Unit 5: Short Stories - Practice Quiz

1 Who is the central figure in Khushwant Singh’s “Portrait of a Lady”?

2 What did the grandmother usually carry while walking to the village school?

3 Which animals did the grandmother feed in the village?

4 Why was the grandmother unhappy with the narrator’s city education?

5 Which activity became the grandmother’s happiest daily routine in the city?

6 What did the sparrows do after the grandmother died?

7 Which country is the narrator’s third and final continent associated with?

8 In which American city does the narrator first live?

9 Who is Mrs. Croft?

10 What word does Mrs. Croft repeatedly use to express approval?

11 What is the name of the narrator’s wife?

12 Which historic event greatly interests Mrs. Croft?

13 Which major theme is explored through the narrator’s life in America?

14 Who wrote “Malgudi Days”?

15 What kind of place is Malgudi?

16 What type of literary work is “Malgudi Days”?

17 Whose lives are mainly portrayed in “Malgudi Days”?

18 Which description best matches R.K. Narayan’s storytelling style?

19 Read the passage: “Ramu opened his small shop on Market Road before sunrise. He arranged the fruit carefully and waited for his first customer.” What did Ramu arrange?

20 Read the passage: “Meena missed the morning bus, so she walked quickly toward Malgudi railway station. She hoped to reach it before the train arrived.” Where was Meena going?

21 Why could the grandmother no longer help the narrator with his lessons after they moved to the city?

22 Which development most clearly marks the final stage of separation between the narrator and his grandmother?

23 What is most strongly suggested by the sparrows' silent gathering after the grandmother's death?

24 Why is the title Portrait of a Lady especially appropriate?

25 How does the grandmother's beating of the drum on the narrator's return contribute to the story?

26 Which statement best explains why the narrator's bond with his grandmother survives their growing physical distance?

27 Which sequence correctly represents the narrator's movement across the three continents?

28 What does Mrs. Croft's repeated discussion of the American flag on the moon mainly reveal?

29 Why is Mrs. Croft's description of Mala as a “perfect lady” important to the narrator?

30 What broader meaning does the title The Third and Final Continent acquire by the end of the story?

31 The narrator's early routine of eating simple meals such as cereal and bananas is best understood as evidence of his—

32 How does the narrator's retrospective reference to his long marriage and successful son affect the story's meaning?

33 In An Astrologer's Day, why can the astrologer give Guru Nayak convincing details about his past?

34 What is the central ethical conflict in The Missing Mail?

35 In Leela's Friend, what does the family's immediate suspicion of Sidda most clearly expose?

36 Why is Malgudi effective as the shared setting of Narayan's stories?

37 Which description best captures Narayan's typical narrative tone in Malgudi Days?

38 In Lawley Road, the changing decisions about Sir Frederick Lawley's statue mainly satirize—

39 Read the adapted passage: A shopkeeper cuts the cord that forces a dog to guide a blind beggar. For a few days the dog is free, but it later returns and is tied with a stronger chain. What is the central irony?

40 Read the adapted passage: A man wins a road engine as a prize. Unable to use or sell it, he must spend money moving it and paying for the damage it causes. What produces the humor in this situation?

41 Which sequence most accurately traces the increasing distance between the narrator and his grandmother?

42 The grandmother's objection to music lessons chiefly reveals which conflict?

43 Why is the sparrows' refusal to eat the scattered breadcrumbs after the grandmother's death especially significant?

44 The grandmother's drumming and singing on the narrator's return from abroad are best interpreted as

45 What is the principal structural effect of beginning with the grandmother's apparently timeless appearance and then narrating progressive stages of separation?

46 Which interpretation best accounts for the title's emphasis on the word "final"?

47 Mrs. Croft's repeated exclamation about the American flag on the moon primarily functions as

48 What most directly changes the narrator's initial perception of Mala as a stranger imposed by an arranged marriage?

49 Mrs. Croft's role as a cultural mediator is paradoxical because she

50 How does the narrator's restrained style affect the representation of migration?

51 Why does the older narrator tell his son that ordinary people can accomplish astonishing things?

52 In "An Astrologer's Day," the protagonist's apparent supernatural accuracy is ultimately explained by

53 The ending of "An Astrologer's Day" most strongly complicates the astrologer's deception by showing that it

54 In "The Doctor's Word," Dr. Raman's reassuring statement to Gopal creates a central ethical paradox because

55 Thanappa's decision in "The Missing Mail" is most accurately understood as

56 What does the dog's return to the blind beggar in "The Blind Dog" most powerfully suggest?

57 In "The Axe," Velan's request to leave before the margosa tree is cut chiefly reveals

58 The changing public treatment of Sir Frederick Lawley's statue in "Lawley Road" primarily satirizes

59 Read this adapted passage from the situation in "Engine Trouble":

The prize looked magnificent while it stood on the fairground. Once the fair departed, however, the winner had to pay for guards, arrange impossible transport, and answer complaints about the machine's presence.

Which inference best captures the passage's irony?

60 Read this adapted passage from the situation in "The Trail of the Green Blazer":

After taking the purse, the pickpocket discovered a small domestic reminder inside it. A sudden tenderness made him attempt to undo his theft, but that return brought him under suspicion.

Which thematic principle is most clearly illustrated?