Lesson 4.2.1.12

4.2.1.12 A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway Quiz: AQA English Literature A, Unit 2

20 questions

Written by Revision Ninja · Last reviewed 11 October 2026

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Lesson 4.2.1.12, A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway: 20 multiple choice questions for the AQA English Literature A (7712), Unit 2: Texts in shared contexts, written with Revision Ninja.

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The 20 questions

  1. In what year was A Farewell to Arms first published?

    • 1939
    • 1914
    • 1929
    • 1918

  2. Who is the narrator of A Farewell to Arms?

    • Frederic Henry
    • Catherine Barkley
    • Count Greffi
    • Rinaldi

  3. On which front is the novel set?

    • The Eastern Front in Russia
    • The Gallipoli peninsula
    • The Western Front in France
    • The Italian front

  4. Which Italian battle or retreat in 1917 forms a turning point in the novel?

    • Verdun
    • Ypres
    • Cambrai
    • Caporetto

  5. What is Catherine Barkley's profession?

    • Schoolteacher
    • Pharmacist
    • Nurse
    • Journalist

  6. Which phrase does Frederic use to criticise abstract ideals such as glory and honour?

    • Honour is always the proper cause of war, and those who fall for it are blessed
    • Abstract words are obscene beside the concrete names of places
    • Glory is the highest reward of any soldier, earned through courage in battle
    • Courage must be sung in verse so that future generations remember those who died

  7. Which literary style is Hemingway's prose in A Farewell to Arms best known for?

    • Rhyming and metrical
    • Elaborate and ornate
    • Spare, understated and direct
    • Dense with Latin phrases

  8. What is the iceberg theory associated with Hemingway?

    • Every sentence must describe the weather so that the reader feels the setting
    • Dialogue should be replaced by narration so that the reader hears only the author
    • Novels must contain exactly seven chapters, each with its own distinct heading
    • Meaning is largely left unstated beneath the surface of the text

  9. Why does Frederic leave the Italian army?

    • He is captured in battle and set free
    • He is discharged for illness and returns home
    • He is promoted to general
    • He deserts after disillusionment with the war

  10. What happens to Catherine at the end of the novel?

    • She returns to America
    • She marries Rinaldi
    • She becomes a famous author
    • She dies in childbirth

  11. Which motif recurs at the novel's close and suggests bleakness?

    • Snow on mountains
    • Sunshine
    • Bells
    • Rain

  12. Hemingway served in WW1 in which role?

    • Cavalry scout
    • Naval gunner
    • Artillery officer
    • Ambulance driver

  13. Which generational label, popularised by Gertrude Stein, is often applied to Hemingway?

    • The Silent Generation
    • The Beat Generation
    • The Lost Generation
    • The Greatest Generation

  14. Evaluate: how does Hemingway's style reinforce the novel's critique of war?

    • Long Latin quotations present the war as ancient, noble and worth remembering
    • Ornate language makes the war seem glorious and worthy of praise and celebration
    • Dialogue is removed entirely so that the violence never disturbs the reader's view
    • Plain language mirrors the emptiness and loss that soldiers experience

  15. Which idea is central to the love story between Frederic and Catherine?

    • Love as a private refuge from the public violence of war
    • Love as a political alliance between nations, made to secure peace after war
    • Love as a formal military duty that each officer owed to his regiment and country
    • Love as a contract for property, arranged to protect the family's wealth and land

  16. Which term describes a narrator who recalls events from a later point in time?

    • Stream of consciousness
    • Retrospective narration
    • Free indirect style only
    • Epistolary form

  17. Why might Frederic's desertion be read as a comment on the war as a whole?

    • It shows that personal survival becomes more important than official duty
    • It shows that all soldiers were eager for promotion and sought rank above all else
    • It shows the Italian army was completely successful and never suffered defeat
    • It shows the war had no effect on individuals, who carried on as before regardless

  18. What is the effect of Hemingway's use of short sentences in describing violence?

    • It creates a flat, detached tone that intensifies the impact
    • It makes the violence seem comical, as if the scenes were from a stage farce
    • It hides the violence from the reader so that the horror is left entirely unseen
    • It gives every death a long lyrical description that lingers over each detail

  19. Which Italian city features in the novel's story of the lovers' life in the hospital?

    • Milan
    • Naples
    • Florence
    • Venice

  20. Which concept describes a reader's sense that a novel's meaning is deliberately left partly unsaid?

    • Plot summary
    • Epigraph
    • Chronology
    • Subtext

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