The Dead MCQs
1. Who was “literally run off her feet” attending to gentlemen arriving at the dance?
A. Miss Kate
B. Miss Julia
C. Lily, the caretaker’s daughter
D. Mary Jane
2. Where was the gentlemen’s coat check located?
A. The hallway
B. The pantry
C. Usher’s Island
D. Balbrigan
3. How long ago had Kate and Julia moved to Usher’s Island?
A. Ten years ago
B. Fifty years ago
C. About thirty years
D. Since last year
4. What instrument does Mary Jane play professionally (she has the organ in this location)?
A. The square piano
B. The violin
C. The accordion
D. Organ in Haddington Road
5. What was Aunt Julia’s position in Adam and Eve’s despite her age and grey hair?
A. The organist
B. The choir director
C. Leading soprano
D. A music teacher
6. What were the three mistresses fussy about, which Lily had to avoid?
A. The quality of the sirloins
B. The late hour
C. Back answers
D. The state of the floor
7. Which guest were Miss Kate and Miss Julia dreadfully afraid might turn up “screwed”?
A. Gabriel Conroy
B. Mr. Browne
C. Mr. Bartell D’Arcy
D. Freddy Malins
8. What did Gabriel say was the reason for his late arrival?
A. The snow delayed them.
B. His wife’s dressing time
C. He had trouble finding a cab.
D. He was polishing his goloshes.
9. What item of clothing did Gabriel scrape the snow from vigorously on the mat?
A. His overcoat
B. His muffler
C. His patent-leather shoes
D. His goloshes
10. When Gabriel spoke to Lily in the pantry, how did she look?
A. Stout and rosy
B. Slim, pale, hay-coloured hair
C. Dark-complexioned with a moustache
D. Wizen-faced with a moustache
11. What was Lily’s bitter retort when Gabriel joked about her finding a young man for marriage?
A. That she was too busy.
B. That she already had a sweetheart.
C. Men are all palaver/exploiters
D. That he was being rude.
12. What item of Gabriel’s attire had “polished lenses and the bright gilt rims” that screened his eyes?
A. His hat
B. His cufflinks
C. His glasses
D. His shoes
13. Gabriel was disappointed in himself for failing with the girl in the pantry, just as he feared he would fail with what later task?
A. Carving the goose
B. Dancing the Lancers
C. His entire speech
D. Quoting Shakespeare
14. What was Gabriel undecided about including in his speech, fearing it would be “above the heads of his hearers”?
A. A joke about Freddy Malins
B. Lines from Robert Browning
C. A quotation from Shakespeare
D. A mention of Irish hospitality
15. Who was the favorite nephew of Miss Kate and Miss Julia?
A. Freddy Malins
B. Mr. Browne
C. Gabriel
D. Constantine
16. Where was Gretta and Gabriel’s residence?
A. Usher’s Island
B. Galway
C. Monkstown
D. Kingstown
17. Why was Gabriel trying to dissuade Gretta from taking a cab back to Monkstown?
A. It was too expensive.
B. She caught a bad cold previously
C. He wanted to walk alone.
D. Freddy Malins needed the cab.
18. What object did Gabriel make Gretta wear in wet weather, which was a standing joke among the women?
A. Boots
B. A veil
C. Green shades
D. Goloshes
19. What did Aunt Julia murmur when she heard that Gabriel and Gretta’s goloshes were worn “on the Continent”?
A. How fashionable!
B. How strange.
C. O, on the Continent.
D. I wish I had a pair.
20. Where had Gabriel booked a room for the night?
A. The Antient Concert Rooms
B. The Shelbourne
C. The Gresham Hotel
D. O’Connell Bridge
21. Who was Bessie?
A. Gabriel’s niece
B. The leading soprano
C. Girl caring for the children
D. Aunt Julia’s old friend
22. Who did Aunt Kate say had wandered downstairs and was craning her neck over the banisters?
A. Gretta
B. Mary Jane
C. Julia
D. Lily
23. Who were Miss Daly and Miss Power?
A. The Misses Morkan’s sisters
B. Guests taking refreshment
C. Two of Mary Jane’s pupils
D. The women who carved the ham
24. What was Mr. Browne doing when Freddy Malins crossed the room on “rather shaky legs”?
A. Dancing
B. Playing the piano
C. Grinning at him from the sideboard
D. Arguing with Aunt Kate
25. What did Freddy Malins’ mother make him take on New Year’s Eve?
A. Dancing lessons
B. A promise to visit Glasgow
C. The pledge
D. A new overcoat
26. What did Gabriel’s eyes wander to above the piano while Mary Jane was playing her Academy piece?
A. A family portrait
B. The grandfather clock
C. The old square piano
D. Romeo & Juliet and two murdered princes
27. What relative of Gabriel’s had been called the “brains carrier of the Morkan family”?
A. Aunt Kate
B. Aunt Julia
C. His mother, Ellen
D. Mary Jane
28. Who was Constantine, one of Gabriel’s brothers?
A. A poet
B. A professor
C. Senior curate in Balbrigan
D. A doctor
29. What slighting phrase did Gabriel’s mother once use to describe Gretta, which still rankled Gabriel?
A. Flighty
B. “Country cute”
C. West Briton
D. Too extravagant
30. Who was Gabriel’s partner for the Lancers?
A. Gretta
B. Mary Jane
C. Miss Ivors
D. Miss Furlong
31. What newspaper did Miss Ivors accuse Gabriel of writing for, leading her to call him a “West Briton”?
A. The Irish Times
B. The Daily Express
C. The Dublin Review
D. The Connacht Journal
32. How much was Gabriel paid for his literary column?
A. Five shillings
B. A sovereign
C. Fifteen shillings
D. A pound
33. Where did Miss Ivors want Gabriel and Gretta to go for an excursion that summer?
A. France
B. Belgium
C. The Aran Isles
D. Scotland
34. Why did Gabriel say he went abroad (France, Belgium, Germany) instead of visiting Ireland?
A. To escape the family.
B. To teach English.
C. For languages and a change
D. To attend music festivals.
35. What did Gabriel ultimately say in frustration to Miss Ivors regarding his country?
A. “Irish is not my language.”
B. “I’m sick of my own country, sick of it!”
C. “I prefer London.”
D. “I have no time for politics.”
36. What nationality was the tenor voice Freddy Malins praised that was singing in the Gaiety pantomime?
A. Italian
B. English
C. Negro chieftain
D. Dubliner
37. Aunt Kate claimed that the purest tenor voice she had ever heard belonged to:
A. Caruso
B. Bartell D’Arcy
C. Parkinson
D. Giuglini
38. Gabriel did not eat sweets. What item was left for him during the supper?
A. The sirloin
B. The ham
C. The celery
D. The figs
39. Where was Freddy Malins planning to go in a week or so, as he was under doctor’s care?
A. Glasgow
B. Monkstown
C. Mount Melleray
D. Galway
40. Why did Mary Jane say the monks of Mount Melleray slept in coffins?
A. They were extremely poor.
B. To remind them of their death
C. It helped them breathe the air.
D. It was a joke among the monks.
41. What did Gabriel call the Misses Morkan sisters in his speech?
A. The Three Saints
B. The Three Beauties
C. The Three Graces
D. The Three Pillars
42. What song did Aunt Julia sing during Gabriel’s reflections before his speech?
A. The Lass of Aughrim
B. Mignon
C. Arrayed for the Bridal
D. Come back to Erin
43. What Irish phrase did Miss Ivors cry out as she ran down the staircase, departing abruptly?
A. Erin go Bragh
B. Sláinte
C. Beannacht libh
D. Cá bhfuil an leithreas
44. What product was Gabriel’s grandfather, Patrick Morkan, known for manufacturing (though Kate corrects him)?
A. Stout
B. Glue or starch
C. Tea
D. Corn
45. What was the name of Patrick Morkan’s horse that walked in a circle at King Billy’s statue?
A. Billy
B. Pat
C. Johnny
D. Constantine
46. While gazing up at Gretta on the stairs, what did Gabriel decide he would call the painting if he were a painter?
A. The Light and the Shadow
B. Gretta’s Secret
C. Distant Music
D. The Hall Door
47. What was the name of the song Bartell D’Arcy was singing softly that caught Gretta’s attention?
A. Arrayed for the Bridal
B. Let me like a Soldier fall
C. The Lass of Aughrim
D. O’Connell Bridge
48. Who was the person Gretta was thinking of, who used to sing “The Lass of Aughrim”?
A. Her uncle Pat
B. Michael Furey
C. Mr. Bartell D’Arcy
D. Constantine, Gabriel’s brother
49. What were the Morkan sisters’ first names (The Three Graces)?
A. Julia, Kate, and Mary Jane
B. Gretta, Kate, and Julia
C. Ellen, Kate, and Julia
D. Bessie, Mary Jane, and Lily
50. What is the symbolic significance of the snow in the final scene of “The Dead”?
A. It represents the coldness of Gabriel’s marriage.
B. It symbolizes the uniform presence of death and decay over all of Ireland.
C. It foreshadows the coming winter and Gabriel’s future trip abroad.
D. It represents a cleansing and renewal of life in Dublin.