Molloy MCQs

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Author: Nasir Iqbal | Assistant Professor of English Literature


Updated on: November 20, 2025
Estimated Reading Time: 16 min

Molloy MCQs

1. Where is Molloy residing at the beginning of the novel?

A. Seaside cave
B. Forest ditch
C. Mother’s old room
D. Police station

C. Mother’s old room.
Molloy states clearly in the opening line that he is now living in his mother’s room.

2. Who visits Molloy weekly to collect the pages he writes?

A. A kind doctor
B. A queer man
C. A strange policeman
D. A relative

B. A queer man.
A “queer one” comes every Sunday, pays Molloy money, and takes away the pages he has written.

3. How does Molloy describe his beginning, which the visiting man criticized?

A. Difficult but necessary
B. Like an old ballocks
C. Beside the point
D. Easy and rewarding

B. Like an old ballocks.
Molloy recounts his beginning, which the visiting man criticized, saying he began at the beginning “like an old ballocks”.

4. What has Molloy forgotten how to do, among other things?

A. How to work
B. How to walk
C. How to speak
D. How to spell

D. How to spell.
Molloy notes that he has forgotten how to spell, along with “half the words,” but is told it doesn’t matter.
5. What body part does Molloy use to signal “money” to his deaf mother?

A. Index-knuckle
B. His elbow
C. Fist thump
D. His foot

C. Fist thump.
Molloy found he could effectively convey the idea of money by using one or more thumps of his fist on her skull.

6. Who does Molloy see going towards each other on a bare road?

A. Gaber and Youdi
B. A dog and a cow
C. A and C
D. Two women

C. A and C.
Molloy observed two men, designated A (small) and C (tall), sauntering towards one another on the road.

7. What item of clothing did the tall man (C) with the stick wear?

A. A cocked hat
B. Hobnailed boots
C. Sand-shoes
D. A blue cap

A. A cocked hat.
Molloy remembers being struck by the fact that the man with the stick (C) wore a cocked hat.

8. Where was Molloy observing the two men (A and C) from?

A. Behind a hedge
B. Sitting on a wall
C. A high rock
D. Mother’s window

C. A high rock.
Molloy was perched higher than the road’s highest point, hiding flattened against a rock of the same colour.

9. What type of vehicle did Molloy use to travel to his mother?

A. A motorized cart
B. An old car
C. A chainless bicycle
D. An old cart

C. A chainless bicycle.
Molloy found his green, chainless bicycle on the road, which he rode using only one leg.
10. What item did Molloy fasten to his buttonhole with a lace?

A. His greatcoat
B. His hat
C. His crutch
D. His button

B. His hat.
Molloy realized his hat was always fastened to his greatcoat’s buttonhole by a long lace.

11. Why did the policeman at the ramparts stop Molloy?

A. Riding too fast
B. Having no papers
C. Resting indecently
D. Carrying a club

C. Resting indecently.
The policeman claimed Molloy’s posture when resting astride his bicycle violated public order or decency.

12. What items did Molloy carry as ‘papers’?

A. Written pages
B. Newspaper bits
C. Identity cards
D. Birth certificate

B. Newspaper bits.
Molloy carried bits of newspaper in his pocket for the specific purpose of wiping himself after a stool.

13. What name did Molloy suddenly remember while at the police station?

A. Dan
B. Jacques
C. Molloy
D. Mollose

C. Molloy.
During questioning by the sergeant, Molloy suddenly recalled and shouted out his name: Molloy.

14. What did the woman offer Molloy in the guard-room?

A. Tea and bread
B. Water and fruit
C. Soup and milk
D. Beer and a cigar

A. Tea and bread.
A woman, possibly a social worker, offered Molloy a thick slab of bread and a “greyish concoction”.
15. What did Molloy fling away from him in a panic in the guard-room?

A. His crutches
B. The provided food
C. His paper napkin
D. His cigar

B. The provided food.
Molloy, overcome by panic, threw the mug of liquid and the sodden bread to the ground.

16. What was Molloy’s immediate goal after being released by the police?

A. To find shelter
B. To see his son
C. To find his mother
D. To write more pages

C. To find his mother.
Molloy resolved to go and see his mother after waking up, driven by urgent reasons.

17. What philosophical term did Molloy credit anthropology with?

A. Defining humanity
B. Inexhaustible negation
C. Explaining love
D. Promoting magic

B. Inexhaustible negation.
Molloy liked anthropology for its ability to define man through its “inexhaustible faculty of negation”.

18. What prevents Molloy from remembering the name of his town?

A. Icy words
B. Memory loss
C. Being unable
D. Too many towns

C. Being unable.
Molloy implies that the difficulty of naming and knowing, coupled with time away from words, hindered him.

19. What accident occurred after Molloy perfected his plan to ask the town name?

A. A sudden fall
B. Lost his money
C. Ran over a dog
D. Saw a friend

C. Ran over a dog.
Molloy’s resolution to ask the name of the town was immediately thwarted when his bicycle ran over a dog.
20. What was the name of the dog Molloy killed?

A. Molloy
B. Teddy
C. Baby Jack
D. Zulu

B. Teddy.
The dog that Molloy ran over was named Teddy, whom his mistress, Lousse, adored.

21. Why did Lousse not insist on prosecuting Molloy for the dog’s death?

A. Teddy was suffering
B. Molloy ran fast
C. She loved him
D. He was too old

A. Teddy was suffering.
Lousse stated she was already taking Teddy to be put down because he was old, crìppled, and incontinent.

22. What kind of tree did Lousse choose for the dog’s grave?

A. A sturdy pine
B. A tall oak
C. A larch
D. A weeping willow

C. A larch.
Molloy notes that the dog was buried beneath a larch tree, which he could identify with certainty.

23. What did Lousse’s parrot repeatedly exclaim?

A. Pretty Polly
B. Fuck the son
C. Come here, lady
D. Putain de merde

D. Putain de merde.
The parrot often repeated, “Fuck the son of a bitch,” and “Putain de merde!” suggesting connections to sailors.

24. What change did Molloy discover had been done to him while he slept at Lousse’s house?

A. They dyed his hair
B. They shaved his beard
C. They stole his money
D. They removed his shoes

B. They shaved his beard.
Molloy woke up to discover that his scant beard had been shaved off while he was asleep.
25. What plant did Molloy identify that Lousse loved because of its smell?

A. Wild hawthorn
B. Spike-lavender
C. Lemon-verbena
D. Night-blooming jasmine

B. Spike-lavender.
Molloy identified the heavily scented flower in Lousse’s garden as spike-lavender, which she loved.

26. What analogy did Molloy use to describe his life while staying with Lousse?

A. Air in a pipe
B. Boiling water
C. Silent song
D. Fading forms

A. Air in a pipe.
Molloy says that the period of his life spent with Lousse reminds him of “air in a water-pipe”.

27. What classic thinker did Molloy reference regarding the concept of freedom?

A. Socrates
B. Plato
C. Geulincx
D. Descartes

C. Geulincx.
Molloy mentions loving the image of old Geulincx, who left him free to crawl towards the East.

28. What was the name of the woman who acquainted Molloy with “love”?

A. Martha
B. Ruth
C. Sophie
D. Mag

B. Ruth.
Molloy recalls a woman named Ruth, whom he thinks may have been Edith, who introduced him to love.

29. Where did Molloy and Ruth (or Edith) first meet?

A. In a forest
B. By the sea
C. A rubbish dump
D. On a couch

C. A rubbish dump.
Molloy states that they met in a rubbish dump, where she initiated their sexual interaction.
30. What did Molloy say was never enough and always too much?

A. The food
B. His silence
C. What he said
D. The pain

C. What he said.
Molloy reflects that whatever he said, it was never enough and always too much; he was never silent.

31. What bodily need did Molloy sacrifice when devising his stone-sucking system?

A. Perfect symmetry
B. Less fatigue
C. The need for trim
D. A good appetite

C. The need for trim.
Molloy sacrificed the principle of trim (equal weight distribution) in his pockets to methodically suck all 16 stones.

32. How many sucking-stones did Molloy initially gather?

A. Eight stones
B. Sixteen stones
C. Four stones
D. Twelve stones

B. Sixteen stones.
Molloy took advantage of being at the seaside to gather a “considerable store” of sixteen sucking-stones.

33. What was Molloy’s final decision regarding his sucking-stones?

A. Throw all but one
B. Keep all 16
C. Number the stones
D. Divide them equally

A. Throw all but one.
Molloy’s ultimate solution was to throw away all the stones except one, which he soon lost.

34. What animal was Molloy likened to when rolling to collect his keys?

A. A mangy cur
B. A great cylinder
C. A frightened sheep
D. A large stone

B. A great cylinder.
Molloy describes rolling over and over “like a great cylinder” to reach keys scattered on the ground.
35. What method of locomotion did Molloy finally adopt when his legs stiffened?

A. Rolling in a barrel
B. Crawling like a reptile
C. Using a donkey
D. Lying in a cart

B. Crawling like a reptile.
Molloy adopted crawling on his belly, using his crutches like grapnels, moving like a reptile.

36. What sound did Molloy hear in the forest instead of the expected murmurs?

A. Distant gong
B. Hunting horn
C. Crying birds
D. Shepherd’s whistle

A. Distant gong.
Molloy was disappointed, hearing only, at long intervals, a distant gong instead of the famous forest murmurs.

37. What type of man did Molloy encounter and subsequently strike in the forest?

A. A passing hermit
B. A sly farmer
C. A worried hunter
D. A charcoal-burner

D. A charcoal-burner.
Molloy encountered a charcoal-burner who begged him to share his hut, but Molloy struck him and kicked him.

38. What is the narrator’s name in the second half of the novel?

A. Jacques
B. Gaber
C. Moran
D. Molloy

C. Moran.
The second part begins with the narrator stating his name is Moran, Jacques, confirming his identity.

39. What is Moran’s son’s name?

A. Molloy
B. Jacques
C. Teddy
D. Gaber

B. Jacques.
Moran states that his son is also named Jacques, noting that this “cannot lead to confusion”.
40. What was Moran doing when he received the order concerning Molloy?

A. Sitting in church
B. Sitting in the garden
C. Reading a report
D. Sleeping in bed

B. Sitting in the garden.
Moran was sitting contentedly in his little garden on a Sunday morning, before the messenger arrived.

41. Who delivered the mission instructions to Moran?

A. Youdi
B. Martha
C. Father Ambrose
D. Gaber

D. Gaber.
Gaber, identified as a messenger, traveled from afar to deliver the instructions for the Molloy affair to Moran.

42. Who is Moran ordered to find?

A. His missing wife
B. Molloy
C. Gaber
D. The Antichrist

B. Molloy.
Moran received the specific order to “see about Molloy” on a Sunday morning in summer.

43. Who is Moran’s superior?

A. Youdi
B. The Sergeant
C. Gaber
D. Father Ambrose

A. Youdi.
Moran refers to his employer, whom he suspects of fostering illusions, by the name Youdi, the source of his assignments.

44. What was young Jacques’s hobby?

A. History
B. Gardening
C. Collecting stamps
D. Scout activities

C. Collecting stamps.
Moran’s son had two albums, a large one for his main collection and a smaller one for duplicates.
45. What is the name of the servant?

A. Ruth
B. Martha
C. Sophie
D. Hannah

B. Martha.
The woman who works in Moran’s house, often found rocking moodily in her chair, is Martha.

46. How did Moran see himself early on?

A. A frantic seeker
B. A solid in solids
C. A watery form
D. A free spirit

B. A solid in solids.
Moran states that in moments of lucidity, he saw himself as “a solid in the midst of other solids”.

47. What vehicle did Moran initially choose?

A. The train
B. On foot
C. His autocycle
D. A bicycle

C. His autocycle.
Moran decided to leave on his autocycle because he was “partial to this way of getting about”.

48. Where is Molloy’s country located?

A. In the mountains
B. In the north
C. In the south
D. By the swamp

B. In the north.
The Molloy country, Ballyba, is situated to the north, in relation to Moran’s region (Turdyba).

49. What geographical feature is Ballyba’s main beauty?

A. Wide sandy plains
B. A slow grey creek
C. Towering forests
D. Large waterfalls

B. A slow grey creek.
The principal beauty of the Ballyba region is a strangled creek that the slow grey tides empty and fill.
50. What bicycle feature was crucial?

A. Durable paint
B. A strong carrier
C. A loud bell
D. Working brakes

B. A strong carrier.
Moran specifically instructed his son to buy a bicycle with a “powerful carrier”.

Brief Overview

Molloy is a novel by Samuel Beckett, first published in French in 1951. It is a seminal work of modernist literature and the Theatre of the Absurd. The novel explores themes of existentialism, the futility of human existence, and the nature of identity.

The novel is structurally divided into two long sections, which mirror and contradict each other. The first section is the story of Molloy, a críppled man. He lives in his mother’s room, though he has no memory of how he arrived there. He writes pages for an unnamed man who pays him money.

Molloy narrates his painful journey before arriving in the room. He initially used crutches and a bicycle while searching for his mother, Mag.

On his way, Molloy encounters a policeman and is briefly taken to a station. He later runs over a woman’s dog with his bicycle. The owner, Lousse, makes Molloy stay at her house for a time.

Molloy eventually leaves. As he travelled, his legs became painfully stiff and short, forcing him to crawl on his belly until he ended up in a ditch.

Moran, an agent, writes the second section. His boss, Youdi, orders him to find Molloy. Moran takes his young son, Jacques, on this futile mission. Moran’s own leg mysteriously becomes stiff and painful, mirroring Molloy’s condition. He sends his son to buy a bicycle.

Moran’s son later runs away completely, taking the bicycle and money. Moran grows weak from hunger. A messenger, Gaber, tells him to go home immediately.

Moran returns to his empty house in pain and is now writing his report for Youdi, using crutches just as Molloy did.

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