Lesson 4.1.1.17

4.1.1.17 The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak Quiz: AQA English Literature A, Unit 1

20 questions

Written by Revision Ninja · Last reviewed 11 October 2026

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Lesson 4.1.1.17, The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak: 20 multiple choice questions for the AQA English Literature A (7712), Unit 1: Love through the ages, written with Revision Ninja.

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The 20 questions

  1. Who is the author of The Island of Missing Trees?

    • Elif Mahmud, a Cypriot poet of exile
    • Pat Barker, a British novelist of war
    • Ian McEwan, a British novelist of guilt
    • Elif Shafak, a Turkish novelist

  2. Which island is the central setting of The Island of Missing Trees?

    • Sicily, the island off the Italian coast
    • Malta, a small island in the Mediterranean
    • Crete, the largest Greek island
    • Cyprus, divided in 1974

  3. Which city outside Cyprus is the other main setting of the novel?

    • Athens, the capital of Greece on the mainland
    • Paris, the capital of a neighbouring country
    • Istanbul, a city on the Bosphorus strait
    • London, where characters live as migrants

  4. What is unusual about the narration of The Island of Missing Trees?

    • it is written entirely in rhyming verse
    • a fig tree is one of the narrators
    • it is told by a chorus of schoolchildren
    • it is a series of text messages between friends

  5. Which historical event in Cyprus forms the background to the novel's themes of loss?

    • the division of the island in 1974
    • the Battle of Actium in the Roman period
    • the Crusader conquest of the island in 1191
    • the independence of Greece in 1821

  6. Which theme is most central to the novel?

    • memory, displacement and the cost of conflict
    • the perfection of the English countryside in summer
    • the benefits of industrial production in the cities
    • the rules of cricket and the sporting season

  7. Why might a fig tree be a significant narrative voice?

    • It offers a long, rooted view that witnesses human history and its losses
    • It can speak in human language directly to the reader
    • It is a comic device with no thematic function at all
    • It stands for commercial trade routes across the sea

  8. Which literary term describes a tree used as a symbol of the past and of memory?

    • zeugma, where one word governs two parts
    • anaphora, the repetition of words at line starts
    • symbolism, where an object stands for abstract ideas
    • litotes, where a point is stated by negation

  9. What kind of narrative does the novel most resemble in its treatment of migration?

    • a legal report on immigration policy and its effects
    • a multi-perspective novel that moves between past and present
    • a historical treatise without any characters at all
    • a single-voice diary of a holidaymaker on the island

  10. Which structural feature is most important to the novel's treatment of memory?

    • letters written by a single character to a friend
    • a linear account running from birth to death
    • shifts between past and present that show how the past shapes the present
    • a single flashback covering one day in one place

  11. Which question is most useful for evaluating the novel's treatment of conflict?

    • Does the island have a mild climate suitable for growing fruit?
    • Does the novel present division as a tragedy that affects individuals across generations?
    • Are there any ships described in the novel's opening chapters?
    • Is the novel printed in hardback or in paperback editions?

  12. Which statement best describes the novel's attitude to belonging?

    • belonging is purely a question of legal status in a country
    • belonging is complex, shaped by memory, loss and inherited stories
    • belonging is presented as a matter of no importance
    • belonging is determined only by a person's place of birth

  13. What role does the image of missing trees play in the novel?

    • It symbolises the lost homeland and the uprooting caused by conflict
    • It is a comic detail about the design of a garden
    • It refers to a map of trade routes across the Mediterranean
    • It describes a forestry programme run by the London council

  14. Which phrase best describes the novel's presentation of history?

    • history as a series of battles and military campaigns
    • history as a set of statistics about trade and population
    • history as lived and remembered by ordinary people, not only official record
    • history as a myth with no basis in fact at all

  15. Which character's perspective most explicitly connects the island's past and the migrant present?

    • a London police detective investigating a crime
    • a Cypriot farmer who never leaves the island at all
    • a journalist covering the Olympic Games in the city
    • a character who remembers the island while living in London

  16. Why might a reader find the fig tree narrator's perspective uncomfortable?

    • It reports legal decisions made by the courts of the island
    • It refers only to the weather and the seasons of the year
    • It offers a comic, light-hearted tone throughout the book
    • Its long memory exposes human violence and forgetting from outside human time

  17. Which question best supports an evaluation of whether the novel offers hope?

    • Is the typeface easy to read on a small page?
    • Are there any maps printed at the front of the book?
    • Do acts of remembering and reconnection suggest any possibility of healing after loss?
    • Does the novel have an index at the back for readers?

  18. What does the novel suggest about the act of remembering?

    • Remembering is a purely private act with no social role
    • Remembering always erases painful events completely
    • Remembering is possible only through official records
    • Remembering keeps lost places and people present

  19. What is the effect of multiple viewpoints on the novel's account of the past?

    • It offers several perspectives on one shared past
    • It turns history into a legal case with a verdict
    • It gives a single authoritative account only
    • It removes all questions about what happened

  20. Which literary device is used when a fig tree speaks in the novel?

    • chiasmus, reversing the order of phrases in a sentence
    • alliteration, repeating the same consonant sound
    • onomatopoeia, imitating the sound of an object
    • personification, giving human traits to a non-human

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