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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. Gandhi
B. Colonel Hutchinson
C. Havildar Charat Singh
D. Bakha

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 week
B. One day
C. One year
D. One month

4 Where does Bakha live with his family?

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

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

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

6 Who gives Bakha a pair of trousers?

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

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

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

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

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

9 How is Bakha mainly portrayed in the novel?

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

10 What does Bakha admire about the British soldiers?

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

11 Who is Lakha?

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

12 What role does Sohini play in the novel?

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

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

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

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

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

15 What is the central social issue presented in Untouchable?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

19 Which point of view is mainly used in Untouchable?

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

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

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

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 plans to visit the British cantonment
C. He intends to search for his missing sister
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 accidentally touches a high-caste man
C. He breaks a shopkeeper's window
D. He argues with a British soldier

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 teaches Bakha how to become a temple priest
B. He exposes Bakha to the writings of Karl Marx
C. He offers Bakha a possible experience of recognition and kindness
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 rivalry between Indian and British sports
B. the decline of village agriculture
C. the social construction of purity and pollution
D. the conflict between tradition and industrialization

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 control trade but avoid political participation
C. The oppressed perform necessary labor but receive little respect or security
D. The British abolish caste by regulating all occupations

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

Themes Medium
A. is rejected equally by every social group
B. changes appearances more easily than social relationships
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. moral transformation and technological change
B. military action and religious conversion
C. economic expansion and colonial administration
D. individual escape and family reconciliation

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

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

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

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. social realism grounded in material conditions
D. romantic fantasy centered on heroic adventure

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

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 reduces caste conflict to a temporary crisis resolved within one afternoon
D. It presents oppression as a recurring social condition rather than an isolated misfortune

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 confirms that clothing alone determines his social position
D. It expresses his desire for dignity while exposing the colonial meanings attached to status

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 shows how oppressed people may reproduce hierarchy within their own community
C. It proves that family affection completely neutralizes caste oppression
D. It establishes Lakha as an organized opponent of Gandhian reform

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 is politically educated, whereas Sohini remains unaware of caste restrictions
C. Bakha tends toward restless self-questioning, whereas Sohini displays practical endurance
D. Bakha seeks religious authority, whereas Sohini rejects all forms of social responsibility

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

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

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 embodies the way institutional sanctity can conceal personal exploitation
C. He functions mainly as a comic antagonist without ideological importance
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 treats purity as an obsolete idea unrelated to everyday economic life
C. It exposes purity as a social fiction maintained through dependence on stigmatized labor
D. It presents pollution as a personal moral defect found mainly in Bakha

53 How does sanitation function thematically in Untouchable?

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

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 modernity appears attractive to Bakha while leaving indigenous social domination largely intact
D. Colonial institutions are shown to have fully solved caste inequality before the story begins

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

Themes Hard
A. It preserves the difficulty of agency when available choices are shaped by unequal institutions
B. It confirms that Bakha lacks enough intelligence to understand the alternatives offered
C. It implies that social reform is unnecessary because personal hope is sufficient
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 converts the novel into an autobiographical confession by the author
B. It guarantees a detached account that excludes Bakha's emotional interpretation
C. It combines social observation with the immediacy of an oppressed individual's experience
D. It allows every character to narrate events with equal psychological authority

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

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

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

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 confirms that the day's events have no lasting effect on Bakha's understanding
C. It closes the narrative with a legally verified reform that immediately changes Bakha's life
D. It abandons realism by presenting Bakha's sudden transformation into a national leader
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