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

Finnegans Wake MCQs

1. Where does the narrative’s cycle of recirculation bring the reader back?

A. River Liffey and the sea
B. Dublin Castle and the Walls
C. Howth Castle and Environs
D. North Armorica’s shores

C. Howth Castle and Environs.
The commodius vicus of recirculation brings the reader back specifically to Howth Castle and Environs.

2. What historical figure is mentioned fighting a “penisolate war” early in the novel?

A. Sir Tristram
B. Saint Patrick
C. Malachus Micgranes
D. Sir Lancelot

A. Sir Tristram.
Sir Tristram, violer d’amores, is described as having rearrived to wielderfight his penisolate war.

3. What natural process is symbolised by the phrase: “Phall if you but will, rise you must”?

A. Sexual desire
B. The cycle of life and death
C. Architectural destruction
D. Political revolution

B. The cycle of life and death.
This phrase suggests the inevitable cycle of the giant’s fall and subsequent resurrection, linking destruction to renewal.

4. What is offered as a potential cause of the “tragoady thundersday” and “municipal sin business”?

A. A collupsus of his back promises
B. A massive flood from the river
C. A betrayal by his sons
D. A foreign invasion

A. A collupsus of his back promises.
One thousand and one stories are told, including a missfired brick or a collapse of his back premises.

5. What is the symbolic name of the first man mentioned who is “to bare arms and a name”?

A. Mister Funn
B. Mister Finnagain
C. Wassaily Booslaeugh
D. Malachus Micgranes

C. Wassaily Booslaeugh.
The first person to bare arms and a name is identified as Wassaily Booslaeugh of Riesengeborg.

6. What is the definition Stephen Dedalus gives for History, quoted in the novel?

A. A long, sad meandertale
B. A book of all ages
C. A glorious past
D. A nightmare from which I am trying to awake

D. A nightmare from which I am trying to awake.
Stephen’s famed definition of History as “a nightmare from which I am trying to awake” appears in the text.

7. How many multiple meanings must every word be “bound over” to carry in the “Book of Doublends Jined”?

A. Three or four
B. Seventy-two
C. Three score and ten
D. One hundred and eleven

C. Three score and ten.
Every word is bound over to carry “three score and ten toptypsical readings” throughout the book.

8. What is the supposed origin of the paper on which documents are written?

A. Imported from China
B. Made of hides and hints and misses in prints
C. Produced from linen rags
D. Papyrus from the Nile

B. Made of hides and hints and misses in prints.
The rapt one warns that papyr is meed of, made of, hides and hints and misses in prints.

9. What structure is mentioned that seems to have its cardinal points running north-south and west-east?

A. The city map of Dublin
B. The ruled barriers of writing
C. The old holmsted here
D. The Martello tower

B. The ruled barriers of writing.
The ruled barriers along which the traced words run are noted to go north-south and west-east.

10. Who is the “ginger cordial” offered to in Ulysses?

A. Stephen Dedalus
B. Leopold Bloom
C. Ben Dollard
D. Haines

B. Leopold Bloom.
When asked what he wants to drink, Bloom, referred to as the guest, requests “Ginger cordial”.

11. What is Shem the Penman’s residence referred to as due to its filth?

A. The Martello tower
B. The Haunted Inkbottle
C. The Dirty Dustheap
D. The Black House of Shame

B. The Haunted Inkbottle.
Shem’s house, O’Shea or O’Shame, is known as the Haunted Inkbottle in Brimstone Walk.

12. What two substances did Shem use to create his “indelible ink”?

A. Tea and soot
B. Blood and gallic acid
C. Iron ore and stercus proprium (his own dung)
D. Wine and tears

C. Iron ore and stercus proprium (his own dung).
He made indelible ink from his own dung (stercus proprium) mixed with divi Orionis (faked O’Ryan’s).

13. What is the writer’s “squidself” said to do as he writes his history upon his own body?

A. It became visible
B. It waned chagreenold and doriangrayer
C. It multiplied indefinitely
D. It turned into pure light

B. It waned chagreenold and doriangrayer.
As he wrote with corrosive sublimation, his squidself, which he squirtscreened, waned chagreenold and doriangrayer.

14. Who is Justius addressing when he uses the imperative “Stand forth, Nayman of Noland”?

A. His brother Mercuis
B. Shem Macadamson
C. Buck Mulligan
D. HCE

B. Shem Macadamson.
Justius addresses the writing brother, Shem Macadamson, challenging him to show his true colors.

15. What name is given to the river/wife who comes running with tidings at the end of the chapter?

A. Heloise
B. Anna Livia
C. Issy
D. Isolde

B. Anna Livia.
Their “turfbrown mummy” is named and described as gossipaceous Anna Livia, running with news.

16. What sound accompanies the final question/remark from the river (Anna Livia)?

A. A clap of thunder
B. A roaring lion
C. Quoiquoiquoiquoiquoiquoiquoiq!
D. Silence

C. Quoiquoiquoiquoiquoiquoiquoiq!.
When she lifts the lifewand and speaks, the sound is a long series of “Quoiquoiquoiquoiquoiquoiquoiq!”.

17. The first episode in Part II is called “The Mime of Mick, Nick and the Maggies.” Who are the Maggies?

A. Girl Scouts from St. Bride’s Finishing Establishment
B. Barmaids from the Diddlem Club
C. Mourners at the wake
D. The wives of the four Evangelists

A. Girl Scouts from St. Bride’s Finishing Establishment.
The Maggies are identified as Girl Scouts from St. Bride’s Finishing Establishment, demanding acidulateds.

18. Who is Glugg, the “bold bad bleak boy,” divorced into disgrace court by?

A. His father, HCE
B. The Floras (the Maggies)
C. His twin brother, Shaun
D. The Customers

B. The Floras (the Maggies).
Glugg (Mick/Shem) is divorced in disgrace court because he knew too much about The Floras.

19. Izod’s sister reflection, who approaches her in loveliness, is compared to what?

A. A rainbow
B. The cloud of the opal
C. A mirror
D. A painted portrait

B. The cloud of the opal.
Izod’s sister’s reflection is described as “the cloud of the opal” and is her image in the mirror.

20. In the “Finnstown” section, what animal part is HCE compared to as he “lays dormont”?

A. A hippopotamus
B. Kippers on a griddle, hopping round his middle
C. A long-haired bear
D. A buffalo

B. Kippers on a griddle, hopping round his middle.
He is described as lying dormant with his subjects “hopping round his middle like kippers on a griddle”.

21. What happens to the “two mounds” (the giants’ hills) mentioned early in the text?

A. They are destroyed by a flood
B. They are playing Wharton’s Folly
C. They grow into towers
D. They hide treasure

B. They are playing Wharton’s Folly.
The two mounds are sitting around, playing Wharton’s Folly, at a picnic.

22. Which two twin-like figures are introduced for comparison and contrast in the teaching session?

A. Adam and Eve
B. Burrus and Caseous
C. Tristram and Isolde
D. Mutt and Jute

B. Burrus and Caseous.
The instructor says it is convenient to pursue Burrus and Caseous up their isocelating biangle.

23. Which twin, Burrus or Caseous, is described as the “genuine prime” and “mildest of milkstoffs”?

A. Caseous
B. Burrus
C. Neither
D. They are identical

B. Burrus.
Burrus is described as a genuine prime, full of natural grease, and the mildest of milkstoffs.

24. The story of Burrus and Caseous competing for “her misstery” involves implicating which third, elusive man?

A. Michael
B. Antonius
C. Magravius
D. Sulla

B. Antonius.
Margareena complicates the position by involving Antonius, a wop who likes cheese and is rude.

25. What did the four conspirators (Mamalujo) do while squatting round the air register?

A. Write a gospel
B. Play cards
C. Community singing
D. Argue loudly

C. Community singing.
The four confederates are described as squatting around, doing their “community singing” up the voice box.

26. What does Shaun the Post carry that leads to his description as a “pillarbox”?

A. A huge chain envelope filled with litterish fragments
B. A massive sword
C. A tree branch
D. A box of milkstoffs

A. A huge chain envelope filled with litterish fragments.
Shaun is a “pillarbox” because a huge chain envelope, written in seven divers stages of ink, lurks dormant in his paunch.

27. Shaun suggests that to overcome Shem’s language, a singer should forget her “temporal diaphragm” and attack the roulade with what?

A. A whispered sigh
B. A swift colpo di glottide (stroke of the throat)
C. A mournful echo
D. A loud clap

B. A swift colpo di glottide (stroke of the throat).
Shaun advises attacking the roulade with a “swift colpo di glottide” and then opening her throat.

28. Who is the “lovely little virgin” whose portrait, The Very Picture of a Needlesswoman, is found?

A. Issy
B. Margareena (Marge)
C. Anna Livia
D. Mrs Clifton

B. Margareena (Marge).
The instructor mentions his goulache of Marge, whom he titled The Very Picture of a Needlesswoman.

29. What is the fundamental difference between the Burrus (honest) and Caseous (shifty) types?

A. Burrus loves wine, Caseous loves tea.
B. Burrus is passive, Caseous is active.
C. Burrus has defensive fideism, Caseous is a caviller.
D. Burrus is a lord, Caseous is a peasant.

C. Burrus has defensive fideism, Caseous is a caviller.
Burrus has “defensive fideism,” while Caseous may bethink himself a “caviller” (one who raises trivial objections).

30. What literary/historical figure does Professor MacHugh compare Stephen to, citing his bitterness?

A. Socrates
B. Aristotle
C. Antisthenes
D. Shakespeare

C. Antisthenes.
The sources cite this comparison in the previous conversation (Ulysses context). Sticking strictly to the FW sources, the comparison is not found. No relevant information is found in these sources.

31. What animal symbolizes the Jute in the conversation between Mutt and Jute?

A. A dog
B. A Viking (Viceking)
C. A thunderstruck thing
D. A bison

C. A thunderstruck thing.
When Jute is shocked, Mutt tells him, “Oye am thonthorstrok, thing mud,” confirming his state.

32. What common, everyday object, if studied, might reveal great information, according to the text?

A. A stamped addressed envelope
B. A water closet
C. A cracked looking glass
D. A stone on the road

A. A stamped addressed envelope.
The text asks whether anyone has looked longly at “a quite everyday-looking stamped addressed envelope”.

33. What is the fate of the “huge outlander” (HCE) after his sin?

A. He is banished to the continent.
B. He is tried by many tribunals, both sentenced and acquitted.
C. He commits suícide.
D. He is instantly forgiven.

B. He is tried by many tribunals, both sentenced and acquitted.
The shadow of the huge outlander “had bulked at the bar of a rota of tribunals in manor hall as in thieves’ kitchen”.

34. Who is the “man in possession” that Buck Mulligan refers to when speaking of Shakespeare’s second-best bed?

A. Ann Hathaway
B. Stephen Dedalus
C. William Shakespeare
D. Lord Byron

A. Ann Hathaway.
The sources cite this in the previous conversation (Ulysses context). Sticking strictly to the FW sources, the reference is not found. No relevant information is found in these sources.

35. What is the ultimate meaning of the phrase “Finight mens midinfinite true” in the context of the tree?

A. Finite man in mid-infinite truth
B. Man is finished and defeated
C. The fight for man is infinite
D. Final measurement is the truth

A. Finite man in mid-infinite truth.
Dr Melamanessy is told: “Finight mens midinfinite true. The form masculine. The gender feminine”.

36. In the metaphor of the two brothers, who is the one representing the writer, Shem?

A. The one who cleans the boots
B. The one who has “illegible clergimanths”
C. The one who carries the post
D. The one who sings beautifully

B. The one who has “illegible clergimanths”.
Shem is called a “pixillated doodler” who has “illegible clergimanths” and boasts of his complexion.

37. What are the names of the two “vestals” (old women) mentioned in the parable?

A. Kitty Ricketts and Zoe Higgins
B. Anne Kearns and Florence MacCabe
C. Anne Kearns and oe Higgins
D. Elsebett and Marryetta Gunning

B. Anne Kearns and Florence MacCabe.
Anne Kearns and Florence MacCabe are from Ulysses, while the twin girls Elsebett and Marryetta Gunning appear in the final chapter of Finnegans Wake.

38. What symbolic meaning is attached to the phrase “Japhet in search of a father”?

A. The hero’s political quest
B. The son seeking the paternity of Hamlet
C. The eternal nature of questions
D. The cracked lookingglass of a servant

B. The son seeking the paternity of Hamlet.
This refers to the Hamlet theory in Ulysses. The relevant phrase from Finnegans Wake’s excerpts is not provided to answer this question.

39. What did the “gentleman of fashion” Philip Beaufoy write?

A. Ulysses
B. Matcham’s Masterstroke
C. Sweets of Sin
D. The Master Master

B. Matcham’s Masterstroke.
This references Ulysses. Sticking strictly to FW sources, the name Philip Beaufoy is not mentioned. No relevant information is found in these sources.

40. What action, connected to his shame, does HCE perform when he is rescued from the lilypond?

A. He starts singing.
B. He takes a piece of wood from a workman.
C. He smashes a chandelier.
D. He cries for his mother.

B. He takes a piece of wood from a workman.
After being rescued from the ornamental lilypond, HCE (the character) was given a piece of wood by a workman.

41. What is the setting of the “Mookse and the Gripes” fable?

A. Near the Martello tower
B. Near the river Liffey
C. Under the bannistars (balustrade)
D. In a bog

C. Under the bannistars (balustrade).
Nuvoletta looks down on them, leaning over the bannistars and listening to the Mookse and Gripes.

42. What animal does the Gripes (Shem figure) compare himself to when talking about the Mookse?

A. A dog
B. A goat of MacHammud’s
C. A bird
D. A snake

B. A goat of MacHammud’s.
The Gripes answers the Mookse by swearing “be the goat of MacHammud’s” that Mookse may be more botheared.

43. The “four masses” (Matt, Mark, Luke, John) read a letter and try to regulate their “reves by incubation.” What does this mean?

A. They regulate their lives by incubation.
B. They try to decipher their dreams for meaning.
C. They read the letter to the dead man.
D. They argue about its authorship.

B. They try to decipher their dreams for meaning.
They read the letter “for to regul their reves by incubation,” meaning they try to interpret their dreams.

44. What does the “thundercloud periwig” and “lightning bug aflash from afinger” symbolize in the father’s appearance?

A. His great wealth
B. His power and anger
C. His old age
D. His foolishness

B. His power and anger.
The housefather calls threateningly, appearing in a thundercloud periwig with lightning bug aflash from a finger.

45. What is the significance of the number 1132 in the context of Dublin history?

A. It marks the date of the Fall.
B. It is associated with various floods and historical events.
C. It is the date of the book’s first publication.
D. It is the address of the Wake house.

B. It is associated with various floods and historical events.
1132 A.D. is mentioned in connection with a whale lying in a Runnel, and other historical floods.

46. Which character is described as a “twelve stone hoovier” (heavier) in his body?

A. Shaun
B. HCE (Humphrey)
C. Shem
D. Issy

B. HCE (Humphrey).
The speaker says to the character who is about to be fined: “You’re getting hoovier, a twelve stone hoovier”.

47. What is the name of the road mentioned in the last part of the novel, which goes “round and round to meet where terms begin”?

A. The Vico road
B. The Highway
C. The Long Lane
D. The Mabbot’s Ma

A. The Vico road.
Shaun mentions that “The Vico road goes round and round to meet where terms begin,” referencing Vico’s cyclical theory.

48. What literary device is Shem accused of using extensively in his writing?

A. Rhyme
B. Masculine monosyllables of the same numerical mus
C. Simple, clear language
D. Short, direct sentences

B. Masculine monosyllables of the same numerical mus.
Shem is accused of mating “masculine monosyllables of the same numerical mus,” meaning intentional obscure word choices.

49. What is the linguistic challenge posed by the word “Talis,” according to the lecturer?

A. It has too many consonants.
B. It is a word often abused by many passims.
C. It cannot be translated.
D. It is always used in Spanish.

B. It is a word often abused by many passims.
The instructor notes that “Talis is a word often abused by many passims,” suggesting difficulty in application.

50. What happened to the elm tree that was beside the Annar (River)?

A. It was burned for firewood.
B. It was struck by lightning.
C. The river split it.
D. It was the consecrated maypole in all the reignladen history.

D. It was the consecrated maypole in all the reignladen history.
The tree, Oakley Ashe’s elm, is described as the “grawndest crowndest consecrated maypole”.

Brief Overview

Finnegans Wake is a novel by James Joyce that blends the reality of life with the dream world. It was published in 1939 and is considered Joyce’s experimental masterpiece.

The novel immediately returns readers to Howth Castle and Environs. The story centers on a large figure who has suffered a great fall. This figure is known as the “huge outlander”. He is often called Here Comes Everybody (HCE).

The novel suggests his fall came after an improper act. He was accused of behaving wrongly toward two maidservants.

His wife is represented by the river, Anna Livia. She is always running with tidings. The couple has twin sons. One son is known as the writer, or Shem the Penman. He is mocked as a dirty outcast. Shem’s brother, Shaun, is the postman and the favorite. Shaun is considered handsome and moral. The book contains many conflicting documents and letters.

HCE is sleeping through the whole story. He is constantly being tried, both sentenced and acquitted, for his alleged sins.

The whole book is a complex dream. It moves in cycles, meaning that everything that ends will return. The river at the end runs to the sea, promising eternal return.