The Lost Girl MCQs

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Author: Nasir Iqbal | Assistant Professor of English Literature

The Lost Girl MCQs
Updated on: October 12, 2025
Estimated Reading Time: 16 min

The Lost Girl MCQs

1. What is the name of the mining townlet with 10,000 people?

A. Knarborough
B. Lumley
C. Woodhouse
D. Hathersedge

C. Woodhouse.

Woodhouse is the grim, industrial town that represents the lifeless English society Alvina longs to escape.

2. In his successful era, James Houghton ran a splendid business in what goods?

A. Tailoring
B. Silks
C. Manchester goods
D. Coal

C. Manchester goods.

His past success as a draper contrasts with his later failures, showing the decline of his family and class.

3. Mrs. Houghton developed what illness as a result of nervous repressions?

A. Consumption
B. Typhoid
C. Heart disease
D. Pleurisy

C. Heart disease.

Her illness symbolizes the emotional damage caused by her unfulfilling and repressed life with her husband.

4. What characteristic of James’s work did the crowd hate?

A. Its low price
B. Excellence
C. Its commonness
D. Its mediocrity

B. Excellence.

The townspeople resent James’s attempts at high-class style, preferring what is common and familiar.

5. What quality of James Houghton did Miss Frost detest the most?

A. His elegant literature
B. His bushy eyebrows
C. His airy and gracious selfishness
D. His nervous intensity

C. His airy and gracious selfishness.

Miss Frost sees through James’s charming exterior to the selfish nature underneath, which harms those around him.

6. What was the secret of the blacksmith’s grip that haunted Mrs. Houghton?

A. His strength
B. He gripped boys above the knee
C. He used a whip
D. He spoke dialect

B. He gripped boys above the knee.

This memory represents a dark, hidden, and threatening form of male power that fascinates and frightens the women.

7. What did Miss Pinnegar steadily produce that Woodhouse women depended on?

A. Silk suits
B. Fancy braids
C. Strong shirts and serviceable aprons for colliers
D. Fine lace

C. Strong shirts and serviceable aprons for colliers.

Miss Pinnegar represents the practical, hard-working side of Woodhouse, a contrast to James’s failed artistic dreams.

8. What was James Houghton’s “gin-pit” commonly known as?

A. Connection Meadow
B. Woodhouse Pit
C. Throttle-Ha’penny
D. Lumley Mine

C. Throttle-Ha’penny.

This is one of James’s many failed business ventures, showing his inability to succeed in the industrial world.

9. Alvina’s refined manner of speaking was described as having a quiet, refined, almost what kind of voice?

A. Opera
B. Convent voice
C. Theatre
D. Chapel

B. Convent voice.

Alvina’s refined voice separates her from the common dialect of Woodhouse, marking her as an outsider.

10. What did Alvina feel like in her current state in Woodhouse?

A. Free
B. Buried alive
C. Important
D. Confused

B. Buried alive.

This feeling of being trapped and suffocated by her small-town life is what drives Alvina’s search for escape.

11. What type of nurse did Alvina declare she wanted to become?

A. Surgical
B. Maternity nurse
C. Geriatric
D. War

B. Maternity nurse.

Becoming a maternity nurse is Alvina’s first serious attempt to find a purpose and escape Woodhouse.

12. Alvina’s eyes lost their deep, tender blue and became luminous and crystalline, like the eyes of a:

A. Saint
B. Changeling
C. Witch
D. Dove

B. Changeling.

Her time in London changes her. She becomes harder and more otherworldly, no longer a simple provincial girl.

13. Alvina knew that it was time for Miss Frost, whom she loved, to:

A. Retire
B. Move to London
C. Die
D. Marry

C. Die.

Alvina senses the end of an era. Miss Frost represents the old, dying generation of Woodhouse.

14. Why did Alvina fail to make a living as a maternity nurse in Woodhouse?

A. She disliked the work.
B. She was too expensive and well-known
C. Her father forbade it.
D. She lacked skill.

B. She was too expensive and well-known.

Her social class and reputation prevent her from fitting into a working role in her own town.

15. Alvina believed the puerile world cried out for a Saviour from the sky, but what was actually wanted?

A. A wise philosopher
B. A political leader
C. A Dark Master from the underworld
D. Another Jesus

C. A Dark Master from the underworld.

Alvina longs for a powerful, primitive, and even dangerous force to save the world from its weakness.

16. Alvina felt that when looking at Albert, she was looking at him through:

A. A window pane
B. The glass wall of an aquarium
C. A microscope
D. A veil

B. The glass wall of an aquarium.

This metaphor shows how distant and unreal Albert feels to her. There is no real connection between them.

17. What sensation did Albert Witham give Alvina?

A. Fascination
B. Excitement
C. Boredom
D. Anger

C. Boredom.

Albert, the intellectual young man, represents a lifeless and unexciting path that Alvina ultimately rejects.

18. What was the ordinary solution for the fate of thousands of girls mentioned in Chapter 5?

A. Marriage
B. Children
C. Work
D. Study

C. Work.

The novel considers the limited options for women of Alvina’s time, where work was often the only alternative to marriage.

19. What idea did Mr. May inoculate James Houghton with regarding Lumley?

A. Building a park
B. Starting a cinema
C. Buying land
D. Building flats

B. Starting a cinema.

This is James Houghton’s final, desperate business scheme, which brings the world of theatre and outsiders into the story.

20. What was the full name James gave his new cinematograph establishment at Lumley?

A. Houghton’s Endeavour
B. Houghton’s Pleasure Palace
C. The Lumley Picture House
D. The Grand Theatre

B. Houghton’s Pleasure Palace.

The grand name for the cheap, makeshift theatre is another example of James Houghton’s failed idealism.

21. What ridiculous piece of music did Alvina have to play as the overture?

A. The Lost Girl
B. Maiden’s Prayer
C. Welcome All
D. Dream Waltz

C. Welcome All.

Having to play this silly music marks Alvina’s descent from a serious musician to a performer in a cheap theatre.

22. Why did Alvina believe the common people preferred pictures over live acts?

A. They were cheaper
B. They were higher quality
C. They hated anything that wasn’t themselves
D. They hated excellence

C. They hated anything that wasn’t themselves.

Alvina believes the audience for cinema dislikes being challenged by a live, superior performer.

23. Which of the nomadic artistes was tattooed all over his smooth, hairless body?

A. Max
B. Louis
C. The Jap
D. Ciccio

C. The Jap.

The exotic and heavily tattooed Japanese performer is part of the strange and foreign world of the Natcha-Kee-Tawara.

24. Madame (Kishwégin) was ill with what cold/pain?

A. Heart disease
B. Pleurisy/a chill on her chest
C. Broken ribs
D. Typhoid

B. Pleurisy/a chill on her chest.

Madame’s illness requires Alvina to use her nursing skills, bringing her into close contact with the theatre troupe.

25. What was Ciccio’s nationality?

A. Swiss
B. Alpine French
C. Neapolitan Italian
D. German

C. Neapolitan Italian.

Ciccio’s Italian heritage is key to his character, representing a passionate, southern, and pre-industrial way of life.

26. What was Madame’s Red Indian dancing name?

A. Allaye
B. Pacohuila
C. Kishwégin
D. Natcha-Kee-Tawara

C. Kishwégin.

Madame, the leader of the troupe, has a mysterious and exotic stage persona that fascinates Alvina.

27. What made Alvina feel unconsciously flattered and dazed with submission when watching Ciccio?

A. His handsome face
B. His elegance
C. His look of ultimate good-nature
D. His contempt for the English

C. His look of ultimate good-nature.

Alvina is drawn to Ciccio’s simple, animal-like contentment, which seems powerful and reassuring to her.

28. What did Ciccio do with his spear as he swept past Alvina during the procession?

A. Threw it high in the air
B. Brushed them lightly with the butt of it
C. Waved it fiercely
D. Gave it to James

B. Brushed them lightly with the butt of it.

This small, intimate gesture during a public performance is a sign of the growing connection between Ciccio and Alvina.

29. Madame claimed that the pictures (cinema) were driving away live performers because the audience didn’t want to feel things from the:

A. Mind
B. Heart
C. Body
D. Pocket

B. Heart.

This is a critique of modern audiences, suggesting they prefer the safe distance of cinema to the emotional challenge of live theatre.

30. What quality did Madame associate with Ciccio’s yellow eyes?

A. They were cruel
B. They were the darkest of all
C. They were sad
D. They were beautiful

B. They were the darkest of all.

Madame sees a deep, primitive, and almost dangerous darkness in Ciccio’s nature, symbolized by his eyes.

31. Ciccio stabbed Max with what item?

A. A real knife
B. His stage knife
C. A spear
D. A penknife

B. His stage knife.

The fight between the two men, which seems real but uses a prop, shows the thin line between performance and real violence.

32. When Ciccio first kissed Alvina, how did she feel?

A. Exultant
B. Soulless, like a victim
C. Deeply happy
D. Angry

B. Soulless, like a victim.

Her first sexual experience is not romantic. She feels overpowered and loses her sense of self.

33. Alvina suffered a “paroxysm” on her knees because she felt:

A. Sick
B. She loved him
C. Betrayed
D. Guilt

B. She loved him.

Despite the difficult experience, Alvina has a sudden, overwhelming realization that she is in love with Ciccio.

34. What did Madame note about Ciccio’s plans if he married Alvina?

A. He could buy land in Woodhouse
B. He would have to leave Natcha-Kee-Tawara
C. He would have to work harder
D. He would be able to start his own shop

B. He would have to leave Natcha-Kee-Tawara.

Marrying Alvina means Ciccio must leave the only family and way of life he knows.

35. What was Ciccio’s full surname?

A. Maraschino
B. Califano
C. Marasca
D. Houghton

C. Marasca.

His name, meaning a type of bitter cherry, connects him to a wild, natural, and slightly dangerous world.

36. What decision did Alvina make regarding her property after seeing the lawyer (Mr. Beeby)?

A. To run the cinema
B. To sell everything and clear up
C. To keep Manchester House
D. To take up nursing again

B. To sell everything and clear up.

After her father’s death, Alvina chooses to liquidate her past and make a clean break from Woodhouse.

37. The Scottish doctor Alvina worked most closely with was named:

A. Dr. Robertson
B. Dr. Young
C. Dr. Mitchell
D. Dr. James

C. Dr. Mitchell.

Dr. Mitchell represents a return to a safe, respectable, but passionless English life, a choice Alvina considers.

38. What did Dr. Mitchell estimate the new war (August 1914) would last?

A. Six months
B. Six years
C. Six weeks
D. Until Christmas

C. Six weeks.

This historically inaccurate guess shows the naive optimism at the beginning of World War I.

39. What physical contact did Alvina desperately try to avoid from Dr. Mitchell?

A. Holding hands
B. Being kissed
C. Dancing with him
D. Sitting near him

B. Being kissed.

Her physical repulsion from the doctor shows that she can no longer accept a passionless relationship.

40. Mrs. Tuke believed she was having a child because:

A. Her husband forced her
B. She secretly wanted one
C. The universe is one big machine
D. She drank too much wine

C. The universe is one big machine.

Mrs. Tuke represents a modern, intellectual woman who sees even childbirth as a mechanical, impersonal process.

41. What phrase did Ciccio sing repeatedly in his serenade to Alvina?

A. Ti amo
B. Ma nun me lasciar’
C. Allaye
D. Bella bella

B. Ma nun me lasciar’.

The phrase means “But don’t leave me,” a passionate plea that wins Alvina back from her engagement to Dr. Mitchell.

42. What word did Alvina use to describe the process of her submission to Ciccio’s love?

A. Exultation
B. Extinction
C. Awakening
D. Resistance

B. Extinction.

Alvina feels that in giving herself to Ciccio, her old, independent self must die for a new one to be born.

43. After seeing the Italian landscape from the train, Alvina felt nostalgia for the vast:

A. Modern world
B. Roman and classic world
C. German empire
D. French provinces

B. Roman and classic world.

Alvina feels a connection to the ancient, pre-Christian past of Italy, a world very different from industrial England.

44. What was the name of Ciccio’s native village?

A. Califano
B. Pescocalascio
C. Ossona
D. Marasca

B. Pescocalascio.

The remote, primitive mountain village is the setting for the final section of the novel.

45. What did Alvina realize Ciccio’s true “castle” was?

A. His house
B. His land
C. The piazza of Pescocalascio
D. The mountain peaks

C. The piazza of Pescocalascio.

Unlike an Englishman whose home is his castle, Ciccio’s identity is public and communal, centered in the village square.

46. What did the sight of the magenta anemones remind Alvina of?

A. The goddess Venus shedding a tear for Adonis
B. The Virgin Mary’s purity
C. The fierce eagle on the Jap’s back
D. The beauty of the white crocuses

A. The goddess Venus shedding a tear for Adonis.

Alvina connects the landscape and flowers to ancient pagan myths of love, death, and rebirth.

47. What sound of the untamed, heathen past did she hear near Christmas?

A. The howling of wolves
B. The rush of the river
C. A bagpipe and a man’s high yelling voice
D. The ringing of church bells

C. A bagpipe and a man’s high yelling voice.

This wild, ancient music makes Alvina feel a nostalgic connection to a pre-Christian, pagan past.

48. How did Pancrazio seem to have killed his wife, according to Alvina’s feelings?

A. Unconsciously (by malignant malevolence)
B. With a knife
C. Through neglect
D. With poison

A. Unconsciously (by malignant malevolence).

Alvina senses a dark, unspoken power in the village men, a will that can dominate and even destroy women.

49. What did Ciccio tell Alvina when she insisted they had their fate in their hands?

A. He agreed
B. He smiled the “cruel smile” and asked who told her so
C. He became angry
D. He left the room

B. He smiled the “cruel smile” and asked who told her so.

Ciccio represents an older worldview where fate, not individual will, controls life. This clashes with Alvina’s modern ideas.

50. What scent wafted from the hills on the luminous night before Ciccio left for war?

A. Rose
B. Honey scents
C. Lilac
D. Wood-smoke

B. Honey scents.

The novel ends with Ciccio going to war, leaving a pregnant Alvina alone and with an uncertain future.

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