In Arcadia MCQs

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Author: Nasir Iqbal | Assistant Professor of English Literature

In Arcadia MCQs
Updated on: November 6, 2025
Estimated Reading Time: 18 min

In Arcadia MCQs

1. Why did the crew agree to the film project?

A. They believed in Arcadia’s concept.
B. They wanted money and escape.
C. Malasso forced them.
D. They loved working together.

B. They wanted money and escape.
They were desperate shipwrecks needing a job to escape their problems, failures, and boredom.

2. What state were the crew members in when the message arrived?

A. Serene and hopeful
B. Wealthy and successful
C. On the verge of nervous breakdowns
D. Recently employed

C. On the verge of nervous breakdowns.
They were shipwrecks clinging to sanity, full of fear and failure, and needing a miracle.

3. Who was the supposed contact man coordinating the adventure?

A. Jim
B. Sam
C. Malasso
D. Lao

C. Malasso.
The summons came from Malasso, their mysterious contact man whom no one had ever met.
4. What was the narrator’s (Lao’s) realization about the lost item they sought?

A. He could never find it again.
B. It was found in childhood memories.
C. It was lost somewhere before childhood.
D. Both A and C.

D. Both A and C.
Lao believed they lost something long ago, perhaps before childhood, and could never find it again.

5. According to Lao, what is essential to success in their cynical times?

A. Ardent belief
B. Fine hypocrisy
C. Extreme honesty
D. Strong enthusiasm

B. Fine hypocrisy.
Lao believed that in cynical times, a fine hypocrisy is essential to success.

6. What profession was Jim, the director, in the “last chance saloon” for?

A. Sound engineering
B. Cameraman
C. Directing
D. Presenting

C. Directing.
Jim was the director, described as being in the “last chance saloon” after seven years without work.

7. What was Propr’s main job failure, despite his fanaticism about noise?

A. He talked too much.
B. He was practically deaf.
C. He always lost his equipment.
D. He only worked with sheep.

B. He was practically deaf.
Propr, the sound man, was ironically unsound, practically tone deaf, and voted worst sound man.
8. What was Husk, the researcher, obsessively focused on?

A. Fame and love
B. Money, losing weight, and flies
C. Spirituality and the abyss
D. Jim’s affection

B. Money, losing weight, and flies.
Husk was described as obsessively focused on money, losing weight, and flies.

9. What distinguished Jute, the movable accountant, whom Lao nicknamed ‘The Spy’?

A. Her great warmth
B. Her cynical humour
C. Her absolute moral sternness
D. Her desire to please

C. Her absolute moral sternness.
Beneath Jute’s expressionless face lay an inflexible judgment and absolute moral sternness.

10. Why did Lao feel his loathing made him “free” and “safe”?

A. It guaranteed his employment.
B. It was the truest thing about him.
C. It made him happy.
D. Both B and C.

B. It was the truest thing about him.
Lao believed his loathing was the truest thing about him, which perversely made him happy and free.

11. What metaphor did Lao use to describe the endless talkativeness of Sam, the cameraman?

A. A sputtering faucet
B. A vacuum cleaner
C. A stormy ocean
D. A runaway train

B. A vacuum cleaner.
Sam’s ceaseless flow of words was described as having a “vacuum cleaner effect,” draining listeners.
12. What was Lao convinced the camera was?

A. A truthful recorder
B. A scientific instrument
C. One of the devil’s spies
D. A window to reality

C. One of the devil’s spies.
Lao became convinced that the camera was a spy, a distortion device, and “one of the devil’s spies.”

13. What was Lao’s hidden sense about the journey, sensed via his cynicism?

A. The journey would be short.
B. There was a secret, cryptic journey within.
C. Malasso was funding them.
D. They would fail immediately.

B. There was a secret, cryptic journey within.
Lao’s cynicism helped him sense a secret, cryptic journey within their superficial adventure.

14. What name caused Lao to sense immediate danger and treachery?

A. Propr
B. Arcadia
C. Malasso
D. Jim

C. Malasso.
The name Malasso conjured up misfortune and made Lao aware of sudden dangers and treachery.

15. What was written on the red paper message Lao found in his palm?

A. Leave now
B. Beware the inscription
C. Malasso is watching
D. Seek the treasure

B. Beware the inscription.
The mysterious message typed on red paper read: “Beware the inscription.”
16. What did Lao believe was the primary essence of the invisible veil separating the living from “the others”?

A. Dreams
B. Bodies
C. Perception
D. History

C. Perception.
Lao believed the mysterious veil separating the living from “the others” is made of perception.

17. What two concepts did Lao immediately link after overhearing a conversation?

A. Malasso and treasure
B. Paris and Utopia
C. Cameras and secrets
D. Jim and failure

A. Malasso and treasure.
Hearing the word “TREASURE,” Lao immediately linked this mystery with the name Malasso.

18. What was the core truth Lao accepted about the crew members’ motivations?

A. They were accomplices of the devil’s corporation.
B. They were secret idealists.
C. They were too competent to fail.
D. They were too pure for the mission.

A. They were accomplices of the devil’s corporation.
He saw them as failures and “willing accomplices of the corporation of the devil.”

19. What was Lao’s primary feeling regarding the plan to receive nebulous instructions during the journey?

A. Excitement
B. Profound trust
C. Severe protest and insult
D. Quiet acceptance

C. Severe protest and insult.
Lao protested loudly and drunkenly, insulting the director about the plan’s vileness.
20. Where did the core crew agree to meet to begin their journey?

A. The suburban flat
B. Waterloo Station
C. Paris
D. Under the clock

B. Waterloo Station.
They agreed to meet again at a prearranged hour at Waterloo Station to begin their journey.

21. What quality did Lao say was needed to pursue society’s measure (money) successfully?

A. Stoutness of heart
B. Invaluable stupidity of soul
C. Shamelessness
D. All of the above

D. All of the above.
He lamented it requires stoutness of heart, single-mindedness, and “invaluable stupidity of soul.”

22. What did Lao hope his journey would lead him back to?

A. His old job
B. His younger self
C. Himself, by a new route
D. His lost money

C. Himself, by a new route.
Lao hoped the journey would lead him back to himself by a new route, a quest for self-realization.

23. Who did Lao ask to accompany him on the journey?

A. Husk
B. Mistletoe
C. Jim
D. Riley

B. Mistletoe.
Lao asked his friend, Mistletoe, a red-haired painter, to accompany him on the journey.
24. What disaster happened to the crew before leaving Waterloo?

A. Their equipment was stolen.
B. They were trapped in a lift.
C. Lao refused to film.
D. They missed the train.

B. They were trapped in a lift.
The crew became trapped inside a tiny lift space for forty minutes, a claustrophobic ordeal.

25. What did Lao believe failure represented regarding ghosts?

A. Carrying more shadow-beings than one’s psyche can manage.
B. Being haunted by a tragic past.
C. Being devoured by fear.
D. Having no hope left.

A. Carrying more shadow-beings than one’s psyche can manage.
Lao believed that failure carried more ghosts and shadow-beings than one’s psyche could manage.

26. What mythological setting did Lao slip into while gazing at the station clock?

A. The mythical world of the giant ice-cube
B. The abyss
C. The Garden of Eden
D. The realm of Malasso

A. The mythical world of the giant ice-cube.
Lao gazed at the clock and slipped into the “mythical world lurking within the giant ice-cube.”

27. What did Lao realize was woven into the fiber of all things in the original garden?

A. Pain
B. Silence
C. Freedom
D. Chaos

C. Freedom.
Lao intuited that in the original world, freedom was woven into the fiber of things.
28. What did humanity do that made death bigger than life?

A. They built monuments.
B. They invented Hades and anxiety.
C. They forgot God.
D. They killed the sublime.

B. They invented Hades and anxiety.
When humanity came, Hades, anxiety, and fear were born, making death bigger than living.

29. Why did Jute approach Lao at Waterloo Station?

A. She wanted his help with Malasso.
B. She wanted to share her message.
C. She thought they had something in common.
D. Both B and C.

D. Both B and C.
Jute wanted to share the message’s frightening contents, believing they shared a similar intuition.

30. What did Lao call Jute to infuriate her about her job?

A. A miserable coward
B. A corporate spy
C. A hopeless néurotic
D. An incompetent slave

B. A corporate spy.
Lao countered Jute’s claims by calling her a “corporate spy” on the company’s side.

31. What psychic device did Lao accuse Jute of attempting to use on him?

A. Blackmail
B. Offloading her troubles onto him
C. Sorcery
D. Psychic warfare

B. Offloading her troubles onto him.
Lao felt Jute was trying to pass on her terrors, a psychic device to halve one’s worries.
32. What painter’s work did Mistletoe discuss regarding secret messages?

A. Van Gogh
B. Raphael
C. Vermeer
D. Poussin

C. Vermeer.
Mistletoe discussed Vermeer’s fascination with women reading letters, linking it to the idea of secret messages.

33. What was Sam’s core artistic philosophy that Lao disliked?

A. That beauty is paramount.
B. That suffering confers value and authenticity.
C. That art should be like breathing.
D. That art must defy the camera.

B. That suffering confers value and authenticity.
Sam believed suffering conferred value and authenticity, which Lao considered a néurotic view.

34. What made Lao ‘scamper away’ from a stranger at the station?

A. The man was Malasso.
B. The man wanted money.
C. The horror of recognition.
D. He was too drunk.

C. The horror of recognition.
Lao experienced the “horror of recognition” when recognized from past work and fled.

35. Why did Sam prefer hanging upside-down to just turning the camera upside-down?

A. Effort and strain show through.
B. It changed the angle.
C. It was technically necessary.
D. It was less effort.

A. Effort and strain show through.
Sam insisted the effort and strain of his position would “show through” to the audience.
36. What did Lao realize was the destination of Death, the vehicle of their voyage?

A. The grave
B. Nowhere
C. No destination at all
D. Arcadia

C. No destination at all.
Lao saw Death as the vehicle, but noted that Death is never the destination, only an illusion.

37. What did Lao believe was the true purpose of their journey, despite their incompetence?

A. To realize something the competent would never say.
B. To find Malasso.
C. To prove Jim wrong.
D. To get paid handsomely.

A. To realize something the competent would never say.
He realized the theme chose them to realize something the competent would never show.

38. What did the furious passenger on the train embody for Jim?

A. A terrorist
B. Modern man, helpless in fury
C. A distant cousin of Hades
D. The spirit of Pan

B. Modern man, helpless in fury.
Jim saw the man as a metaphor for modern man, helpless in his illogical, intemperate fury.

39. What did Lao conclude about the back view of suburban houses?

A. They were full of dreams.
B. They were full of money.
C. They were a mirror of our receding soul.
D. They represented success.

C. They were a mirror of our receding soul.
He reflected that the drab back view was the “mirror of our receding soul and Hades advancing.”
40. What is the traditional birthplace of Hermes, according to legend?

A. Eden
B. The Peloponnese
C. Arcadia
D. Babylon

C. Arcadia.
Arcadia is famously known in legend as the birthplace of Hermes, the messenger of the gods.

41. What did a tunnel experience reveal about the world?

A. The world is all we see.
B. The world is an invention of our senses.
C. Darkness is harmless.
D. Time stops completely.

B. The world is an invention of our senses.
Tunnels hint that the world is an invention of our restricted senses, not all that exists.

42. Where did the ancient Egyptians hold their rites of rebirth?

A. In the deserts
B. In dark tombs in pyramids
C. In Orphic rituals
D. On mountain tops

B. In dark tombs in pyramids.
Ancient Egyptians held their rites and rituals of rebirth in dark tombs inside pyramids.

43. What did the darkness force Jute to reveal while in the tunnel?

A. She was Malasso’s spy.
B. She was the Archangel of Invisibility.
C. She had the map Malasso wanted.
D. She was pregnant.

C. She had the map Malasso wanted.
Jute screamed that Malasso was trying to kill her because she had “the map” he wanted.
44. Why did Jim feel relieved when he found his instructions in the tunnel?

A. They were straightforward.
B. They did not mention Malasso.
C. He thought the hystérical message claims were false.
D. He realized the journey was almost over.

C. He thought the hystérical message claims were false.
Finding instructions, not warnings, relieved him by grounding him in reality again.

45. What was the final destination Jim was instructed to investigate after the Paris interview?

A. Versailles
B. The Louvre
C. A spot outside the Louvre
D. The train driver’s house

C. A spot outside the Louvre.
The instructions stated that they were to converge at a certain point outside the Louvre for a map.

46. What did Jute’s mother’s whispers help her prepare for?

A. Her career success
B. Events to come
C. Her own death
D. Her skepticism

B. Events to come.
Jute believed her dead mother whispered messages to warn and guide her for events to come.

47. Why did Propr accept the job despite hating city life?

A. He wanted to film goats and sheep.
B. He needed the money badly.
C. He was searching for his daughter.
D. He wanted to find Malasso.

A. He wanted to film goats and sheep.
He accepted only because Arcadia was associated with goats and sheep, which he preferred.
48. What did Lao discover about Jim after witnessing Riley’s return?

A. Jim was a mánic depressive.
B. Jim’s despair had diminished.
C. Jim was a corporate spy.
D. Jim planned to quit.

B. Jim’s despair had diminished.
Jim’s despair seemed to have partially diminished after the shock of discovering Riley alive.

49. What was Lao’s primary intention for letting people “live posthumously” while he watched?

A. To punish them for their failures.
B. To teach them honesty.
C. To encourage guilt.
D. To get revenge for being insulted.

B. To teach them honesty.
He explained it was good for people, as it frees them of hypocrisy and forces honesty.

50. What realization concerning thought and reality struck Lao while being filmed smiling?

A. That thoughts are illusions.
B. That you are what you think.
C. That the camera is truthful.
D. That money rules everything.

B. That you are what you think.
Lao stumbled on the truth that “you are what you think,” realizing thoughts take form in reality.

Brief Overview

In Arcadia is a novel by Ben Okri, first published in 2002. The story is a philosophical journey that follows a cynical film crew seeking an elusive treasure in a place called Arcadia. The novel uses the quest for hidden wealth as a structure for inner, spiritual transformation.

The novel starts with the film crew, eight people struggling with miserable, failing lives. They accept a summons to film a vague TV documentary about Arcadia, viewing the job as a desperate chance for escape and money. The crew includes the cynical narrator, Lao, and his artist companion, Mistletoe.

Their adventure is structured around following hidden inscriptions that supposedly lead to the treasure. The job requires them to interview people, film foreign places, and follow cryptic clues. The journey begins in London, starting at Waterloo Station, and continues through Paris toward Switzerland.

The crew is guided by a mysterious contact named Malasso. Malasso sends cryptic, threatening messages to Lao and Jute, sometimes soaked in a red liquid, suggesting danger. These messages hint that their journey is not just for treasure, but is an inner, secret trial.

The journey quickly becomes a profound test. The crew begins in chaos and faces bizarre trials, including being trapped in a lift. Lao begins to view the camera as a destructive spy.

The characters are forced to confront their own despair and failures. In Paris, they visit Versailles, which they realize is a false, mán-made Arcadia.

Lao understands that their quest is actually a search for an inner paradise and a way to heal their anxious spirits. The adventure continues as they seek spiritual redemption.

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