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Unit 4: Mulk Raj Anand: Untouchable - Practice Quiz

ENG112 — Indian Writing In English 60 Questions
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1 Who is the central character of Mulk Raj Anand's Untouchable?

Plot Easy
A. Bakha
B. Colonel Hutchinson
C. Havildar Charat Singh
D. Gandhi

2 What is Bakha's occupation in Untouchable?

Plot Easy
A. School teacher
B. Army officer
C. Temple priest
D. Sweeper

3 Over what period does most of the action in Untouchable take place?

Plot Easy
A. One day
B. One month
C. One year
D. One week

4 Where does Bakha live with his family?

Plot Easy
A. In the soldiers' barracks
B. In a village school building
C. In the outcastes' colony
D. In a wealthy merchant's house

5 What happens to Bakha when he accidentally touches a caste Hindu in the street?

Plot Easy
A. He is given a job
B. He is praised
C. He is invited home
D. He is slapped

6 Who gives Bakha a pair of trousers?

Plot Easy
A. A school teacher
B. A British soldier
C. A temple priest
D. A village headman

7 Which leader does Bakha hear speaking near the end of the novel?

Plot Easy
A. Mahatma Gandhi
B. B. R. Ambedkar
C. Jawaharlal Nehru
D. Subhas Chandra Bose

8 What possible solution to the problem of untouchability is mentioned by the poet Iqbal Nath Sarashar?

Plot Easy
A. The closing of village markets
B. The building of new temples
C. The use of flush toilets
D. The expansion of the army

9 How is Bakha mainly portrayed in the novel?

Characterization Easy
A. As a young sweeper
B. As a powerful official
C. As an old landlord
D. As a wealthy merchant

10 What does Bakha admire about the British soldiers?

Characterization Easy
A. Their clothes and manners
B. Their religious ceremonies
C. Their farming methods
D. Their family traditions

11 Who is Lakha?

Characterization Easy
A. Bakha's employer
B. Bakha's teacher
C. Bakha's father
D. Bakha's village priest

12 What role does Sohini play in the novel?

Characterization Easy
A. She is Bakha's sister
B. She is Bakha's schoolmate
C. She is Bakha's religious teacher
D. She is Bakha's employer

13 How does Bakha generally react to the treatment he receives from higher-caste people?

Characterization Easy
A. He feels powerful and confident
B. He feels amused and careless
C. He feels hurt and humiliated
D. He feels proud and satisfied

14 Which character represents a voice of reform near the end of the novel?

Characterization Easy
A. The caste Hindu passer-by
B. The temple priest
C. Bakha's younger brother
D. Mahatma Gandhi

15 What is the central social issue presented in Untouchable?

Themes Easy
A. Political corruption
B. Caste discrimination
C. International warfare
D. Industrial competition

16 Which theme is closely connected with Bakha's daily work?

Themes Easy
A. The importance of trade
B. The dignity of labour
C. The value of luxury
D. The joy of travel

17 What does the novel criticize through the treatment of Bakha and his family?

Themes Easy
A. Social inequality
B. Scientific progress
C. Urban entertainment
D. Foreign education

18 Which theme is suggested by Bakha's desire to wear better clothes?

Themes Easy
A. The fear of nature
B. The love of warfare
C. The rejection of education
D. The desire for dignity

19 Which point of view is mainly used in Untouchable?

Narrative technique Easy
A. First-person narration
B. Third-person narration
C. Epistolary narration
D. Second-person narration

20 What narrative method allows readers to follow Bakha's thoughts and feelings closely?

Narrative technique Easy
A. Dramatic dialogue only
B. Newspaper reporting
C. Historical documentation
D. Interior narration

21 Why does Bakha leave home early in the morning at the beginning of the novel?

Plot Medium
A. He wants to attend a political meeting
B. He intends to search for his missing sister
C. He plans to visit the British cantonment
D. He must clean the town's latrines

22 What incident causes Bakha to be publicly abused in the bazaar?

Plot Medium
A. He refuses to clean a private house
B. He argues with a British soldier
C. He accidentally touches a high-caste man
D. He breaks a shopkeeper's window

23 Why does Sohini go to the temple early in the novel?

Plot Medium
A. To ask for permission to work
B. To clean the temple courtyard
C. To collect food for the family
D. To attend a religious festival

24 What prevents Sohini from openly accusing the priest of harassing her?

Plot Medium
A. Her fear of colonial police
B. Her dependence on the upper-caste household
C. Her promise to protect Bakha's reputation
D. Her loyalty to the temple's traditions

25 Which event most directly changes Bakha's understanding of possible responses to untouchability near the end of the novel?

Plot Medium
A. The priest's accusation against Sohini
B. The speech about Gandhi and reform
C. The hockey match in the cantonment
D. The argument with his father at home

26 Bakha's admiration for British clothing mainly reveals his desire for

Characterization Medium
A. religious leadership in his community
B. military authority over villagers
C. financial success through trade
D. social mobility and personal dignity

27 How does Lakha's attitude toward caste differ from Bakha's attitude?

Characterization Medium
A. Lakha seeks political office, while Bakha seeks religious authority
B. Lakha accepts the system pragmatically, while Bakha feels its injustice more sharply
C. Lakha ignores family duties, while Bakha avoids all social contact
D. Lakha rejects caste completely, while Bakha defends it publicly

28 Bakha's reaction after the bazaar incident is best understood as a conflict between

Characterization Medium
A. his affection for Sohini and his dislike of Lakha
B. his wish for revenge and his need for social acceptance
C. his fear of work and his desire for wealth
D. his loyalty to religion and his interest in science

29 What does Sohini's behavior after the priest's harassment suggest about her characterization?

Characterization Medium
A. She deliberately uses tradition to control Bakha
B. She combines vulnerability with practical endurance
C. She is unaware of the danger surrounding her
D. She is primarily interested in gaining religious power

30 Why is Havildar Charat Singh significant in Bakha's development?

Characterization Medium
A. He exposes Bakha to the writings of Karl Marx
B. He offers Bakha a possible experience of recognition and kindness
C. He teaches Bakha how to become a temple priest
D. He persuades Lakha to abandon his occupation

31 The novel's repeated attention to washing, pollution, and bodily contact primarily develops the theme of

Themes Medium
A. the decline of village agriculture
B. the rivalry between Indian and British sports
C. the conflict between tradition and industrialization
D. the social construction of purity and pollution

32 How does the novel connect caste oppression with economic exploitation?

Themes Medium
A. The upper castes perform sanitation work without payment
B. The oppressed perform necessary labor but receive little respect or security
C. The British abolish caste by regulating all occupations
D. The oppressed control trade but avoid political participation

33 The contrast between Bakha's attraction to modern clothing and the persistence of caste prejudice suggests that modernity

Themes Medium
A. changes appearances more easily than social relationships
B. is rejected equally by every social group
C. has already eliminated traditional identities
D. benefits only characters connected with religion

34 The ending presents Gandhi's reformist message and the flush toilet as two different responses to untouchability. What distinction do they represent?

Themes Medium
A. military action and religious conversion
B. individual escape and family reconciliation
C. economic expansion and colonial administration
D. moral transformation and technological change

35 Why is dignity an important theme in Bakha's experiences at work?

Themes Medium
A. His labor is necessary, yet society treats him as inherently impure
B. His occupation is prestigious, yet he dislikes public attention
C. His family is wealthy, yet he refuses inherited property
D. His work is temporary, yet he expects a government pension

36 What is the effect of structuring most of the novel around a single day in Bakha's life?

Narrative technique Medium
A. It compresses social criticism into an intense personal experience
B. It prevents the reader from observing changes in Bakha's thinking
C. It makes Bakha's character less important than the setting
D. It presents history as a sequence of unrelated national events

37 The narration frequently follows Bakha's sensations and thoughts while describing public events. This technique mainly helps the reader

Narrative technique Medium
A. treat caste conflict as a purely historical issue
B. experience social oppression through an individual consciousness
C. judge every character by an objective legal standard
D. focus on the narrator's biography rather than Bakha's life

38 Anand's use of detailed physical settings, such as latrines, streets, and the temple courtyard, primarily creates a style of

Narrative technique Medium
A. symbolist narration detached from ordinary life
B. satirical comedy focused on courtly manners
C. romantic fantasy centered on heroic adventure
D. social realism grounded in material conditions

39 How does the contrast between Bakha's inner responses and the public speech of other characters affect the narrative?

Narrative technique Medium
A. It removes the need for descriptions of caste practices
B. It exposes the gap between private suffering and accepted social language
C. It proves that Bakha misunderstands every event in the novel
D. It makes the upper-caste characters appear consistently sympathetic

40 The episodic encounters Bakha experiences during the day are most effective because they

Narrative technique Medium
A. suggest that only one individual is responsible for caste prejudice
B. shift the novel away from Bakha toward colonial history
C. show that untouchability operates across several social situations
D. turn the plot into a mystery about the temple

41 How does the novel's single-day structure most significantly shape the reader's understanding of Bakha's oppression?

Plot Hard
A. It suggests Bakha's suffering results mainly from his family's domestic failures
B. It separates personal humiliation from the larger political issues of colonial India
C. It presents oppression as a recurring social condition rather than an isolated misfortune
D. It reduces caste conflict to a temporary crisis resolved within one afternoon

42 What is the structural significance of Bakha's encounter with the high-caste passer-by after he has been working in the latrines?

Plot Hard
A. It provides comic relief before the novel's political conclusion
B. It proves that Bakha's physical strength can defeat social prejudice
C. It transforms his private labor into a public spectacle of caste discipline
D. It marks his final rejection of all forms of religious belief

43 Why is Sohini's experience at the temple essential to the novel's development rather than merely a repetition of Bakha's humiliation?

Plot Hard
A. It establishes Sohini as the novel's secret political revolutionary
B. It extends caste violence through gendered exploitation and religious authority
C. It shifts the narrative entirely from colonial politics to family romance
D. It demonstrates that temple rituals are independent of social hierarchy

44 What is the narrative function of the three possible solutions presented near the end of the novel?

Plot Hard
A. They replace Bakha's personal story with an account of British military policy
B. They show that Bakha has abandoned practical action for private fantasy
C. They convert Bakha's experience into competing models of social transformation
D. They resolve the plot by confirming one universally accepted reform program

45 How does the hockey-stick episode alter the emotional trajectory of Bakha's day?

Plot Hard
A. It reconciles Bakha permanently with his father's expectations
B. It proves that colonial institutions have already eliminated caste discrimination
C. It offers a brief experience of recognition that intensifies his awareness of deprivation
D. It causes Bakha to regard physical violence as the only moral solution

46 Which description best captures Bakha's central psychological contradiction?

Characterization Hard
A. He appears submissive but secretly plans revenge against every upper-caste character
B. He resists caste degradation while internalizing the values of the society that degrades him
C. He rejects all social approval while consistently seeking political leadership
D. He accepts his inherited occupation without experiencing shame or imaginative conflict

47 Why is Bakha's fascination with English clothing more complex than simple imitation?

Characterization Hard
A. It shows that he has acquired a complete understanding of British politics
B. It demonstrates his conscious rejection of Indian cultural identity
C. It expresses his desire for dignity while exposing the colonial meanings attached to status
D. It confirms that clothing alone determines his social position

48 How should Lakha's treatment of Bakha be interpreted within the novel's social framework?

Characterization Hard
A. It indicates that Bakha's suffering is caused primarily by generational rivalry
B. It establishes Lakha as an organized opponent of Gandhian reform
C. It shows how oppressed people may reproduce hierarchy within their own community
D. It proves that family affection completely neutralizes caste oppression

49 What is the most important contrast between Bakha and Sohini?

Characterization Hard
A. Bakha accepts domestic discipline, whereas Sohini openly advocates violent rebellion
B. Bakha seeks religious authority, whereas Sohini rejects all forms of social responsibility
C. Bakha is politically educated, whereas Sohini remains unaware of caste restrictions
D. Bakha tends toward restless self-questioning, whereas Sohini displays practical endurance

50 What does Bakha's response to Gandhi reveal about his character?

Characterization Hard
A. He understands Gandhi's program completely and immediately becomes an activist
B. He is receptive to ethical recognition but remains uncertain about practical emancipation
C. He dismisses moral appeals because he prefers colonial authority
D. He views Gandhi only as a religious figure unrelated to caste reform

51 Why does the priest's characterization matter beyond his individual misconduct?

Characterization Hard
A. He represents a rare religious figure who sincerely protects untouchable women
B. He functions mainly as a comic antagonist without ideological importance
C. He embodies the way institutional sanctity can conceal personal exploitation
D. He proves that Bakha's family misunderstands the meaning of temple ritual

52 Which formulation best explains the novel's treatment of purity and pollution?

Themes Hard
A. It accepts purity as biologically real but criticizes only its harsh enforcement
B. It exposes purity as a social fiction maintained through dependence on stigmatized labor
C. It presents pollution as a personal moral defect found mainly in Bakha
D. It treats purity as an obsolete idea unrelated to everyday economic life

53 How does sanitation function thematically in Untouchable?

Themes Hard
A. It serves only as realistic background for an otherwise conventional adventure plot
B. It links bodily cleanliness, social disgust, labor exploitation, and moral hypocrisy
C. It establishes that colonial sanitation policies benefited untouchables more than others
D. It symbolizes Bakha's successful escape from all forms of inherited identity

54 What tension does the novel create between Gandhian reform and technological change?

Themes Hard
A. It treats both alternatives as irrelevant to the lives of sanitation workers
B. It contrasts moral transformation with a material solution that could eliminate degrading labor
C. It proves that technology is merely another name for religious conversion
D. It presents Gandhian reform as violent and technology as spiritually authoritative

55 How does colonialism complicate the novel's critique of caste?

Themes Hard
A. British rule is presented as the sole cause of caste oppression in Bakha's community
B. The novel treats colonial culture as irrelevant to Bakha's aspirations and self-image
C. Colonial institutions are shown to have fully solved caste inequality before the story begins
D. Colonial modernity appears attractive to Bakha while leaving indigenous social domination largely intact

56 Which thematic interpretation best accounts for the novel's refusal to give Bakha a final decision?

Themes Hard
A. It implies that social reform is unnecessary because personal hope is sufficient
B. It preserves the difficulty of agency when available choices are shaped by unequal institutions
C. It confirms that Bakha lacks enough intelligence to understand the alternatives offered
D. It concludes that all proposed solutions are equally successful in practice

57 What is the principal effect of the novel's third-person narration closely aligned with Bakha's consciousness?

Narrative technique Hard
A. It guarantees a detached account that excludes Bakha's emotional interpretation
B. It allows every character to narrate events with equal psychological authority
C. It converts the novel into an autobiographical confession by the author
D. It combines social observation with the immediacy of an oppressed individual's experience

58 How does Anand's use of interior monologue contribute to the representation of caste oppression?

Narrative technique Hard
A. It reveals how external insults become internal conflict, shame, desire, and self-surveillance
B. It prevents the reader from recognizing the public consequences of humiliation
C. It replaces material oppression with purely psychological suffering
D. It gives Bakha an omniscient understanding of every social institution

59 What is the effect of arranging the novel through a series of encounters rather than through a tightly unified external action plot?

Narrative technique Hard
A. It presents colonial India as a stable society without competing viewpoints
B. It makes each incident independent of the others and therefore thematically insignificant
C. It maps caste ideology across different institutions and social relationships
D. It reduces Bakha to a passive observer without a continuous consciousness

60 How does the novel's ending function formally and ideologically?

Narrative technique Hard
A. It uses open-ended alternatives to invite judgment while withholding a simplistic resolution
B. It closes the narrative with a legally verified reform that immediately changes Bakha's life
C. It confirms that the day's events have no lasting effect on Bakha's understanding
D. It abandons realism by presenting Bakha's sudden transformation into a national leader
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