Aaron’s Rod MCQs

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Author: Nasir Iqbal | Assistant Professor of English Literature

Aaron's Rod MCQs
Updated on: October 21, 2025
Estimated Reading Time: 17 min

Aaron’s Rod MCQs

1. What season and major event coincided with the start of the novel?

A. Autumn, Election
B. Summer, Strike
C. Christmas Eve, War over
D. Easter, Drought

C. Christmas Eve, War over.
The story begins on Christmas Eve just after World War I has ended, a time of supposed peace that feels empty.

2. What is Aaron Sisson’s role at his colliery?

A. Treasurer of the Pit
B. Mines Manager
C. Secretary to the Miners Union
D. Engine Driver

C. Secretary to the Miners Union.
Aaron holds a position of responsibility in the working-class world that he is about to abandon.

3. What domestic detail showed the house was settling due to the mines?

A. Cracks in the wall
B. The floorboards creaked
C. The doors did not fit
D. The chimney smoked

C. The doors did not fit.
The house sinking due to mining underneath it symbolizes the unstable foundation of Aaron’s domestic life.

4. What was the ultimate fate of the blue ball?

A. Millicent kept it safely.
B. Marjory broke it.
C. It smashed on the tiles.
D. Aaron threw it in the fire.

C. It smashed on the tiles.
The smashing of the fragile Christmas ornament symbolizes the breaking of the family’s fragile peace and happiness.
5. What classical composer was Aaron playing on his piccolo?

A. Bach
B. Mozart
C. Beethoven
D. Corelli

B. Mozart.
Aaron’s flute (or piccolo) represents his individual soul and his connection to art, which is separate from his family life.

6. What feeling was in the air as Aaron left home?

A. Profound relief
B. Nervous excitement
C. Deep melancholy
D. Quiet contentment

B. Nervous excitement.
The atmosphere of the post-war Christmas Eve reflects Aaron’s own feeling as he walks out on his family.

7. What did Josephine Ford do that suggested a snake’s flicker?

A. Stared fixedly
B. Licked her dry red lips
C. Twisted her body
D. Wept silently

B. Licked her dry red lips.
This description introduces the London bohemian set as decadent and slightly predatory.

8. What caused the light burning outside Shottle House?

A. Christmas decorations
B. A gas lamp
C. The pit-bank refuse fire
D. A military exercise

C. The pit-bank refuse fire.
The constant fire from the mine is an industrial intrusion into the Christmas night, a symbol of the ugly modern world.

9. What is Aaron Sisson’s occupation, confirmed later in the scene?

A. Checkweighman
B. Law stationer
C. Medical assistant
D. Coal heaver

A. Checkweighman.
As a checkweighman, Aaron is a trusted official for the miners, making his abandonment of them significant.
10. Aaron tells Josephine and the others he is doing what tonight?

A. Going home
B. Not going home
C. Staying with Lilly
D. Going to work

B. Not going home.
This is the moment Aaron makes his decision to leave his family definite and public.

11. What does Aaron’s wife say about her husband’s nature?

A. Quiet, selfish through and through
B. Easily satisfied
C. Noble and trustworthy
D. Too talkative

A. Quiet, selfish through and through.
Lottie’s letter establishes the central conflict from her point of view: she sees Aaron’s quest for selfhood as pure selfishness.

12. What is Lilly’s primary profession?

A. Sculptor
B. Literary artist
C. Musician
D. Barrister

B. Literary artist.
Lilly, a writer and thinker, serves as a gúru figure for Aaron and a mouthpiece for many of D.H. Lawrence’s own ideas.

13. What famous literary work does Lilly reference regarding his situation?

A. Robinson Crusoes
B. Hamlet
C. Don Quixote
D. Moby Dick

A. Robinson Crusoes.
Lilly sees modern individuals as isolated “Crusoes” who must learn to be alone and self-sufficient.

14. What does Jim Bricknell define love as?

A. A battle
B. A necessity
C. The soul’s respiration
D. A vice

C. The soul’s respiration.
Jim represents the philosophy of love as an all-consuming need, which Lilly and Aaron ultimately reject as weak.
15. Josephine’s new political desire after Borrioboola-Gha fails:

A. Universal suffrage
B. Bloody revolution
C. Peace reform
D. Socialism

B. Bloody revolution.
Josephine’s desire for violent revolution is portrayed as another empty, sensation-seeking idea of the bohemian set.

16. What was Aaron’s original career path, abandoned after three years?

A. Mining
B. Shopkeeping
C. Schoolteacher
D. Music

C. Schoolteacher.
This shows Aaron has previously tried and rejected a conventional, intellectual career path before returning to the mines.

17. Aaron describes his reason for leaving his family as wanting:

A. Money
B. Fresh air/free room
C. A new career
D. A new lover

B. Fresh air/free room.
Aaron expresses his need to escape domestic suffocation in simple, physical terms, wanting space to be himself.

18. Where does Lilly live in Hampshire?

A. A mansion
B. A laborer’s cottage
C. A flat in town
D. A houseboat

B. A laborer’s cottage.
Lilly’s simple country life represents a conscious rejection of the chaotic and false world of London.

19. What did Jim claim to be seeking from Lilly?

A. Financial help
B. Salvation
C. Music lessons
D. Legal advice

B. Salvation.
Jim is part of a “lost generation” after the war, desperately seeking a leader or a belief system to save him.
20. What specific criticism by Lilly provoked Jim to strike him?

A. His drinking habits
B. His maudlin crying to be loved
C. His financial instability
D. His bad manners

B. His maudlin crying to be loved.
Lilly attacks the core of Jim’s “love” philosophy as weak and sentimental, which provokes a violent reaction.

21. What word does Lilly think to himself when Jim claims to like him?

A. Traitor
B. Judas
C. Bully
D. Fool

B. Judas.
Lilly sees Jim’s violent outburst as a betrayal, confirming his belief that the “love-mode” is unstable and destructive.

22. How was Aaron Sisson found one cold grey afternoon in London?

A. Running across the street
B. Drunk and collapsed in the market
C. Playing his flute for money
D. Visiting Lilly’s flat

B. Drunk and collapsed in the market.
Aaron’s collapse shows his inability to survive on his own. He needs Lilly to save him.

23. How did Lilly finally manage to improve Aaron’s health?

A. Gave him pills
B. Rubbed his abdomen with oil
C. Sent him to a hospital
D. Forced him to walk

B. Rubbed his abdomen with oil.
This famous scene is a symbolic act of healing through physical touch, establishing a deep, non-sexual bond between the two men.

24. What does Lilly call the relationship between him and his wife (Egoisme a deux)?

A. A perfect union
B. Self-conscious egoistic state
C. A partnership of equals
D. A modern necessity

B. Self-conscious egoistic state.
Lilly admits his own marriage is a kind of balanced selfishness, not the all-consuming love ideal that he rejects.
25. When Aaron came home, what emotion did his wife Lottie exhibit, besides hate?

A. Hope
B. Indifference
C. Anger
D. Relief

A. Hope.
Lottie’s complex reaction shows that despite her anger, she still hopes for a reconciliation and a return to their marriage.

26. Lottie describes Aaron as being too weak to do what?

A. Earn money
B. Leave the children
C. Love a woman and give her what she wants
D. Play music

C. Love a woman and give her what she wants.
Lottie attacks Aaron’s manhood, claiming he is too weak to fulfill her idea of what a loving husband should be.

27. What final action did Lottie take that drove Aaron away again?

A. Confessed her own sins
B. Clutched him by the shirt-neck
C. Threatened to call the police
D. Gave him money

B. Clutched him by the shirt-neck.
Lottie’s final, possessive, and almost violent act confirms for Aaron that he must escape her dominating will.

28. Aaron resolves that love is what kind of contest?

A. Endless
B. Battle for mastery of the soul
C. Gentle yielding
D. Mutual respect

B. Battle for mastery of the soul.
After his encounter with Lottie, Aaron comes to the cynical conclusion that love is a destructive power struggle.

29. Where does Aaron alight in Italy, hoping to meet Lilly?

A. Florence
B. Venice
C. Novara
D. Naples

C. Novara.
Aaron’s journey continues from England to Italy, following Lilly on his pilgrimage for a new way of life.
30. What comparison does Aaron use for the Florentine people’s movements?

A. Tiny figures on a big stage
B. Ants in a colony
C. Sheep herding
D. Prowling tigers

A. Tiny figures on a big stage.
In the ancient city of Florence, Aaron feels detached from the people, seeing them as small actors in a grand historical play.

31. What comparison does Aaron make for Lottie’s constant will against him?

A. A hammer blow
B. A flat sheet of iron/cold snake
C. A beautiful flower
D. A gentle hand

B. A flat sheet of iron/cold snake.
This image reveals Aaron’s feeling of being crushed and threatened by his wife’s powerful, unyielding personality.

32. What does the Marchese’s wife, the Marchesa, suffer from regarding music?

A. Too much rhythm
B. Hating all instruments
C. Nausea from chords/harmonies
D. Deafness

C. Nausea from chords/harmonies.
The Marchesa is a néurotic and overly sensitive American living in Florence, representing a decadent and decaying aristocracy.

33. What does the Marchesa ask Aaron to play in the big room?

A. A piano sonata
B. With accompaniment
C. His flute, quite alone
D. A string quartette

C. His flute, quite alone.
She is drawn to the pure, single melody of his flute, which she finds soothing, unlike complex harmonies.

34. How does Lilly describe the current state of European ideals (love, liberty, etc.)?

A. Renewing
B. Putrid, stinking
C. Evolving
D. Stable

B. Putrid, stinking.
This is Lilly’s core philosophy. He believes the great ideas of Western civilization are now dead and corrupting.
35. What happened in the cafe after Lilly claimed to hate bullying?

A. A fight broke out
B. A waiter scolded them
C. A bomb exploded
D. The police arrived

C. A bomb exploded.
The anarchist bomb symbolizes the violent collapse of the old social order that Lilly and his friends have been discussing.

36. What item of Aaron’s was destroyed in the explosion?

A. His overcoat
B. His watch
C. His flute
D. His music book

C. His flute.
The destruction of his flute, his “rod,” is the climax of the novel. It shatters the symbol of his individual, artistic soul.

37. What advice did Lilly give Aaron about the destroyed instrument?

A. Save the parts
B. Throw it in the river
C. Buy a new one
D. Get compensation

B. Throw it in the river.
Lilly tells him he must let go of his old self and his reliance on his art to be reborn.

38. What does Aaron call the broken flute section?

A. A warning
B. A loss
C. Aaron’s Rod
D. A souvenir

C. Aaron’s Rod.
He names the broken symbol after the biblical staff, acknowledging its power and significance to his identity.

39. What was Aaron’s physical/mental state after his time with the Marchesa?

A. Healthy and restored
B. Blasted/withered
C. Exhausted but satisfied
D. Furious and bitter

B. Blasted/withered.
His affair with the Marchesa is not a fulfilling passion but a destructive one that drains his life force.
40. What truth about marriage does Aaron realize (as told by Lilly)?

A. A husband is not a lover
B. All women want husbands
C. Love always lasts
D. Fidelity is crucial

A. A husband is not a lover.
This is a key Lawrencian idea: the role of a husband in a stable union is different from the role of a passionate lover.

41. Aaron plans to join Lilly because he feels a thread of destiny attaching him to whom?

A. The Marchesa
B. Lilly
C. Lottie
D. Francis

B. Lilly.
After all his failed relationships, Aaron decides his true path is to follow Lilly and his philosophy.

42. What does Lilly say is his only power regarding society?

A. Change it
B. Ignore it
C. Go his own way
D. Criticize it

C. Go his own way.
Lilly’s power comes from his independence and his refusal to be controlled by society’s expectations.

43. Lilly says we must forget words like love and religion to find what?

A. Freedom
B. A new mode
C. Obedience
D. Happiness

B. A new mode.
Lilly believes the old words are dead and people need to find a completely new way of living and relating.

44. According to Lilly, what are the two great dynamic urges in life?

A. Love and submission
B. Hate and war
C. Love and power
D. Money and freedom

C. Love and power.
This is the central philosophical conflict of the novel: the urge for loving union versus the urge for individual power.
45. Lilly claims the power-urge in man must issue forth, and woman must respond by:

A. Fighting back
B. Submitting subjectedly
C. Submitting livingly
D. Leaving the man

C. Submitting livingly.
Lilly outlines his controversial view on gender relations, where a woman must actively and gracefully submit to a man’s power-urge.

46. What does Lilly demand Aaron must accept and yield to?

A. The quicksands of woman
B. The love-mode
C. The deep power-soul in the individual man
D. Society

C. The deep power-soul in the individual man.
In the novel’s final argument, Lilly tells Aaron he must stop resisting and submit his soul to a greater male leader.

47. How does Aaron describe Lilly’s face during this argument?

A. Dark and remote/like a Byzantine eikon
B. Angry and frustrated
C. Warm and friendly
D. Shrewd and cunning

A. Dark and remote/like a Byzantine eikon.
As Lilly preaches his philosophy, he takes on the appearance of a remote, ancient, and impersonal religious icon.

48. What characteristic of Lilly made his final words maddening and fascinating to Aaron?

A. His wealth
B. His indifference/finality
C. His logic
D. His beauty

B. His indifference/finality.
Lilly’s power comes from his self-sufficiency. He does not need Aaron’s agreement, which makes his ideas more compelling.

49. What is the main characteristic of the new government system argued for by Lilly?

A. Total equality
B. Implicit obedience to a greater soul
C. Democratic freedom
D. Wealth redistribution

B. Implicit obedience to a greater soul.
Lilly’s political vision is anti-democratic, based on a hierarchy where individuals submit to a great leader.
50. What physical detail does Aaron notice about the Florentine men gathered in the piazza?

A. Their clothes
B. Their subtle fearlessness
C. Their height
D. Their beards

B. Their subtle fearlessness.
Aaron sees in the Italian men a kind of self-contained, physical manhood that is different from the English.

Brief Overview

Aaron’s Rod is a novel by D. H. Lawrence. It begins with Aaron Sisson, an amateur flute player and coal miner, on Christmas Eve. He feels trapped by his marriage and his three children, so he suddenly decides to walk out on them.

Aaron travels first to London, carrying his flute with him. His flute, the “rod” of the title, becomes a symbol of his individual self and his art. He meets Rawdon Lilly, a writer with strong ideas about power and the need for men to submit to a greater male leader.

Aaron is interested in Lilly’s ideas but also resists them. He wants to be a free individual, but he also feels lost and alone. The two men eventually travel to Italy, moving through Florence and other cities, where Aaron has an unsatisfying affair with an Italian woman.

The novel’s climax happens when a bomb explodes in a café. The explosion destroys Aaron’s flute, which deeply shakes him. The story ends with Aaron and Lilly having a long conversation about the future of humanity. Lilly tells Aaron he must submit to a “greater soul,” but the novel ends with Aaron still alone and undecided.

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