JAMB Literature in English 2002 past questions and answers

Abubakar Gimba's Witnesses to Tears: In the novel, Al-Amin's initial reservations about his daughter's engagement to Lahab are informed by

1. A.a premonition of his death
2. B.Lahab's doubtful morality
3. C.Hussaina's immaturity
4. D.his fear of loneliness

Abubakar Gimba's Witnesses to Tears: The witnesses to the tears in the novel are

1. A.Saahir and Lahab
2. B.Lahab and Hussaina
3. C.Lahab and Sagiir
4. D.Al-Amin and Hussaina

Abubakar Gimba's Witnesses to Tears: The novel is largely set in

1. A.Futa Toro
2. B.Sabonville city
3. C.Alligator city
4. D.Nuclear city

George Orwell's Animal Farm: Old Major ends his speech to the animals with a song in order to

1. A.spur them to action
2. B.entertain them
3. C.display his ability to sing
4. D.teach them how to sing an anthem

George Orwell's Animal Farm: The execution of some of the animals on the orders of Napoleon is to

1. A.prevent Snowball from coming back to the farm
2. B.make the pigs constitute themselves into a special class
3. C.achieve the pigs' socialist goals without further delay
4. D.pave way for Napoleon to become an absolute ruler

George Orwell's Animal Farm: The message of the novel is that

1. A.capitalism is as bad as communism
2. B.humanism is better than animalism
3. C.communism is better than capitalism
4. D.no society exists where everyone is equal

George Orwell's Animal Farm: After the expulsion of Snowball from the farm, the triumvirate that ran the farm was composed of

1. A.Minimus, Napoleon and Squealer
2. B.Jessie, Napoleon and Bluebell
3. C.Boxer, Old Major and Napoleon
4. D.Squealer, Boxer and Napoleon

S.I. Osammor's The Triumph of the Water Lily: The dominant impression of the first person narrative in the novel gives it

1. A.an omniscient character
2. B.an epistolary character
3. C.a biographical character
4. D.an autobiographical character

S.I. Osammor's The Triumph of the Water Lily: The persona of the novel sees death as a welcome event provided one

1. A.has loved and cared for one's spouse
2. B.has left behind children to be remembered by
3. C.has fulfilled one's destiny on earth
4. D.will haunt the living for the past offences

S.I. Osammor's The Triumph of the Water Lily: The metaphor of the 'Water Lily' in the novel is indicative of

1. A.the tragic demise of Odibe
2. B.death as the finality of man's experience
3. C.victory over tribulation
4. D.the tragic demise of Nkem

William Golding, Lord of the Flies (extract)

Golding, Lord of the Flies: In the passage above, the conch symbolises

1. A.bestiality
2. B.authority
3. C.dictatorship
4. D.civilization

George Eliot, Silas Marner: In the statement above, the Squire is portrayed as a

1. A.kind and generous friend
2. B.father to everyone in the community
3. C.miserly and ungracious ruler
4. D.quick tempered and adamant man

The speaker in the statement above is being

1. A.symbolical
2. B.analogical
3. C.metaphorical
4. D.parabolical

Charity Angya, The Cycle of the Moon: The mood captured in the lines above is one of

1. A.fear
2. B.happiness
3. C.indifference
4. D.joy

Charity Angya, The Cycle of the Moon: The literary device used is

1. A.parallelism
2. B.irony
3. C.onomatopoeia
4. D.repetition

Dambudzo Marechera, Black Sunlight: The passage above expresses the state of mind of

1. A.an alienated man
2. B.an adventurer
3. C.a renegade soldier
4. D.a prisoner

Shakespeare, Othello: From the statement above it can be inferred that the speaker is

1. A.disobedient
2. B.quarrelsome
3. C.servile
4. D.scheming

Wole Soyinka, The Interpreters: The idiolectal feature of the character's speech is the

1. A.repetition of consonant sounds
2. B.multiplication of medial consonant sounds
3. C.repetition of initial consonant sounds
4. D.duplication of consonant sound clusters

John Updike, The Centaur: The long haul in the narrative above describes

1. A.a long strike
2. B.Christmas and Easter holidays
3. C.a long period of hard work
4. D.a long vacation

The sonority and rhythmical structure of the lines above are achieved through a pause-pattern called

1. A.enjambment
2. B.caesura
3. C.apostrophe
4. D.scansion

A body of imaginative men and women of letters is generally referred to as

1. A.litterateur
2. B.laureattes
3. C.literaria
4. D.literati

A poem written to celebrate one's wedding is

1. A.a pastoral
2. B.an epithalamium
3. C.a prothalamium
4. D.a terza rima

An iambic metrical foot consists of

1. A.an unstressed syllable following a stressed syllable
2. B.a stressed syllable following another stressed syllable
3. C.an unstressed syllable following another unstressed syllable
4. D.a stressed syllable following an unstressed syllable

Empathy is achieved when the audience

1. A.feels betrayed by the director
2. B.denounces and humiliates the protagonist
3. C.vicariously participates in the stage experience
4. D.attacks the character foil

The overall design of a drama to which all other components relate is its

1. A.catharsis
2. B.exposition
3. C.structure
4. D.symbol

What does the protagonist do in a picaresque novel?

1. A.He embarks on a journey
2. B.He slows down the narration
3. C.He draws illustrative pictures
4. D.He becomes an artist

In the plot of a novel emphasis should be placed on

1. A.showing casual connection of incidents
2. B.the vivid presentation of incidents
3. C.the accurate presentation of incidents
4. D.narrating the truth of incidents

An irredeemable reversal of the hero's fortune in a tragedy is called

1. A.anagnorisis
2. B.peripeteia
3. C.purgation
4. D.hubris

A limerick has

1. A.ornate style, humour, irony and seven lines
2. B.humour, rhyme scheme and five lines
3. C.formal and elaborate style and humour
4. D.a stinging climax, rhyme scheme and five lines

David Diop, Loser of Everything (extract)

In the lines above from David Diop's 'Loser of Everything' the imagery depicts a displacement of

1. A.innocence by violence
2. B.nature by science
3. C.village life by barrack life
4. D.the natural by the artificial

Yusuf Kassam's 'Maji Maji' is presented as a

1. A.traditional poem
2. B.narrative poem
3. C.lyric
4. D.dirge

Mohan Singh, A Village Girl (extract)

The literary devices used in the lines above from Mohan Singh's 'A Village Girl' are

1. A.enjambment and alliteration
2. B.rhyme and limerick
3. C.simile and irony
4. D.repetition and assonance

The theme of Kalu Uka's 'Earth to Earth' is

1. A.the destruction of the earth
2. B.the early death of a loved one
3. C.burial and death
4. D.man and mortality

Lenrie Peters in 'She came in Silken Drapes' reflects

1. A.the paradox of childbirth
2. B.the joy of motherhood
3. C.the mystery of love and childbirth
4. D.a woman's agony in labour

John Donne's 'Death be not Proud' is informed by a

1. A.romantic inquest into the nature of mortality
2. B.rejection of the belief in eternity
3. C.metaphysical attack on the omnipotence of God
4. D.metaphysical persuasion on the immortality of man

The mood of the narrator in Mohan Singh's 'A Village Girl' is one of

1. A.affection
2. B.antagonism
3. C.admiration
4. D.hatred

The dominant imagery in Kofi Awoonor's 'The Cathedral' is

1. A.olfactory
2. B.auditory
3. C.tactile
4. D.visual

Robert Frost, Wild Grapes (extract)

The imagery in The tree had me from Robert Frost's 'Wild Grapes' is

1. A.from the adventures of some wild children in the forest
2. B.the dramatic suspension of a child on a tree
3. C.the successful climbing of an adventurous boy
4. D.reminiscent of man's transcendentalism

Arthur Nortje's 'Nightfall' despicts

1. A.the yearning for self-fulfilment in life
2. B.the horrors of nightfall
3. C.the yearning for love
4. D.anxiety at nightfall

Oliver Goldsmith's She Stoops to Conquer: The play is essentially about the

1. A.theft of Miss Neville's trinket box
2. B.comedy of errors of one night
3. C.incompatibility of Mr. and Mrs. Hardcastle
4. D.love affair between Kate and Marlow

Oliver Goldsmith's She Stoops to Conquer: In the play, the general picture depicted is that of

1. A.lower-class degeneracy
2. B.successfully arranged marriages
3. C.chaotic value systems
4. D.clearly focused personalities

Oliver Goldsmith's She Stoops to Conquer: From the stage directions, it is apparent that Oliver Goldsmith makes use of a

1. A.set each for the upper and lower classes
2. B.different set for each Act
3. C.variety of sets to suit the subject matter
4. D.single set in the whole play

Oliver Goldsmith, She Stoops to Conquer (extract)

Oliver Goldsmith's She Stoops to Conquer: The dialogue above reveals the couple's

1. A.fear of the unknown
2. B.difference in lifestyle
3. C.love for each other
4. D.humorous disposition

Oliver Goldsmith's She Stoops to Conquer: Kate could best be described as

1. A.a mild-tempered heroine
2. B.an unassuming aristocrat
3. C.a hot-tempered aristocrat
4. D.an acutely sensitive character

J.P. Clark's The Wives' Revolt: Characterization in the play is

1. A.economical but ineffective
2. B.economical and effective
3. C.elaborate but ineffective
4. D.elaborate and effective

J.P. Clark's The Wives' Revolt: The play is preoccupied with

1. A.the fight by women to keep their goats
2. B.the evil that oil money breeds
3. C.women liberation from male domination
4. D.women's protest against men's wickedness

J.P. Clark's The Wives' Revolt: The highest measure women in the community can take to register their protest is to

1. A.take to prostitution
2. B.carry out the nude act
3. C.abandon their husbands
4. D.abandon their children

J.P. Clark's The Wives' Revolt: The plot of the play is lineal as reflected in the

1. A.episodic nature of the play
2. B.movement of the women
3. C.arrangement of the events in the play
4. D.progression of the argument of Okoro

J.P. Clark, The Wives' Revolt (extract)

J.P. Clark's The Wives' Revolt: The event above happens in

1. A.Iyara when Okoro discovers Koko's infidelity
2. B.Erhuwaren when Koko suspects and accuses her husband
3. C.Erhuwaren when Okoro suspects Koko of infidelity
4. D.Erhuwaren before Koko's return from Iyara