James Joyce

James Joyce Study questions

The Dead

Facts about James Joyce

➾ Within weeks at age fourteen, Joyce became a Catholic prefect and had his first sexual experience with a Dublin próstitute.

➾ His family’s constantly diminishing wealth was due to his father’s habitual unemployment, drinking, and spending habits.

➾ He was the oldest of fifteen children, though only ten survived infancy.

➾ At nine years old, he wrote a poem called “Et Tu, Healy” denouncing the man responsible for politician Charles Stewart Parnell’s downfall.

➾ He left Ireland against his mother’s wishes to study medicine in Paris, only returning the next year when she was dying.

➾ Joyce briefly worked as a schoolteacher in Dublin following his mother’s burial, a detail that recurs in the story of Stephen Dedalus.

➾ The day he fell in love with Nora Barnacle, June 16, 1904, became the single day chronicled in his novel Ulysses.

➾ He was denied a promised teaching position at the Berlitz School in Zurich because the administrators could not find his application.

➾ In a rage over publishing frustrations, he once threw the manuscript of A Portrait into the fire, but his sister Eileen recovered it.

➾ Midway through writing Ulysses, Joyce began the first of eleven eye operations needed to salvage his ever-worsening eyesight.

➾ Despite writing Ulysses while living in self-imposed exile, the novel is famous for its geographical accuracy of Dublin’s physical features.

James Joyce MCQs

1. When was James Joyce born?

A. February 2, 1882
B. January 13, 1904
C. August 13, 1882
D. February 2, 1882

A. February 2, 1882

2. Where was James Joyce born?

A. Trieste, Italy
B. Dublin, Ireland
C. Paris, France
D. London, England

B. Dublin, Ireland

3. Joyce was the oldest of how many surviving children?

A. Five
B. Eight
C. Ten
D. Twelve

C. Ten

4. Which Jesuit boarding school did Joyce attend starting in September 1888?

A. Belvedere College
B. University College Dublin
C. Clongowes Wood College
D. The Berlitz School

C. Clongowes Wood College

5. What educational institution did Joyce attend after Clongowes Wood and Belvedere College?

A. Paris University
B. Fortnightly Review Institute
C. University College in Dublin
D. The Sodality of the Blessed Virgin Mary

C. University College in Dublin

6. What prominent political figure’s downfall, due to a scandalous affair, made an impression on the young Joyce?

A. Leopold Bloom
B. Ezra Pound
C. Charles Stewart Parnell
D. Henrik Ibsen

C. Charles Stewart Parnell

7. Joyce wrote a poem denouncing the man partly responsible for Parnell’s undoing; what was the poem titled?

A. Chamber Music
B. “The Day of the Rabblement”
C. “Et Tu, Healy”
D. “Ibsen’s New Drama”

C. “Et Tu, Healy”

8. In what subject did Joyce initially intend to pursue a career after leaving University College in 1902?

A. Literature in Dublin
B. Teaching in Zurich
C. Medicine in Paris
D. Banking in Trieste

C. Medicine in Paris

9. Why did Joyce briefly return to Ireland in 1903?

A. To publish Dubliners
B. Upon the death of his mother
C. To marry Nora Barnacle
D. To attend the Irish Theater Movement

B. Upon the death of his mother

10. What was the name of the woman Joyce met in 1904 and loved for the rest of his life?

A. Kitty O’Shea
B. Harriet Shaw Weaver
C. Nora Barnacle
D. Edith Rockefeller McCormick

C. Nora Barnacle

11. What is June 16, the day Joyce fell in love, known as today by Joyce fans?

A. Joyce Day
B. Bloomsday
C. Dubliners Day
D. Dedalus Day

B. Bloomsday

12. In what country did Joyce live for about ten years starting in 1904, prior to moving to Zurich in 1915?

A. France (Paris)
B. Austria (Vienna)
C. Italy (Trieste)
D. England (London)

C. Italy (Trieste)

13. Which literary figure provided Joyce with encouragement and contacts, helping him write reviews for the Daily Express?

A. Henrik Ibsen
B. Lady Augusta Gregory
C. Stephen Dedalus
D. John Joyce

B. Lady Augusta Gregory

14. What literary figure was instrumental in helping A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man get published in serial form?

A. William Butler Yeats
B. Leopold Bloom
C. Vincent Cosgrave
D. Stanislaus Joyce

A. William Butler Yeats

15. Name the two literary patronesses who helped fund the publication of A Portrait as a single volume.

A. Lady Gregory and Sylvia Beach
B. Nora Barnacle and Eileen Joyce
C. Harriet Shaw Weaver and Edith Rockefeller McCormick
D. Kitty O’Shea and Miss Weaver

C. Harriet Shaw Weaver and Edith Rockefeller McCormick

16. What physical ailment required Joyce to undergo a series of operations beginning in August 1917?

A. Stomach ulcers
B. Blindness
C. Worsening eyesight
D. Cirrhosis of the liver

C. Worsening eyesight

17. What caused Joyce’s death in January 1941?

A. Schizophrenia
B. Stomach ulcer/complications from surgery
C. Exhaustion from World War II travel
D. Heart failure

B. Stomach ulcer/complications from surgery

18. What was the title of the lengthy autobiographical, satirical piece that Joyce composed in 1904?

A. Stephen Hero
B. “A Portrait of the Artist”
C. “The Day of the Rabblement”
D. Finnegans Wake

B. “A Portrait of the Artist”

19. What was Joyce’s first major novel (published in serial form 1914–1915 and in book form 1916)?

A. Ulysses
B. Dubliners
C. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
D. Chamber Music

C. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

20. What was Joyce’s collection of thirty-six poems, published in 1907, called?

A. Chamber Music
B. Exiles
C. The Egoist
D. The Little Review

A. Chamber Music

21. Joyce’s short story collection, Dubliners, aimed to reflect what condition of the people of Ireland?

A. Prosperity and hope
B. Intellectual, spiritual, and cultural paralysis
C. British rule and political tension
D. Catholic piety and devout faith

B. Intellectual, spiritual, and cultural paralysis

22. Which novel follows the life of Stephen Dedalus and draws heavily on Joyce’s early life and education?

A. Ulysses
B. Finnegans Wake
C. Dubliners
D. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

D. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

23. What pseudonym had Joyce used before writing A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man?

A. Leopold Bloom
B. Stephen Daedalus
C. John Joyce
D. Icarus

B. Stephen Daedalus

24. The protagonist of A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is named Stephen Dedalus, linking him to which two symbolic figures?

A. Catholic martyr and Greek maze-maker
B. Irish patriot and English ruler
C. The Prodigal Son and Jesus
D. Homer and Shakespeare

A. Catholic martyr and Greek maze-maker

25. What is the core chronology of the novel Ulysses based upon?

A. The entire span of World War I
B. The years Joyce lived in Trieste
C. The course of a single day (June 16, 1904)
D. The life of James Joyce’s father

C. The course of a single day (June 16, 1904)

26. Who is the central protagonist of Ulysses, playing the role of a modern Ulysses wandering Dublin?

A. Stephen Dedalus
B. Vincent Cosgrave
C. John Joyce
D. Leopold Bloom

D. Leopold Bloom

27. What Homeric epic is Ulysses loosely structured around?

A. The Iliad
B. The Odyssey
C. The Aeneid
D. The Divine Comedy

B. The Odyssey

28. Who undertook the publication of Ulysses in Paris in 1922, despite the book facing charges of obscenity?

A. Harriet Shaw Weaver
B. Random House
C. B. W. Huebsch
D. Sylvia Beach (Shakespeare and Company)

D. Sylvia Beach (Shakespeare and Company)

29. What is considered Joyce’s final, enigmatic novel, published in 1939, which deals with life’s cycles and universal history?

A. Stephen Hero
B. Ulysses
C. Exiles
D. Finnegans Wake

D. Finnegans Wake

30. What did Joyce call the unique language used in Finnegans Wake?

A. Stream of consciousness
B. Night language
C. Paralyzed prose
D. The English language

B. Night language

31. Which of Joyce’s works was published posthumously in 1944, using autobiographical material for his later fiction?

A. Dubliners
B. Finnegans Wake
C. Stephen Hero
D. Exiles

C. Stephen Hero

32. Which of Joyce’s works contains the emotional Christmas dinner argument about Charles Stewart Parnell?

A. Ulysses
B. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
C. Dubliners
D. Finnegans Wake

B. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

33. Which literary movement is Joyce celebrated as one of the great pioneers of?

A. Romanticism
B. Post-Structuralism
C. Modernism
D. Naturalism

C. Modernism

34. What stylistic form represents a character’s jumbled inner thoughts and perceptions in written prose?

A. Epiphany
B. Night language
C. Stream of consciousness
D. Dramatic realism

C. Stream of consciousness

35. In which part of A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is the stream of consciousness technique mostly used?

A. The dedication and final chapter
B. The opening sections and Chapter 5
C. The Christmas dinner scene
D. The entire novel uniformly

B. The opening sections and Chapter 5

36. What is the term for a moment in which a character makes a sudden, profound realization?

A. Stream of consciousness
B. Paralysis
C. Humanism
D. Epiphany

D. Epiphany

37. Joyce believed that an epiphany could dramatically alter what aspect of a human in a matter of seconds?

A. Physical health
B. Financial status
C. Spiritual self/human spirit
D. Political allegiance

C. Spiritual self/human spirit

38. The revelation inspired by Parnell’s downfall created what specific fear within young Joyce?

A. That he would also suffer eye trouble
B. That Ireland would always destroy its own prophets
C. That the Church was more powerful than the State
D. That he would never leave Dublin

B. That Ireland would always destroy its own prophets

39. Ulysses examines contemporary Irish questions concerning what three themes?

A. British rule, financial success, and opera
B. Medical science, poetry, and tragedy
C. Political independence, organized religion, and cultural decay
D. Catholic pietism, Jesuit education, and medical ethics

C. Political independence, organized religion, and cultural decay

40. Joyce’s attempts to reconcile the “trinity” of women, sex, and creativity are woven throughout his works, based on which event in his youth?

A. His mother’s death
B. His first sexual experience and admission to a religious Sodality
C. Meeting Nora Barnacle
D. Writing Stephen Hero

B. His first sexual experience and admission to a religious Sodality

41. What did an early critic jokingly remark was surpassed only by the enormous number of debts Joyce’s father incurred?

A. The length of Ulysses
B. The number of eye operations Joyce underwent
C. The number of children in the Joyce household
D. The number of cities Joyce lived in

C. The number of children in the Joyce household

42. Which institution criticized Joyce for denouncing Greek and Shakespearean drama in favor of modern playwrights like Ibsen?

A. The Catholic Church
B. The Little Review
C. The college’s Literary and Historical Society
D. The Irish Theater Movement

C. The college’s Literary and Historical Society

43. What popular artistic trend did Joyce write a scathing article, “The Day of the Rabblement,” encouraging people to reject?

A. Modernism in Paris
B. The Irish Theater Movement’s provincial dramas
C. Wagner’s operas
D. The publishing of The Egoist

B. The Irish Theater Movement’s provincial dramas

44. Ulysses was banned from the United Kingdom and the United States on what charges?

A. Treason
B. Obscenity
C. Blasphemy
D. Political sedition

B. Obscenity

45. What organization lodged an official complaint against the Little Review for publishing obscene material in Ulysses?

A. The Anglo-American Modernist Movement
B. The New York Society for the Prevention of Vice
C. The Jesuit Fathers
D. The Fortnightly Review

B. The New York Society for the Prevention of Vice

46. When did the Woolsey decision legalize the admission of Ulysses into the United States?

A. 1922
B. 1933
C. 1939
D. 1941

B. 1933

47. How did critics generally receive Finnegans Wake upon its publication in 1939?

A. It was hailed as genius.
B. It was welcomed enthusiastically.
C. It was considered a critical failure and baffling.
D. It was ignored entirely.

C. It was considered a critical failure and baffling.

48. Despite fading prestige toward the end of his life, Ulysses now stands as the definitive text of which literary movement?

A. Irish Nationalist Movement
B. Romantic Revival
C. Anglo-American Modernist movement
D. Victorian Realism

C. Anglo-American Modernist movement

49. Joyce is noted for his abilities as a premier what, in relation to the English language?

A. Actor
B. Catholic Theologian
C. Stylist
D. Physician

C. Stylist

50. What were the core works that form the foundation of Joyce’s remarkable literary career?

A. Chamber Music, Exiles, and Stephen Hero
B. Dubliners, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Ulysses, and Finnegans Wake
C. Et Tu, Healy, The Day of the Rabblement, and Ulysses
D. The Odyssey, The Iliad, and A Portrait

B. Dubliners, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Ulysses, and Finnegans Wake

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man MCQs

1. Who first told Stephen the story of the moocow?

A. Uncle Charles
B. Dante
C. His father
D. Betty Byrne

C. His father.
Stephen’s father, who wore a glass, told him the simple childhood story of the moocow coming down the road.

2. What colors were associated with the political brushes kept by Dante?

A. Yellow and blue
B. Maroon and green
C. Red and white
D. Black and gold

B. Maroon and green.
Dante kept a maroon brush for Michael Davitt and a green brush for Charles Parnell in her press.

3. What did Dante threaten Stephen with if he did not apologize?

A. Going to hell
B. The eagles will pull out his eyes
C. His father beating him
D. Being expelled

B. The eagles will pull out his eyes.
Dante fiercely threatened that the eagles would come and pull out Stephen’s eyes if he refused to say sorry.

4. What item did Dante give Stephen when he brought her tissue paper?

A. A shilling
B. A lemon platt
C. A cachou
D. A ribbon

C. A cachou.
Dante rewarded Stephen with a cachou, a small medicinal breath freshener, every time he brought her paper.

5. What name did Nasty Roche give to the Friday pudding at Clongowes?

A. Shortbread
B. Hogwash
C. Lemon Platt
D. Dog-in-the-blanket

D. Dog-in-the-blanket.
Nasty Roche mockingly called the pudding served in the refectory at the college “dog-in-the-blanket”.

6. Why did Wells push Stephen into the square ditch?

A. Stephen insulted him
B. Stephen would not trade his snuff box
C. Stephen preached on him
D. Stephen was laughing

B. Stephen would not trade his snuff box.
Wells forced Stephen into the cold, slimy ditch because Stephen refused to trade his snuff box for a chestnut.

7. Which kind of creature had a fellow seen jump into the scum of the square ditch?

A. A frog
B. A rat
C. A snake
D. A dog

B. A rat.
Stephen recalled a fellow who once saw a big rat jump plop into the scum of the cold, square ditch.

8. In the geography book, what color did Fleming use to color the earth?

A. Maroon
B. Red
C. Green
D. Blue

C. Green.
Fleming used his crayons to color the picture of the Earth found on the first page of Stephen’s geography book.

9. Which Jesuit motto was found pointing to the words AD MAJOREM DEI GLORIAM on a picture?

A. Saint Aloysius
B. Saint Francis Xavier
C. Saint Ignatius Loyola
D. Lorenzo Ricci

C. Saint Ignatius Loyola.
Stephen saw a portrait of Saint Ignatius Loyola, the founder of the Jesuit order, pointing to the order’s motto.

10. What politician’s death was the center of the fierce Christmas dinner argument?

A. Michael Davitt
B. Lord Leitrim
C. Charles Stewart Parnell
D. Henry Grattan

C. Charles Stewart Parnell.
The bitter political argument focused on the betrayal and ruin of the Irish leader, Charles Stewart Parnell.

11. Which characters were on Parnell’s side during the Christmas argument?

A. Dante and Mrs. Dedalus
B. Mr. Dedalus and Mr. Casey
C. Uncle Charles and Stephen
D. Dante and Uncle Charles

B. Mr. Dedalus and Mr. Casey.
Mr. Dedalus and Mr. Casey passionately defended Parnell against the harsh religious and political attacks by Dante.

12. What did Dante scream after Mr. Casey shouted, “No God for Ireland!”?

A. Traitor!
B. Devil out of hell!
C. Sons of bitches!
D. Blasphemer!

B. Devil out of hell!.
When Mr. Casey denounced God for Ireland, Dante screamed, “Devil out of hell!” and stormed away from the table.

13. What was Stephen thinking about when the prefect of studies (Father Dolan) pandied him?

A. His broken glasses
B. The Latin sum
C. His mother is crying
D. Being wrongly punished

A. His broken glasses.
Stephen’s glasses were broken, and Father Arnall had excused him, making the pandying unjust and cruel.

14. How did the boys react when Stephen returned from seeing the Rector about the pandying?

A. They ignored him
B. They cheered the Rector and groaned for Father Dolan
C. They asked him to leave the college
D. They began to fight

B. They cheered the Rector and groaned for Father Dolan.
All the fellows cheered the Rector for the fair decision and gave three groans for Father Dolan.

15. What type of tobacco did Uncle Charles usually smoke in the outhouse?

A. Cigars
B. Pipes
C. Black twist
D. Cigarettes

C. Black twist.
Uncle Charles smoked strong black twist tobacco in his arbor, which his father called “gunpowder.”

16. What book did Stephen pore over every evening during his time in Blackrock?

A. Doctor Cornwell’s Spelling Book
B. Richmal Magnall’s Questions
C. The Count of Monte Cristo
D. Peter Parley’s Tales

C. The Count of Monte Cristo.
Stephen spent his evenings reading a ragged, translated copy of The Count of Monte Cristo.

17. Why was Stephen not sent back to Clongowes after the holiday?

A. He was sick
B. He was expelled
C. His father was having money troubles
D. He refused to go back

C. His father was having money troubles.
Stephen dimly understood that financial trouble, due to his father’s reduced means, prevented his return.

18. What disturbing word did Stephen see carved into a desk in the anatomy theatre in Cork?

A. JESUS
B. FOETUS
C. ANATOMY
D. DIEU

B. FOETUS.
The carved word “FOETUS” startled Stephen, giving him a vivid, terrible vision of student life.

19. When wandering in Cork, what poet’s lines did Stephen repeat that emphasized human ineffectiveness?

A. Ben Jonson
B. Lord Byron
C. Lord Tennyson
D. Shelley

D. Shelley.
He repeated Shelley’s fragment, feeling chilled by the contrast between human weakness and vast cosmic cycles.

20. What did Stephen try to cover up at Newcombe’s coffee-house regarding his father?

A. His father’s financial trouble
B. His father’s drinking bout
C. His father’s accent
D. His father’s flirting

B. His father’s drinking bout.
Stephen tried to hide the noisy rattling of his father’s cup, a shameful sign of the previous night’s heavy drinking.

21. What biblical book was the retreat theme, “REMEMBER ONLY THY LAST THINGS,” taken from?

A. Psalms
B. Ecclesiastes
C. Isaias
D. New Testament

B. Ecclesiastes.
The preacher stated that the words for the retreat were taken from the book of Ecclesiastes, chapter seven.

22. What were the four last things discussed during the religious retreat?

A. Faith, hope, charity, sin
B. Pride, lust, anger, sloth
C. Death, judgment, hell, heaven
D. Joy, sorrow, glory, peace

C. Death, judgment, hell, heaven.
The preacher stated he would spend the three-day retreat discussing death, judgment, hell, and heaven.

23. According to the sermon, what sin caused Lucifer’s fall from heaven?

A. Envy
B. Lust
C. Pride
D. Greed

C. Pride.
Theologians believe that Lucifer fell from grace due to the sin of pride, embodied by the sinful thought, “I will not serve.”

24. According to the sermon, why did God create Adam and Eve?

A. To worship Him
B. To populate the earth
C. To fill the seats left vacant by fallen angels
D. To be His companions

C. To fill the seats left vacant by fallen angels.
God created Adam and Eve to refill the seats in heaven that Lucifer and his rebellious angels had emptied.

25. What is the greatest spiritual torment in hell, according to the second sermon?

A. Pain of fire
B. Pain of conscience
C. Pain of loss
D. Pain of extension

C. Pain of loss.
Saint Thomas stated that the worst agony in hell is the pain of loss, separation forever from the perfect God.

26. What horrible sensory torment increases the agony of the fire in hell, which gives forth no light?

A. Terrible sounds
B. Darkness
C. Coldness
D. Thirst

B. Darkness.
The fire of hell burns eternally in exterior darkness, which the sermon called a “never-ending storm of darkness”.

27. What creature did Stephen imagine inhabiting his own hell during the retreat?

A. Fiery demons
B. Goatish creatures
C. Giant rats
D. Snakes

B. Goatish creatures.
Stephen imagined his own hell as a field of filth inhabited by gray, horny-browed, goatish creatures.

28. What kind of priest heard Stephen’s first detailed confession?

A. A Jesuit
B. A Dominican
C. A Capuchin
D. A Franciscan

C. A Capuchin.
Stephen saw a long grey beard and the simple brown habit, confirming the priest was a Capuchin.

29. To whom did the priest recommend Stephen pray for help against sins of impurity?

A. Saint Francis Xavier
B. God the Father
C. Our mother Mary
D. Saint Joseph

C. Our mother Mary.
The priest begged Stephen to pray to Our Mother Mary, the refuge of sinners, for help resisting that vice.

30. What did Stephen note was set on the kitchen dresser the morning after his confession, symbolizing his peaceful new life?

A. Holy books
B. White flowers
C. Sausages and white pudding
D. A statue of Mary

C. Sausages and white pudding.
Stephen saw sausages, white pudding, and eggs on the dresser, ready for breakfast after the communion service.

31. Which day of the week did Stephen dedicate to the Most Blessed Sacrament of the Altar?

A. Sunday
B. Tuesday
C. Thursday
D. Saturday

C. Thursday.
Stephen’s detailed devotional schedule assigned Thursday to the worship of the Most Blessed Sacrament of the Altar.

32. What three theological virtues did Stephen pray to strengthen via his daily rosaries?

A. Purity, humility, obedience
B. Faith, hope, charity
C. Truth, beauty, goodness
D. Wisdom, knowledge, understanding

B. Faith, hope, charity.
He prayed that his soul would grow strong daily in the theological virtues of faith, hope, and love (charity).

33. What did Stephen attempt to mortify by allowing air to sting a part of his undried body?

A. Taste
B. Sight
C. Touch
D. Smell

C. Touch.
He sought to mortify his sense of touch by leaving his neck and face unwashed after washing his body.

34. When Stephen refused the vocation, he realized that what was winning the day in his soul?

A. The disorder in his father’s house
B. The Catholic Church
C. His pride
D. The Jesuit Order

A. The disorder of his father’s house.
Stephen decided the misrule and confusion of his father’s house was set to overcome the rigid religious order.

35. What did the Director of Studies tell Stephen about the power of a priest?

A. He is humble
B. He has the power of the keys
C. He is patient
D. He is a shepherd

B. He has the power of the keys.
The priest stressed that no king or angel had the power of the keys, the power to bind and loose from sin.

36. What kind of bird did Stephen compare the girl on the strand to during his epiphany?

A. Eagle
B. Dove
C. Seabird
D. Swallow

C. Seabird.
She appeared to him like someone whom magic had changed into the likeness of a strange, beautiful seabird.

37. What local Irish word did Stephen correct the Dean of Studies for calling a funnel?

A. Soutane
B. Tundish
C. Les jupes
D. Funnel

B. Tundish.
Stephen corrected the Dean, stating that the item he called a funnel was known as a tundish in Dublin.

38. What classical philosopher’s words did Stephen use to define beauty?

A. Plato
B. Aristotle
C. Epictetus
D. Aquinas

D. Aquinas.
Stephen quoted Aquinas, saying that the beautiful consists of those things apprehended which please the senses.

39. What does Stephen believe is the first step in the direction of beauty?

A. To find the truth
B. To understand the intellect
C. To understand the imagination
D. To embrace sin

C. To understand the imagination.
The first step toward beauty is understanding the frame and scope of the imagination, grasping esthetic apprehension.

40. What, according to Stephen, is the kinetic emotion excited by improper art?

A. Pity or Terror
B. Desire or loathing
C. Wholeness or harmony
D. Clarity or stasis

B. Desire or loathing.
Improper arts evoke kinetic feelings, urging possession (desire) or abandonment (loathing), rather than aesthetic stasis.

41. What are the three qualities of beauty required by Aquinas, as translated by Stephen?

A. Truth, virtue, emotion
B. Lyrical, epic, dramatic
C. Wholeness, harmony, radiance
D. Faith, hope, charity

C. Wholeness, harmony, radiance.
Stephen translates Aquinas’s Latin requirements for beauty as Wholeness, Harmony, and Radiance (Integras, Consonantia, Claritas).

42. What is the final, ultimate form of art in Stephen’s theory?

A. Lyrical
B. Epical
C. Dramatic
D. Poetic

C. Dramatic.
Art divides into lyrical, epic, and finally, dramatic, where the artist is invisible, refined out of existence.

43. What phrase about Ireland did Stephen bitterly use to express his alienation?

A. A priest-ridden race
B. The old sow that eats her farrow
C. The beautiful Mabel Hunter
D. An unfortunate land

B. The old sow that eats her farrow.
Stephen expressed his bitterness toward Ireland, calling it “the old sow that eats her farrow”.

44. What were the three “arms” Stephen resolves to use for his own defense and flight?

A. Poetry, thought, logic
B. Faith, hope, cunning
C. Silence, exile, cunning
D. Study, work, prayer

C. Silence, exile, cunning.
Stephen determines not to serve institutions, using “silence, exile, and cunning” for his defense against them.

45. Which friend’s face was compared to a “hooded reptile” with a long, slender, flattened skull?

A. Cranly
B. MacCann
C. Davin
D. Lynch

D. Lynch.
Stephen observed Lynch’s skull and eyes, noting that they resembled those of a hooded reptile due to their shape.

46. Who did Stephen imagine sitting at the old piano and listening to his songs at the carnival ball?

A. Eileen
B. The próstitute
C. Emma
D. His sister

C. Emma.
Stephen reminisced about sitting at the piano and singing to the girl, Emma, at the carnival ball.

47. What does Stephen fear more than the God of the Roman Catholics striking him dead?

A. His mother’s suffering
B. Cranly’s judgment
C. Chemical action of false homage
D. Dogs and horses

C. Chemical action of false homage.
Stephen fears the “chemical action” set in motion by his soul’s giving false homage to a religious symbol.

48. Who was Cranly thinking of when Stephen asked him who he loved more than a friend?

A. Himself
B. God
C. Stephen
D. A woman

A. Himself.
Stephen determined that Cranly was speaking of his own loneliness, which he was terrified of.

49. What kind of birds did Stephen observe wheeling and crying, seeking an augury on the library steps?

A. Crows
B. Swallows
C. Gulls
D. Pigeons

B. Swallows.
Stephen thought the dark, darting birds flying around the house were swallows returning from the south.

50. What words does Stephen repeat in his mind that represent the eternal, recurring suffering of his family and race?

A. The rhythm of the villanelle
B. Broken lines of Virgil
C. The Jesuit motto
D. The words of Aquinas

B. Broken lines of Virgil.
Stephen hears the note of weariness and pain echoing Newman’s observation of Virgil’s broken, sorrowful lines.

Brief Overview

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is a semi-autobiographical coming-of-age novel by James Joyce, published in 1916. Stream-of-consciousness is one of the most famous techniques used in this novel that helps depict inner thoughts and the development of the characters.

Stephen Dedalus is a young boy whose early lessons come from his father and Dante. While at Clongowes school, he is unfairly punished by a priest. His family faces financial difficulties and frequently moves. Stephen grows older and becomes deeply troubled by his own sins, especially after attending a religious retreat.

At the retreat, a priest frightens Stephen with vivid descriptions of hell and eternal pain. Stephen sees fearful, goat-like figures representing his vice. He confesses all his sins to a Capuchin priest, feeling happy and purified afterward.

After this profound religious experience, Stephen considers becoming a priest, but the school director offers him an alternative opportunity. He decides this orderly life is too cold for his spirit. Walking by the sea, Stephen sees a beautiful girl who seems like a strange seabird. This moment fills him with a sense of artistic destiny. He resolves to leave Ireland, planning to use silence, exile, and cunning to become an artist.