Mrs. Thurlow resume in the evening?
(a) Washing only (b) Darning, cleaning, sorting washing (c) Sleeping (d) Visiting neighbors.
✅ Answer: (b) Darning, cleaning, sorting washing.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: In the evening … she darned socks, the cuffs of jackets, cleaned boots, sorted the washing for the following day.
◼️ 110. What new opportunity did her sons receive?
(a) Government jobs (b) Secondary school in town (c) Army service (d) Trade training.
✅ Answer: (b) Secondary school in town.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: Under the new scheme they went, now, to a secondary school, in the town.
◼️ 111. What does the “oxlike impassivity” symbolize in Mrs. Thurlow’s character?
(a) Beauty (b) Stupidity (c) Strength and endurance (d) Weakness.
✅ Answer: (c) Strength and endurance.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: The ox image reflects her indomitably strong, emotionless perseverance.
◼️ 112. The “bicycle tinkle” functions as—
(a) A symbol of joy (b) A domestic signal (c) A deceptive omen (d) A musical effect.
✅ Answer: (c) A deceptive omen.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: It suggested his return, but his actions were suspicious and dangerous.
◼️ 113. The “candlelight” in the passage symbolizes—
(a) Luxury (b) Poverty and endurance (c) Celebration (d) Modernity.
✅ Answer: (b) Poverty and endurance.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: She worked by candlelight, a sign of humble labor and persistence.
◼️ 114. The “wind’s moan” over the ploughed land is an example of—
(a) Hyperbole (b) Personification (c) Simile (d) Paradox.
✅ Answer: (b) Personification.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: The wind is given a human quality, described as moaning.
◼️ 115. The “coat bunched up” image of Thurlow is primarily—
(a) Comic (b) Grotesque (c) Heroic (d) Romantic.
✅ Answer: (b) Grotesque.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: The description shows imbalance and hidden deceit rather than dignity.
◼️ 116. What does the boys’ hatred of candlelight suggest?
(a) Their pride in poverty (b) Their growing social aspirations (c) Their laziness (d) Their rebellion against school.
✅ Answer: (b) Their growing social aspirations.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: Having some standard now, they despised her humble ways.
◼️ 117. The “cheapness of the candlelight” apparently means—
(a) Lack of electricity (b) Her thriftiness (c) A symbol of low status (d) Mere carelessness.
✅ Answer: (c) A symbol of low status.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: The boys judged her harshly for continuing old, poor methods.
◼️ 118. The “small iron bed never slept in” suggests—
(a) Emptiness and sacrifice (b) Luxury (c) Children’s laziness (d) A guest room.
✅ Answer: (a) Emptiness and sacrifice.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: It highlights unused comfort and her hidden, silent sacrifices.
◼️ 119. What inner meaning lies in Mrs. Thurlow’s “immeasurably passive calm”?
(a) Ignorance (b) A mask for despair (c) True resilience and acceptance (d) Indifference.
✅ Answer: (c) True resilience and acceptance.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: Her calmness is the strength that sustains her against hardship.
◼️ 120. Thurlow’s “plate in his head” can also be read as—
(a) A literal wound only (b) A comic exaggeration (c) A symbol of his excuse and weakness (d) A mark of heroism.
✅ Answer: (c) A symbol of his excuse and weakness.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: It constantly served as his justification for shirking duty and indulging self-pity.
121. Where did Thurlow go immediately after entering the house at ten?
(a) Bedroom (b) Kitchen (c) Scullery (d) Yard.
✅ Answer: (c) Scullery.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: He went straight into the scullery to wash his hands.
122. What emotion was added to Thurlow’s wildness in his look?
(a) Love (b) Fear (c) Defiance (d) Hatred.
✅ Answer: (b) Fear.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: His look now had, above fear, a sense of defiance.
123. What happened to the candle when Mrs. Thurlow went outside?
(a) It grew brighter (b) It turned blue (c) It broke (d) It blew out.
✅ Answer: (c) It broke.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: The wind tore the flame into a blue bubble which broke.
124. What was missing from the woodshed wall?
(a) The saw (b) The bicycle (c) The billhook (d) The hammer.
✅ Answer: (c) The billhook.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: The saw still hung, but the billhook was gone.
125. What unusual feature appeared in Mrs. Thurlow’s dream about the bicycle?
(a) It had no wheels (b) It had no handles (c) It had two seats (d) It was broken.
✅ Answer: (b) It had no handles.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: In her dream the bicycle had only a billhook instead of handles.
126. What physical pain did Mrs. Thurlow feel in her dream?
(a) Broken leg (b) Stomach ache (c) Bleeding hands (d) Headache.
✅ Answer: (c) Bleeding hands.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: She felt the pain of blood rushing out of her hands.
127. What scared her immediately after she woke from the dream?
(a) Noise outside (b) Darkness (c) Empty bed (d) Children crying.
✅ Answer: (c) Empty bed.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: She found Thurlow missing from the bed.
128. How did Mrs. Thurlow check if the boys were safe?
(a) She called them (b) She searched the field (c) She looked in their bedroom (d) She asked neighbors.
✅ Answer: (c) She looked in their bedroom.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: She looked in at the boys’ bedroom and saw them asleep.
129. Where did she discover the missing money?
(a) Kitchen cupboard (b) Under mattress (c) Wardrobe (d) It was gone.
✅ Answer: (d) It was gone.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: She knew even before looking that the money was gone.
130. What was Mrs. Thurlow’s reaction after realizing the money was stolen?
(a) She cried (b) She shouted (c) She despaired (d) She remained calm.
✅ Answer: (d) She remained calm.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: She felt oppressed but never despondent.
131. At what time did she begin the washing?
(a) 4 a.m. (b) 5 a.m. (c) 6 a.m. (d) 7 a.m.
✅ Answer: (b) 5 a.m.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: Just before five she got up and fired the copper.
132. What did the boys notice in the scullery?
(a) Broken window (b) Water spilled (c) Blood all over the sink (d) Missing food.
✅ Answer: (c) Blood all over the sink.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: The boys exclaimed, “There’s blood all over the sink!”
133. How did Mrs. Thurlow explain the blood?
(a) He cut wood (b) He injured himself (c) He killed a rabbit (d) She denied it.
✅ Answer: (c) He killed a rabbit.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: She told the boys, “Your dad killed a rabbit.”
134. Which vegetable did she cut from the garden?
(a) Potatoes (b) Onions (c) Cabbages (d) Carrots.
✅ Answer: (c) Cabbages.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: She cut three large cabbages and put them in a sack.
135. What did she carry on the bicycle’s handlebars?
(a) A sack (b) Two oilcans (c) A coat (d) A washing tub.
✅ Answer: (b) Two oilcans.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: She tied two oilcans on the handlebars.
136. What bundle was tied on the bicycle’s crossbar?
(a) Old newspapers (b) Washing (c) Bread (d) Vegetables.
✅ Answer: (b) Washing.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: A small bundle of washing, clean, was tied on the crossbar.
137. At what time did the boys leave for school?
(a) 6:30 (b) 7:00 (c) 7:30 (d) 8:00.
✅ Answer: (c) 7:30.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: At half-past seven the boys went to catch the bus.
138. Who confronted Mrs. Thurlow on the road?
(a) Two neighbors (b) Policemen (c) Schoolmaster (d) Relatives.
✅ Answer: (b) Policemen.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: Two policemen stepped out of the hedge to meet her.
139. What did the policemen ask about?
(a) The money (b) The bicycle (c) Thurlow’s whereabouts (d) The boys.
✅ Answer: (c) Thurlow’s whereabouts.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: They asked if Mr. Thurlow was in.
140. What was Mrs. Thurlow’s final reply when told to return?
(a) She refused (b) She obeyed silently (c) She argued (d) She ran away.
✅ Answer: (b) She obeyed silently.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: The policemen told her, “You must come back with us.”
141. What does the “blue bubble of the candle flame” symbolize?
(a) Fragile hope (b) Anger (c) Madness (d) Strength.
✅ Answer: (a) Fragile hope.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: The candle’s fragile flame symbolizes her faint hope.
142. The dream of the bicycle with a billhook handle is an example of—
(a) Metaphor (b) Symbolism (c) Allegory (d) Hyperbole.
✅ Answer: (b) Symbolism.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: The bicycle transformed with a billhook symbolizes violence and danger.
143. The description “her vast candle shadow” creates what device?
(a) Metaphor (b) Irony (c) Personification (d) Simile.
✅ Answer: (c) Personification.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: Her shadow is given agency as if it were listening.
144. What does the blood in the sink foreshadow?
(a) Domestic quarrel (b) Financial ruin (c) Hidden violence (d) Police arrival.
✅ Answer: (c) Hidden violence.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: The unexplained blood suggests Thurlow’s violent act.
145. Which image shows Mrs. Thurlow’s resilience?
(a) Cutting cabbages (b) Pushing the bicycle (c) Holding pegs like a bit in her teeth (d) Lighting candles.
✅ Answer: (c) Holding pegs like a bit in her teeth.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: The image portrays her strength and endurance.
146. “The money had gone, Thurlow had gone, but it would be all right.” What is the deeper meaning?
(a) She trusts fate (b) She denies reality (c) She fears death (d) She blames the boys.
✅ Answer: (a) She trusts fate.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: Despite loss, she believes life will go on steadily.
147. The phrase “oppressed but never in despondency” suggests—
(a) She was broken (b) She lacked feelings (c) She was emotionally resilient (d) She was indifferent.
✅ Answer: (c) She was emotionally resilient.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: She faced hardship without despair.
148. What does Thurlow’s silence and defiant look reveal?
(a) Guilt (b) Fear of discovery (c) Hatred toward family (d) Plan for escape.
✅ Answer: (b) Fear of discovery.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: His look mixed fear and defiance, betraying his guilt.
149. The rabbit excuse given by Mrs. Thurlow shows—
(a) Maternal protection (b) Ignorance (c) Fear of police (d) Cleverness.
✅ Answer: (a) Maternal protection.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: She invents an excuse to shield the boys from truth.
150. The police appearance at the end represents—
(a) Justice (b) Family duty (c) Betrayal (d) Fate.
✅ Answer: (a) Justice.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: The policemen symbolize the inevitability of law and truth.
◼️ 151. What did the policemen suggest Mrs. Thurlow could leave behind?
(a) Her bag. (b) Her bicycle. (c) Her candle. (d) Her cabbages.
✅ Answer: (b) Her bicycle.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: The policemen repeatedly told her she could leave the bicycle, but she refused.
◼️ 152. How did Mrs. Thurlow respond to the policemen’s suggestion about the bicycle?
(a) She agreed reluctantly. (b) She ignored them. (c) She insisted on taking it. (d) She gave it to them.
✅ Answer: (c) She insisted on taking it.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: Mrs. Thurlow firmly said she would bring it, fearing what people might do nowadays.
◼️ 153. Which of the following places did the policemen search first?
(a) Kitchen. (b) Back bedroom. (c) Woodshed. (d) Boys’ room.
✅ Answer: (c) Woodshed.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: They searched the woodshed, then the garden, and finally the house.
◼️ 154. What was the policemen’s reaction when Mrs. Thurlow mentioned the blood in the sink?
(a) They ignored it. (b) They laughed. (c) They warned her not to touch it. (d) They suspected the boys.
✅ Answer: (c) They warned her not to touch it.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: The policemen said twice, “Don’t touch it.”
◼️ 155. For how long was Mrs. Thurlow kept at the station?
(a) Three hours. (b) Four hours. (c) Five hours. (d) Six hours.
✅ Answer: (b) Four hours.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: The passage states, “They kept her four hours at the station.”
◼️ 156. What did Mrs. Thurlow say about the missing money?
(a) She said it was all in notes. (b) She didn’t know the amount. (c) She gave the exact total. (d) She denied its existence.
✅ Answer: (c) She gave the exact total.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: She declared, “Fifty-four pounds, sixteen and fourpence. And twenty-eight of that in sovereigns.”
◼️ 157. Where did the policemen say Thurlow was from eleven to two on Sunday?
(a) In the garden. (b) At the Black Horse. (c) In the woodshed. (d) At the police station.
✅ Answer: (b) At the Black Horse.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: They revealed Thurlow had been at the Black Horse pub, arguing with a man.
◼️ 158. What was the topic of Thurlow’s quarrel at the Black Horse?
(a) Money. (b) The bicycle. (c) The plate in his head. (d) A farm dispute.
✅ Answer: (c) The plate in his head.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: Thurlow argued with a man about whether the plate was aluminium or silver.
◼️ 159. What adjective best describes Thurlow’s mood during the pub argument?
(a) Indifferent. (b) Joyful. (c) Threatening. (d) Humble.
✅ Answer: (c) Threatening.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: The policemen said Thurlow got “very threatening” during the argument.
◼️ 160. Whom did the policemen say had not been seen since the pub argument?
(a) The landlord. (b) The London man. (c) The boys. (d) Miss Hanley.
✅ Answer: (b) The London man.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: The man from London, who argued with Thurlow, disappeared.
◼️ 161. How did Mrs. Thurlow react when told about the seriousness of the case?
(a) She panicked. (b) She became silent. (c) She insisted on doing her duties. (d) She accused Thurlow.
✅ Answer: (c) She insisted on doing her duties.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: She worried more about attending Miss Hanley and others than the crime.
◼️ 162. Who did Mrs. Thurlow mention she still had to visit?
(a) The landlord. (b) The poultry farm and Mr. George. (c) The policemen’s chief. (d) The London man’s family.
✅ Answer: (b) The poultry farm and Mr. George.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: She said, “How am I going to get Miss Hanley in, and Mrs. Acott, and then the poultry farm and then Mr. George?”
◼️ 163. What was the policemen’s response to her worry about Miss Hanley?
(a) They ignored it. (b) They said they would telephone her. (c) They sent her home. (d) They delayed the case.
✅ Answer: (b) They said they would telephone her.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: The policemen assured her, “We’ll telephone Miss Hanley and tell her you can’t go.”
◼️ 164. Which best describes Mrs. Thurlow’s attitude throughout the interrogation?
(a) Hysterical. (b) Imperturbable. (c) Angry. (d) Fearful.
✅ Answer: (b) Imperturbable.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: She appeared steady, calm, and more focused on chores than the crime.
◼️ 165. What detail about the money especially puzzled Mrs. Thurlow?
(a) That it was hidden in the mattress. (b) That it had disappeared. (c) That it was in sovereigns. (d) That it belonged to Miss Hanley.
✅ Answer: (b) That it had disappeared.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: She repeatedly said, “The money. That’s what I can’t understand.”
◼️ 166. The bicycle in the passage symbolizes—
(a) Joyful leisure. (b) Burden and persistence. (c) Luxury. (d) Escape.
✅ Answer: (b) Burden and persistence.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: She drags it stubbornly everywhere, embodying her heavy, unyielding nature.
◼️ 167. The repeated phrase “Don’t touch it” serves as—
(a) A metaphor. (b) An ironic refrain. (c) A personification. (d) A hyperbole.
✅ Answer: (b) An ironic refrain.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: The repetition highlights suspicion and accusation directed toward her.
◼️ 168. The “Black Horse” pub may symbolically suggest—
(a) Violence and danger. (b) Innocence. (c) Domestic harmony. (d) Modernity.
✅ Answer: (a) Violence and danger.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: The pub setting foreshadows the quarrel, disappearance, and possible crime.
◼️ 169. Mrs. Thurlow’s “flat-footed, unhurried” movement evokes—
(a) A sense of fragility. (b) Monumental heaviness. (c) Freedom. (d) Guilt.
✅ Answer: (b) Monumental heaviness.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: Her movements are likened to unstoppable weight, reflecting her character.
◼️ 170. The contrast of “blood in the sink” with “domestic chores” is an example of—
(a) Simile. (b) Juxtaposition. (c) Personification. (d) Euphemism.
✅ Answer: (b) Juxtaposition.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: Violent imagery is set against the mundane domestic world, deepening tension.
◼️ 171. The phrase “I got something else to do” reflects—
(a) Guilt. (b) Emotional evasion. (c) Ordinary resilience. (d) Confession.
✅ Answer: (c) Ordinary resilience.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: She dismisses suspicion by focusing on daily work, showing stoic toughness.
◼️ 172. “You can never tell nowadays what folk are going to be up to” implies—
(a) Distrust of strangers. (b) Her distrust of the policemen. (c) Fear of her neighbors. (d) Guilt in disguise.
✅ Answer: (a) Distrust of strangers.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: She justifies keeping her bicycle by expressing suspicion about others’ behavior.
◼️ 173. The emphasis on exact money details suggests—
(a) Her obsession with precision. (b) The material core of betrayal. (c) A red herring. (d) Her innocence.
✅ Answer: (b) The material core of betrayal.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: The missing sovereigns symbolize the rupture of trust and security.
◼️ 174. “Flat-footed, unhurried, she could have gone on forever” indicates—
(a) Her guilt. (b) Her endless endurance. (c) Her indifference to life. (d) A wish for escape.
✅ Answer: (b) Her endless endurance.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: The imagery portrays her as almost mythic in her resilience.
◼️ 175. The contrast between her domestic worries and the serious case implies—
(a) She is detached from reality. (b) The police exaggerate. (c) Her priorities reveal stoic survival. (d) She has no emotions.
✅ Answer: (c) Her priorities reveal stoic survival.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: She values routine duty above the weight of crime, showing a hardened character.
176. What did the money symbolize to Mrs. Thurlow?
(a) Luxury (b) Future (c) Happiness (d) Friendship.
✅ Answer: (b) Future.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: The text states that the money was “the future itself,” symbolizing another life, two lives.
177. How did Mrs. Thurlow conceal her distress about the money?
(a) By crying (b) By ignoring it (c) By not showing it (d) By sharing with others.
✅ Answer: (c) By not showing it.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: “It was the money which brought her, without showing it, to the edge of distress.”
178. What instrument was suspected in the London man’s murder?
(a) Knife (b) Axe (c) Billhook (d) Hammer.
✅ Answer: (b) Axe.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: The police said the man was killed by blows from some sharp instrument like an axe.
179. Why did Mrs. Thurlow insist on taking her bicycle everywhere?
(a) For speed (b) For appearance (c) For security (d) For necessity.
✅ Answer: (c) For security.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: “Grasping its handles, she felt a sense of security and fortitude.”
180. Where was the murdered Londoner’s body found?
(a) In a barn (b) In a spinney (c) In a shed (d) In a river.
✅ Answer: (b) In a spinney.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: The police reported the body was found in a spinney.
181. What did Mrs. Thurlow fully expect to see Thurlow doing when she returned home?
(a) Sleeping (b) Eating (c) Splitting kindling wood (d) Counting money.
✅ Answer: (c) Splitting kindling wood.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: She expected to find him splitting kindling wood with the billhook.
182. What was Mrs. Thurlow’s immediate decision after finding neither money nor Thurlow?
(a) To report again (b) To search woods (c) To see her brother (d) To sleep.
✅ Answer: (c) To see her brother.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: She got out her bicycle and walked four miles to the next village to see her brother.
183. How far did she walk to see her brother?
(a) Two miles (b) Three miles (c) Four miles (d) Five miles.
✅ Answer: (c) Four miles.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: The passage clearly mentions she walked four miles into the next village.
184. What did her brother do for a living?
(a) Farmer (b) Carpenter (c) Policeman (d) Shopkeeper.
✅ Answer: (b) Carpenter.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: He was described as a “master carpenter.”
185. How is her brother described in terms of character?
(a) Easy-going (b) Careless (c) Straight-grained and purposeful (d) Indifferent.
✅ Answer: (c) Straight-grained and purposeful.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: He is called “a chapel-going man of straight-grained thinking and purpose.”
186. What was her brother’s attitude towards slovenliness?
(a) Indifferent (b) Patient (c) No patience (d) Encouraging.
✅ Answer: (c) No patience.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: The text says he had “no patience with slovenliness.”
187. With whom did her brother live?
(a) Alone (b) Wife and children (c) Wife and mother (d) Sister and wife.
✅ Answer: (c) Wife and mother.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: He lived with his wife and his mother.
188. How is the brother’s house described?
(a) Wooden hut (b) White-painted with electric lights (c) Mud house (d) Brick and stone.
✅ Answer: (b) White-painted with electric lights.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: The house was “white-painted and electrically lighted.”
189. What covered the floors of her brother’s house?
(a) Carpet (b) Matting (c) Coker-matting (d) Tiles.
✅ Answer: (c) Coker-matting.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: Floors were covered with scrubbed coker-matting.
190. How is her brother’s mother described?
(a) Tall and strong (b) Small with shrill eyes (c) Plump and soft (d) Weak but cheerful.
✅ Answer: (b) Small with shrill eyes.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: She is described as “a small woman with shrill eyes and ironed-out mouth.”
191. What was the condition of the old woman’s hearing?
(a) Excellent (b) Dull (c) Poor (d) Very sharp.
✅ Answer: (c) Poor.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: She “could not hear well.”
192. How did Mrs. Thurlow knock at her brother’s door?
(a) Loudly (b) Softly (c) Hesitantly, like to strangers (d) Confidently.
✅ Answer: (c) Hesitantly, like to strangers.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: She knocked as though these people were strangers.
193. What impression did her muddy boots leave on the coker-matting?
(a) None (b) Small stains (c) Large black mud prints (d) Faded marks.
✅ Answer: (c) Large black mud prints.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: Her boots left large black mud prints on the virgin coker-matting.
194. What did her sister-in-law notice about Mrs. Thurlow?
(a) Her silence (b) Her boots and hat (c) Her bicycle (d) Her hands.
✅ Answer: (b) Her boots and hat.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: The sister-in-law looked first at her boots and then at her hat.
195. How long had Mrs. Thurlow worn the same boots and hat?
(a) A few months (b) A year (c) Longer than she could remember (d) Five years.
✅ Answer: (c) Longer than she could remember.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: She had worn them “longer than she herself could remember.”
196. What does the bicycle most strongly symbolize in the story?
(a) Burden (b) Freedom (c) Security (d) Weakness.
✅ Answer: (c) Security.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: The bicycle gave her a sense of “security and fortitude.”
197. The description of the coker-matting as “virgin” symbolizes—
(a) Purity (b) Poverty (c) Fear (d) Luxury.
✅ Answer: (a) Purity.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: “Virgin” coker-matting indicates unspoiled cleanliness and order.
198. The repetition of “money” in her speech emphasizes—
(a) Obsession (b) Greed (c) Love (d) Carelessness.
✅ Answer: (a) Obsession.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: Her constant reference to money shows its centrality to her thoughts.
199. The hat and boots symbolize—
(a) Wealth (b) Timeless endurance of poverty (c) Change (d) Beauty.
✅ Answer: (b) Timeless endurance of poverty.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: Their long unchanged use reflects her hard and stagnant life.
200. The phrase “iron-ed out mouth” about the old woman is an example of—
(a) Metaphor (b) Simile (c) Hyperbole (d) Personification.
✅ Answer: (a) Metaphor.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: “Ironed-out mouth” metaphorically suggests rigidity and lack of warmth.
201. What deeper meaning does the “money” carry beyond material value?
(a) Hope for future security (b) Temporary relief (c) Sign of greed (d) Duty.
✅ Answer: (a) Hope for future security.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: It stood for “another life, two lives…the future itself.”
202. Her refusal to leave the bicycle reflects—
(a) Stubbornness (b) Insecurity without support (c) Laziness (d) Loyalty.
✅ Answer: (b) Insecurity without support.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: She could not imagine walking “helplessly” without it.
203. The “white-painted house with electric light” suggests—
(a) Her brother’s modernity and discipline (b) Poverty (c) Darkness (d) Fragility.
✅ Answer: (a) Her brother’s modernity and discipline.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: The description contrasts with Mrs. Thurlow’s harsh, neglected life.
204. Mrs. Thurlow’s act of knocking like a stranger reflects—
(a) Alienation from her own family (b) Fear of rejection (c) Respect (d) Weakness.
✅ Answer: (a) Alienation from her own family.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: It shows emotional distance from her family who disapproved of Thurlow.
205. The sister-in-law’s observation of her hat and boots highlights—
(a) Generosity (b) Silent criticism of poverty (c) Indifference (d) Admiration.
✅ Answer: (b) Silent criticism of poverty.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: The look reflects judgment of her shabby, unchanging appearance.
◼️ 206. How did Mrs. Thurlow sit in the bright electric light?
(a) Cheerful (b) Sullen (c) Nervous (d) Proud.
✅ Answer: (b) Sullen.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: She sat untroubled, her eyes sullen, as though not fully conscious in the bright light.
◼️ 207. What did the electric light emphasize about Mrs. Thurlow’s appearance?
(a) Her smile (b) Her muddy skirt (c) Her jewelry (d) Her strong hands.
✅ Answer: (b) Her muddy skirt.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: The light showed up the mud on her skirt and her weather-faded coat.
◼️ 208. Since when had Thurlow not entered the brother’s house?
(a) Since father’s death (b) Since mother’s death (c) Since marriage (d) Since moving to London.
✅ Answer: (a) Since father’s death.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: The brother said, “He ain’t set foot in this house since Dad died.”
◼️ 209. How did the old woman react when told of Thurlow?
(a) With pity (b) With anger (c) With happiness (d) With silence.
✅ Answer: (b) With anger.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: The old shrill eyes were enraged because she could not understand.
◼️ 210. What fascinated Mrs. Thurlow about the house?
(a) The kitchen (b) The coker-matting (c) The windows (d) The fireplace.
✅ Answer: (b) The coker-matting.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: The fissured pattern of the clean coker-matting fascinated her.
◼️ 211. What did Mrs. Thurlow reveal about the money?
(a) It was in the bank (b) It was under the mattress (c) It was in a box (d) It was with her brother.
✅ Answer: (b) It was under the mattress.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: She said, “Over fifty pounds. I got it hid under the mattress.”
◼️ 212. What was the money meant for?
(a) A house (b) Her husband (c) The boys (d) Herself.
✅ Answer: (c) The boys.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: She said, “It’s all I got. I got it for the boys.”
◼️ 213. What responsibility weighed upon Mrs. Thurlow’s eyes?
(a) Finding her husband (b) Protecting the boys (c) Explaining to police (d) Facing her mother.
✅ Answer: (b) Protecting the boys.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: It was as though she had placed on her eyes the onus of some terrible responsibility.
◼️ 214. What did the brother offer Mrs. Thurlow at the end of her visit?
(a) Money (b) To drive her home (c) To hide her (d) To repair her bike.
✅ Answer: (b) To drive her home.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: He said, “Let me run you back in the car.”
◼️ 215. How did Mrs. Thurlow respond to the car offer?
(a) Accepted gladly (b) Declined, preferring her bike (c) Became angry (d) Asked for money.
✅ Answer: (b) Declined, preferring her bike.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: She said, “No, I got my bike.”
◼️ 216. What were the boys doing when she returned home?
(a) Sleeping (b) Making a rabbit hutch (c) Eating (d) Reading.
✅ Answer: (b) Making a rabbit hutch.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: At home, the boys were making a rabbit hutch.
◼️ 217. What did the boys inherit from their uncle?
(a) His house (b) His zeal for handling wood (c) His money (d) His faith.
✅ Answer: (b) His zeal for handling wood.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: She saw they had something of her brother’s zeal for handling wood.
◼️ 218. How did Mrs. Thurlow judge her brother’s success?
(a) By his books (b) By his house, car, and matting (c) By his marriage (d) By his church.
✅ Answer: (b) By his house, car, and matting.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: She judged him by the car, white-painted house, electric light, spotless coker-matting.
◼️ 219. What excuse did she give the boys about their father?
(a) He was traveling (b) He was working late (c) He had taken some money (d) He was ill.
✅ Answer: (c) He had taken some money.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: She told them, “They think your dad took some money.”
◼️ 220. What arrangement did she make for the boys?
(a) They would live with police (b) They would go to her brother’s house (c) They would go abroad (d) They would stay alone.
✅ Answer: (b) They would go to her brother’s house.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: She explained it would be better if they went to stay with her brother.
◼️ 221. How did the boys react to going to uncle’s house?
(a) Fearful (b) Excited (c) Angry (d) Silent.
✅ Answer: (b) Excited.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: They were excited, saying they could plane the wood for the rabbit hutch.
◼️ 222. How did the wife of the brother react during the talk?
(a) Indifferent (b) Shaking with shock (c) Reassuring (d) Dismissive.
✅ Answer: (b) Shaking with shock.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: His wife sat with the same dumb, shaking expression of shock.
◼️ 223. Why did the brother lie to the old woman about the scholarship?
(a) To protect her (b) To confuse her (c) To mock her (d) To please her.
✅ Answer: (a) To protect her.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: He told her “One of the boys won a scholarship” to conceal the truth.
◼️ 224. What emotion dominated Mrs. Thurlow when narrating her story?
(a) Hope (b) Joy (c) Dullness and flatness (d) Anger.
✅ Answer: (c) Dullness and flatness.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: She told the story dully, flatly, to her family.
◼️ 225. What does the coker-matting symbolize in the story?
(a) Wealth (b) Purity and order (c) Dirt (d) Comfort.
✅ Answer: (b) Purity and order.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: Its spotless, clean, regular pattern reflected the brother’s orderly life.
◼️ 226. The bicycle in the passage symbolizes—
(a) Burden (b) Escape (c) Security (d) Weakness.
✅ Answer: (c) Security.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: She felt grasping its handles gave her a sense of security and fortitude.
◼️ 227. The “mud on her skirt” is a symbolic reflection of—
(a) Her poverty (b) Her dignity (c) Her pride (d) Her authority.
✅ Answer: (a) Her poverty.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: The mud emphasized her hardship and lowly social standing.
◼️ 228. The “shaking hands” of the brother symbolized—
(a) Anger (b) Shock and fear (c) Tiredness (d) Cold weather.
✅ Answer: (b) Shock and fear.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: His hands shook when he realized Thurlow was suspected of murder.
◼️ 229. The “rabbit hutch” serves as a symbol of—
(a) Violence (b) Hope and constructive work (c) Poverty (d) Death.
✅ Answer: (b) Hope and constructive work.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: The boys’ work on the hutch symbolized future growth and skill.
◼️ 230. “As though not fully conscious in the bright light” implies—
(a) She was tired (b) She was detached from reality (c) She was blind (d) She was embarrassed.
✅ Answer: (b) She was detached from reality.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: Her sullen eyes reflected numbness amidst crisis.
◼️ 231. “He’s done a bunk” means—
(a) He was sleeping (b) He escaped (c) He confessed (d) He was imprisoned.
✅ Answer: (b) He escaped.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: The phrase suggests Thurlow had run away after the crime.
◼️ 232. The phrase “I got it for the boys” conveys—
(a) Sacrifice (b) Greed (c) Fear (d) Ignorance.
✅ Answer: (a) Sacrifice.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: Her savings were intended to secure her sons’ future.
◼️ 233. The expression “shaking expression of shock” refers to—
(a) Emotional paralysis (b) Anger (c) Guilt (d) Joy.
✅ Answer: (a) Emotional paralysis.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: The brother’s wife was unable to react beyond dumb shock.
◼️ 234. The “onus of responsibility” on her eyes indicates—
(a) She was weak (b) She carried burden silently (c) She was angry (d) She was selfish.
✅ Answer: (b) She carried burden silently.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: Her silent gaze symbolized unspoken responsibility.
◼️ 235. The story alludes to the theme of—
(a) War (b) Sacrifice amid poverty (c) Love story (d) Triumph of wealth.
✅ Answer: (b) Sacrifice amid poverty.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: Mrs. Thurlow’s concern for her boys despite her losses embodies sacrifice.
236. What first worried Mrs. Thurlow on the morning of the boys’ departure?
(a) The police arrival (b) The slow puncture in the tire (c) The boys’ excitement (d) The day’s washing.
✅ Answer: (b) The slow puncture in the tire.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: She noticed that the back tire had a slow puncture, already almost flat.
237. What action gave Mrs. Thurlow a little confidence after noticing the puncture?
(a) Tying up the washing (b) Talking to the boys (c) Pumping up the tire (d) Meeting the policemen.
✅ Answer: (c) Pumping up the tire.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: She pumped up the tire and felt a little more confident.
238. How did the policemen first inform Mrs. Thurlow about Thurlow?
(a) They said he was dead (b) They said he was missing (c) They said he was arrested (d) They said he had run away.
✅ Answer: (c) They said he was arrested.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: The policemen told her, ‘We got Thurlow.’
239. What was Mrs. Thurlow’s immediate response after hearing about her husband’s arrest?
(a) She fainted (b) She asked about the money (c) She cried (d) She refused to go.
✅ Answer: (b) She asked about the money.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: Her first question was, ‘Is he got the money?’
240. What did the policemen suggest about Thurlow’s crime?
(a) He had stolen more money (b) He had committed fraud (c) He had done something worse than theft (d) He was falsely accused.
✅ Answer: (c) He had done something worse than theft.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: The policeman said, ‘I’m afraid he’s done something more serious than taking money.’
241. How did Mrs. Thurlow react to the idea of a crime ‘more serious’ than theft?
(a) She dismissed it (b) She was astonished (c) She wept aloud (d) She accepted it.
✅ Answer: (b) She was astonished.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: She pondered with dull astonishment, thinking nothing could be more serious than losing the money.
242. What did the money represent for Mrs. Thurlow?
(a) Wealth (b) Survival (c) Status (d) Her entire life’s struggle.
✅ Answer: (d) Her entire life’s struggle.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: To her the money was part of herself—bone, flesh, blood, and sweat.
243. How did she describe the money emotionally?
(a) Replaceable (b) A burden (c) Implacable part of her life (d) A mere sum.
✅ Answer: (c) Implacable part of her life.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: She felt nothing could replace it; it was a huge and implacable section of her life.
244. How did Mrs. Thurlow walk after leaving her bicycle at the shop?
(a) Quickly (b) Gracefully (c) Lumbering, unsteady (d) Confidently.
✅ Answer: (c) Lumbering, unsteady.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: She lumbered dully from side to side, huge and unsteady.
245. What impression did the cycle repairer have as he watched her?
(a) Bored (b) Excited (c) Indifferent (d) Angry.
✅ Answer: (b) Excited.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: From the shop window, the repairer squinted after her, excited.
246. How did people in the village respond to her walk past them?
(a) They ignored her (b) They pitied her (c) They looked at her from windows (d) They welcomed her.
✅ Answer: (c) They looked at her from windows.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: Other people looked from windows as she lumbered past.
247. What emotion did she feel upon not seeing her husband at the police station?
(a) Relief (b) Shock (c) Cheated (d) Anger.
✅ Answer: (c) Cheated.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: She felt a sense of having been cheated when told he was not there.
248. Where was Thurlow actually being detained?
(a) London (b) The village station (c) Metford (d) An unknown jail.
✅ Answer: (c) Metford.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: The inspector told her, ‘They are detaining him at Metford.’
249. What newspaper headline did she notice in town?
(a) “Bank Robbery” (b) “Metford Murder Arrest” (c) “Village Theft” (d) “Scholarship Success.”
✅ Answer: (b) “Metford Murder Arrest.”
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: She saw posters reading ‘Metford Murder Arrest.’
250. How did she feel while being driven in the black car?
(a) Excited (b) Hurled beyond herself (c) Relaxed (d) Talkative.
✅ Answer: (b) Hurled beyond herself.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: Traveling fast, she felt hurled, as if beyond herself.
251. What was the interior of the police station like?
(a) Dirty and crowded (b) Walls of brown glazed brick, desks with papers (c) Brightly decorated (d) Empty and quiet.
✅ Answer: (b) Walls of brown glazed brick, desks with papers.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: She saw walls of brown glazed brick, desks covered with papers, box files in rows.
252. How did the inspector inform Mrs. Thurlow of her husband’s charge?
(a) Harshly (b) Kindly (c) Indifferently (d) With anger.
✅ Answer: (b) Kindly.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: The inspector said with kindness, ‘We have detained your husband on a charge of murder.’
253. What was her first question after hearing about the murder charge?
(a) “When will he be freed?” (b) “What about the money?” (c) “Can I see him?” (d) “Is he guilty?”
✅ Answer: (b) “What about the money?”
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: She immediately asked, ‘You know anything about the money?’
254. What strange thing did she notice when she saw Thurlow?
(a) His hair was gray (b) He had lost weight (c) He wore a new gray suit (d) He was smiling.
✅ Answer: (c) He wore a new gray suit.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: She realized he looked strange because he wore a new gray suit with sleeves too short.
255. How did Thurlow respond when asked about the money?
(a) He admitted taking it (b) He denied it (c) He stared blankly (d) He accused others.
✅ Answer: (c) He stared blankly.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: He looked at her with blankness, repeating ‘Money?’ without understanding.
256. The ‘slow puncture’ in the bicycle tire symbolically represents—
(a) Physical weakness (b) Emotional anxiety (c) The failing marriage (d) Hidden betrayal.
✅ Answer: (b) Emotional anxiety.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: The puncture parallels her slow decline in confidence and security.
257. The description of Thurlow’s eyes as “lumps of impressionless glass” is an example of—
(a) Simile (b) Hyperbole (c) Metaphor (d) Irony.
✅ Answer: (c) Metaphor.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: His lifeless eyes are directly compared to glass, symbolizing emptiness.
258. The act of her lumbering dully, watched by villagers, conveys—
(a) Triumph (b) Isolation and humiliation (c) Confidence (d) Dignity.
✅ Answer: (b) Isolation and humiliation.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: Her heavy walk and others’ gaze highlight her social shame.
259. The “black car” carrying her to Metford is a symbol of—
(a) Freedom (b) Social honor (c) Doom and inevitability (d) Power.
✅ Answer: (c) Doom and inevitability.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: The black car represents her loss of control and fate dragging her forward.
260. The short sleeves of Thurlow’s suit symbolize—
(a) Poverty (b) Defeat and misfit identity (c) Growth (d) Renewal.
✅ Answer: (b) Defeat and misfit identity.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: The ill-fitting suit shows his displacement and inert defeat.
261. Her repeated question about money reflects—
(a) Greed (b) Obsession and survival instinct (c) Maternal care (d) Anger.
✅ Answer: (b) Obsession and survival instinct.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: For her, money equaled life itself, beyond morality.
262. The phrase “hurled beyond herself” conveys—
(a) Physical movement (b) Spiritual ecstasy (c) Loss of control and numbness (d) Adventure.
✅ Answer: (c) Loss of control and numbness.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: Her body and mind separated as events overwhelmed her.
263. The crowd at the police station represents—
(a) Support for her (b) Society’s curiosity and judgment (c) Justice (d) Family ties.
✅ Answer: (b) Society’s curiosity and judgment.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: The gathered crowd highlights gossip and communal scrutiny.
264. Thurlow’s blank response to “money” signifies—
(a) Genuine confusion or guilt (b) Indifference (c) Amnesia (d) Fear.
✅ Answer: (a) Genuine confusion or guilt.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: His blankness suggests either loss of awareness or avoidance of truth.
265. The repeated focus on money vs. murder shows—
(a) Irony of values (b) Religious belief (c) Political conflict (d) Humor.
✅ Answer: (a) Irony of values.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: While society sees murder as ultimate crime, she views loss of money as the gravest tragedy.
266. What sense did Mrs. Thurlow carry out from the cell?
(a) Relief (b) Thurlow’s defeat (c) Hope (d) Determination.
✅ Answer: (b) Thurlow’s defeat.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: She carried with her the sense of Thurlow’s defeat expressed in his inert hands and vacant face.
267. How did she hear the court proceedings?
(a) With keen attention (b) With anger (c) Without interest or emotion (d) With curiosity.
✅ Answer: (c) Without interest or emotion.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: The text says she heard the court proceedings without interest or emotion.
268. What request did the lawyer make during the hearing?
(a) Bail (b) Adjournment (c) Remand until the sixteenth (d) Acquittal.
✅ Answer: (c) Remand until the sixteenth.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: The lawyer asked, “I ask for a remand until the sixteenth.”
269. What was Mrs. Thurlow’s reaction outside the court?
(a) She fainted (b) She shouted (c) She was stormed by impressions (d) She rejoiced.
✅ Answer: (c) She was stormed by impressions.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: The passage describes her as being “stormed by impressions” after the court.
270. What did the policemen offer after the court?
(a) To take her home (b) To buy her food (c) To give her money (d) To call Thurlow.
✅ Answer: (a) To take her home.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: The policemen said, “We will run you home.”
271. How did she respond to the policemen’s offer?
(a) She agreed (b) She refused (c) She cried (d) She fainted.
✅ Answer: (b) She refused.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: She said, “No, I got my cleaning to do. I got to pick up my bicycle.”
272. What gave her a sense of comfort after leaving the court?
(a) People’s sympathy (b) The bicycle (c) Miss Hanley’s tea (d) Posters.
✅ Answer: (b) The bicycle.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: Grasping the bicycle handlebars brought her back a sense of reality and comfort.
273. What did she feel when she held the handlebars?
(a) Pain (b) Fear (c) Security and comfort (d) Anger.
✅ Answer: (c) Security and comfort.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: The familiar handlebars gave her security and almost comfort.
274. What kind of help did people in the village offer her?
(a) Money (b) Harsh comments (c) Kind words and tea (d) Police protection.
✅ Answer: (c) Kind words and tea.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: People were kind to her, Miss Hanley made tea, and the photographer offered a ride.
275. What did she do in the empty house by candlelight?
(a) Slept (b) Prayed (c) Washing, folding, ironing (d) Cried all night.
✅ Answer: (c) Washing, folding, ironing.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: She worked for several hours by candlelight, washing, folding, and ironing.
276. What shadow did she see projected on the ceiling?
(a) A policeman’s shadow (b) Her husband’s shadow (c) Her own shadow (d) A boy’s shadow.
✅ Answer: (c) Her own shadow.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: The money hung over her with the huge preponderance of her own shadow projected above.
277. How did the newspapers describe her life later?
(a) As unreal (b) As hopeful (c) As tragic (d) As happy.
✅ Answer: (a) As unreal.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: Earlier the papers recorded unreal lives of others, but now they recorded her own.
278. What was notably absent in the newspapers?
(a) Thurlow’s name (b) His photograph (c) Any mention of the money (d) Police statements.
✅ Answer: (c) Any mention of the money.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: “In all the stories there was an absence of all mention of the only thing that mattered — the money.”
279. What belief did Mrs. Thurlow never lose?
(a) Thurlow would be free (b) The money would return (c) The police were wrong (d) People would support her.
✅ Answer: (b) The money would return.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: She did not lose the belief that the money was coming back to her.
280. What did she consider less terrible than the money’s loss?
(a) Thurlow’s defeat (b) Her poverty (c) The loss of life taken (d) The police charges.
✅ Answer: (c) The loss of life taken.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: She saw Thurlow’s crime and punishment as less terrible than the loss of her money.
281. What routine did she continue with her bicycle?
(a) Riding swiftly (b) Hiding it (c) Pushing it back and forth daily (d) Selling it.
✅ Answer: (c) Pushing it back and forth daily.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: She pushed the bicycle daily in the same ponderous manner.
282. How did Thurlow’s face appear in the end?
(a) Full of hope (b) With imperishable defeat (c) With anger (d) With joy.
✅ Answer: (b) With imperishable defeat.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: Defeat was cemented into his face with imperishable finality.
283. What was her last desperate question to Thurlow?
(a) About freedom (b) About the murder (c) About the money under the mattress (d) About the boys.
✅ Answer: (c) About the money under the mattress.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: She asked repeatedly: “That money. Under the mattress. What you done with it?”
284. What was Thurlow’s final response?
(a) Anger (b) Silence (c) Blankness and “Eh?” (d) Detailed explanation.
✅ Answer: (c) Blankness and “Eh?”.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: He stared blankly, saying only “Eh?” unable to remember.
285. What did she realize in the end about Thurlow?
(a) He had stolen the money (b) He had hidden the money (c) He truly could not remember (d) He was pretending.
✅ Answer: (c) He truly could not remember.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: She knew he could not remember anything about the money.
286. What does the bicycle symbolize in the story?
(a) Escape (b) Her lost youth (c) Security and routine (d) Thurlow’s crime.
✅ Answer: (c) Security and routine.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: Holding the bicycle handlebars gave her comfort and brought her back to reality.
287. What does her “shadow projected on the ceiling” symbolize?
(a) Her strength (b) Her overwhelming grief (c) Her husband’s memory (d) Society’s judgment.
✅ Answer: (b) Her overwhelming grief.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: The shadow symbolized the heavy burden of money’s loss over her.
288. The expression “stormed by impressions” is an example of—
(a) Simile (b) Metaphor (c) Irony (d) Alliteration.
✅ Answer: (b) Metaphor.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: Her mind was metaphorically described as stormed by impressions.
289. Thurlow’s “imperishable defeat” in his face is an example of—
(a) Paradox (b) Symbolism (c) Hyperbole (d) Metaphor.
✅ Answer: (d) Metaphor.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: His face is metaphorically described as permanently stamped with defeat.
290. The repeated “Eh?” of Thurlow signifies—
(a) Memory loss (b) Anger (c) Pretence (d) Compassion.
✅ Answer: (a) Memory loss.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: His repeated “Eh?” shows blank incomprehension and inability to recall.
291. What does the “nullified thoughts” suggest about her state of mind?
(a) Clarity (b) Blank detachment (c) Determination (d) Hope.
✅ Answer: (b) Blank detachment.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: Her thoughts became nullified, showing emotional detachment.
292. The phrase “defeat cemented into his face” conveys—
(a) Temporary failure (b) Irreversible ruin (c) Hope for future (d) Pretence of sorrow.
✅ Answer: (b) Irreversible ruin.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: Cemented defeat shows a permanent, unchangeable condition.
293. What inner meaning lies in her clinging to the bicycle?
(a) Love for exercise (b) Dependence on material comfort (c) Escape from reality (d) Symbol of husband’s memory.
✅ Answer: (b) Dependence on material comfort.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: The bicycle gives her security when her human world collapses.
294. The absence of money in newspapers reflects—
(a) Society’s indifference to her suffering (b) Police censorship (c) Thurlow’s power (d) Journalists’ bias.
✅ Answer: (a) Society’s indifference to her suffering.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: For her, the money was central, yet society never recognized its importance.
295. What is the broader allusion in the story?
(a) The futility of love (b) The emptiness of justice without personal meaning (c) War and peace (d) The role of fate.
✅ Answer: (b) The emptiness of justice without personal meaning.
🔷📘 Supporting Statement: The court focused on murder, but for her the true tragedy was the loss of money.
296. What season is mentioned at the beginning of the passage?
(a) Winter (b) Spring (c) Autumn (d) Summer
✅ Answer: (b) Spring
Supporting Statement: “It was springtime, time for the boys to come back to her.”
297. How far did Mrs. Thurlow push the bicycle to reach her brother’s place?
(a) Two miles (b) Four miles (c) Six miles (d) Eight miles
✅ Answer: (b) Four miles
Supporting Statement: “Two days later she pushed the bicycle the four miles to the next village, to see her brother.”
298. What was Mrs. Thurlow’s feeling while pushing the bicycle in twilight?
(a) Fear of the future (b) Pushing forward into the future (c) Regret (d) Hope of wealth
✅ Answer: (b) Pushing forward into the future
Supporting Statement: “Pushing the bicycle in the twilight, she felt she was pushing forward into the future.”
299. According to the passage, what was now considered more important than money?
(a) Her brother’s house (b) The carpenter’s workshop (c) The living (d) The pump
✅ Answer: (c) The living
Supporting Statement: “Money is money; death is death; the living are the living. The living were the future.”
300. How did the brother’s mind appear after recent events?
(a) Clear (b) Scarred (c) Confused (d) Determined
✅ Answer: (b) Scarred
Supporting Statement: “His clean-planned mind had been scarred by events as though by a mishandled tool.”
301. What did the family tell the boys about Thurlow?
(a) He was dead (b) He went abroad (c) He was in jail for stealing money (d) He had disappeared
✅ Answer: (c) He was in jail for stealing money
Supporting Statement: “They think he’s in jail for stealing money.”
302. How did the brother describe Thurlow’s possible use of the money?
(a) Saved it (b) Donated it (c) Spent, threw away, boozed it (d) Buried it
✅ Answer: (c) Spent, threw away, boozed it
Supporting Statement: “Done with it? What d’ ye suppose he done with it? Spent it. Threw it away. Boozed it.”
303. Who interrupted the brother’s angry words against Thurlow?
(a) His mother (b) His wife (c) Mrs. Thurlow (d) The boys
✅ Answer: (b) His wife
Supporting Statement: “‘Will, Will,’ his wife said.”
304. What did Mrs. Thurlow come to take back from her brother’s place?
(a) The bicycle (b) Money (c) Her boys (d) Clothes
✅ Answer: (c) Her boys
Supporting Statement: “I came to take the boys back,’ Mrs. Thurlow said.”
305. What was the brother’s final decision regarding the boys?
(a) They must return (b) They would stay (c) They must go abroad (d) They would go to school
✅ Answer: (b) They would stay
Supporting Statement: “The boys ain’t coming back no more… They want to stop here.”
306. How did Mrs. Thurlow react to the boys’ decision?
(a) She protested bitterly (b) She persuaded them (c) She remained silent (d) She cried
✅ Answer: (c) She remained silent
Supporting Statement: “Mrs. Thurlow stood silent. She could think of nothing to say in protest or argument or persuasion.”
307. What vehicle did Mrs. Thurlow insist on using while returning home?
(a) Her brother’s cart (b) Her own bicycle (c) Train (d) Bus
✅ Answer: (b) Her own bicycle
Supporting Statement: “‘No,’ she said. ‘I got my bike.’”
308. How did she walk back with the bicycle?
(a) Proudly (b) Lumbering painfully, head down (c) Singing (d) Quickly
✅ Answer: (b) Lumbering painfully, head down
Supporting Statement: “She went out of the house and began to push the bicycle slowly home in the darkness. She walked with head down, lumbering painfully.”
309. What problem did she encounter with the bicycle on her way home?
(a) Chain broke (b) Wheel cracked (c) Tire hissing, getting flat (d) Handle loosened
✅ Answer: (c) Tire hissing, getting flat
Supporting Statement: “After a mile or so she heard a faint hissing from the back tire.”
310. How did she temporarily manage the tire problem?
(a) Changed tire (b) Pumped air into it (c) Left the bicycle (d) Asked for help
✅ Answer: (b) Pumped air into it
Supporting Statement: “She unscrewed the pump and put a little air in the tire and went on.”
311. What was the condition of the cycle shop when she reached the village?
(a) Open (b) Closed, in darkness (c) Crowded (d) Empty but lit
✅ Answer: (b) Closed, in darkness
Supporting Statement: “In the village the cycle shop was already in darkness.”
312. How did the hill and mud affect her while pushing the bicycle?
(a) Made her feel stronger (b) Supported her (c) Sucked at her boots and held her down (d) Made her stumble
✅ Answer: (c) Sucked at her boots and held her down
Supporting Statement: “The mud of the track seemed to suck at her great boots and hold her down.”
313. What impression did she suddenly have about her house on the hill?
(a) It was unreachable (b) It looked welcoming (c) It was on fire (d) It was abandoned
✅ Answer: (a) It was unreachable
Supporting Statement: “She had for one moment an impression that she would never reach it.”
314. The match struck by the brother is symbolic of—
(a) Light of truth (b) Sudden anger (c) Ignition of fate (d) Short-lived hope
✅ Answer: (d) Short-lived hope
Supporting Statement: “It spurted into a sudden explosion, igniting of its own volition. He seemed startled. He put the match to his pipe, let it go out.”
315. The bicycle in the passage is mainly a symbol of—
(a) Comfort (b) Freedom and security (c) Wealth (d) Burden
✅ Answer: (b) Freedom and security
Supporting Statement: Earlier and here too, the bicycle remains her constant companion, symbolizing her independence and fragile hold on life.
316. The repeated hissing of the tire metaphorically represents—
(a) Loss of money (b) Collapse of her hope (c) Threat of enemies (d) Weakness of her health
✅ Answer: (b) Collapse of her hope
Supporting Statement: The tire losing air mirrors Mrs. Thurlow’s dwindling optimism.
317. The carpenter brother’s scarred mind “as though by a mishandled tool” is an example of—
(a) Simile (b) Personification (c) Metaphor (d) Irony
✅ Answer: (a) Simile
Supporting Statement: “Scarred… as though by a mishandled tool” compares mental damage to physical scarring by tool.
318. “Money is money; death is death; the living are the living” illustrates—
(a) Parallelism (b) Alliteration (c) Personification (d) Antithesis
✅ Answer: (a) Parallelism
Supporting Statement: The repetition of identical structure emphasizes contrast between money, death, and life.
319. The boys’ silence before answering shows—
(a) Awkwardness and inner conflict (b) Love for mother (c) Anger at uncle (d) Hatred for Thurlow
✅ Answer: (a) Awkwardness and inner conflict
Supporting Statement: “The two boys stood silent, awkward, eyes glancing past her.”
320. The boys’ decision to stay represents—
(a) Natural shift of loyalty (b) Fear of Thurlow (c) Desire for wealth (d) Rebellion
✅ Answer: (a) Natural shift of loyalty
Supporting Statement: “It’s natural they don’t want to come back. They’re getting on well here. They want to stop here.”
321. The “crushed core of optimism” inside Mrs. Thurlow refers to—
(a) Her hidden strength (b) Her despair under rejection (c) Her hatred for Thurlow (d) Her hope of wealth
✅ Answer: (b) Her despair under rejection
Supporting Statement: “…the crushed core of optimism and faith.”
322. The darkness of the shop and road symbolises—
(a) Hope (b) Unknown destiny (c) End of journey (d) Spiritual light
✅ Answer: (b) Unknown destiny
Supporting Statement: Darkness metaphorically suggests uncertainty and loss of direction.
323. The carpenter’s loud voice to his deaf mother adds to the theme of—
(a) Generational conflict (b) Lack of communication (c) Carelessness (d) Comic relief
✅ Answer: (b) Lack of communication
Supporting Statement: The deafness of the old woman parallels the emotional deafness in family ties.
324. The final impression of her pushing the bicycle uphill suggests—
(a) Triumph (b) Burden of life without support (c) Financial freedom (d) Reunion
✅ Answer: (b) Burden of life without support
Supporting Statement: Her struggle with bicycle and mud reflects her lonely, uphill struggle in life.
325. The house on the hill at the end signifies—
(a) Her destination of security (b) Distance between hope and reality (c) Warmth of family (d) Symbol of wealth
✅ Answer: (b) Distance between hope and reality
Supporting Statement: “It seemed to her suddenly that the house… was a long way off… she would never reach it.”
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