Lesson 4.2.1.8

4.2.1.8 Life Class by Pat Barker Quiz: AQA English Literature A, Unit 2

20 questions

Written by Revision Ninja · Last reviewed 11 October 2026

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Lesson 4.2.1.8, Life Class by Pat Barker: 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. Life Class is a novel by which author, published in 2007?

    • Sebastian Faulks
    • Pat Barker
    • Joan Littlewood
    • Anna Hope

  2. Where is the main setting of Life Class?

    • a hospital in Edinburgh overlooking the Forth
    • a naval base on the north coast of Scotland
    • a French village near the city of Amiens
    • the Slade School of Art in London

  3. What is the central activity of the class in the title?

    • a language lesson in French grammar
    • military drill on a parade ground
    • a religious service in a chapel
    • drawing from a live model

  4. Which theme is central to the novel's treatment of art and war?

    • how art responds to and records the physical damage of war
    • how commerce drives the prices of paintings in London
    • how sculpture replaced drawing as the main art form
    • how art avoids all reference to the wider world

  5. Which kind of character is treated sensitively in the novel's medical plot?

    • injured soldiers whose faces and bodies have been damaged
    • royal courtiers attending ceremonies in London
    • circus performers travelling between the towns
    • naval cooks serving in a distant port on the coast

  6. Why is the novel classed as post-2000 in the AQA specification?

    • it has no publication date given on the title page
    • its publication date is 2007, after the year 2000
    • it was written in the 1990s and published then
    • it is set in the years after the Second World War

  7. Which real figure, a surgeon and artist linked to the Slade, is connected with the novel's historical world?

    • Henry Tonks, who drew war injuries
    • Siegfried Sassoon, the poet who protested against the war
    • Robert Graves, the poet who wrote about his own youth
    • William Rivers, the psychiatrist at Craiglockhart

  8. What does the novel suggest about the act of looking?

    • looking is always a neutral and effortless act
    • looking carefully can be a moral act that requires honesty about suffering
    • looking is forbidden to students at the art schools
    • looking has no moral dimension at any point in the story

  9. Which literary technique explores the students' reactions to the war?

    • a diary kept by a war office official throughout
    • a chorus of townspeople who comment on the action
    • shifting perspectives between characters to show different responses
    • a single list of dates and military events

  10. Which statement best describes the relationship between the art class and the war?

    • the class is completely separate from the war and its effects
    • the class brings the war to an end through its discussions
    • the class is a comic setting with no link to conflict at all
    • the class gradually absorbs and reflects the war's impact on the students

  11. Which question is most useful when evaluating the novel's presentation of artistic responsibility?

    • Does the art in the novel respect the suffering of its subjects or exploit it?
    • Is the paint used in the studio blue or green in colour?
    • Does the studio have a telephone on the wall?
    • Is the model wearing a hat in the drawing session?

  12. What does the novel suggest about the relationship between the individual and the state?

    • the state is shown as wholly benevolent and kind throughout
    • individuals are entirely free from any state influence in the war
    • individuals are drawn into the war's demands, which constrain their choices
    • the state plays no role in the events of the novel at all

  13. Which statement best describes the novel's treatment of the body?

    • the body is treated only as a comic subject for jokes
    • the body is absent from the novel's descriptions and scenes
    • the body is shown as both an artistic subject and a site of suffering
    • the body is treated as a purely abstract idea with no physical form

  14. Which feature of Pat Barker's writing is shown in Life Class?

    • strictly comic dialogue with no serious themes
    • a catalogue of military ranks and regiments
    • attention to historical detail combined with psychological insight
    • verse drama with rhymed couplets throughout the text

  15. Why is the novel significant in relation to the First World War?

    • it describes naval battles in detail for the reader
    • it explores how the war was seen and recorded by artists
    • it is a manual on how to build trenches in the field
    • it celebrates the armistice as a moment of national triumph

  16. Which statement describes the novel's ending in relation to its themes?

    • it presents a simple and happy marriage for the central couple
    • it has no connection to art or to the artists in the story
    • it leaves questions about art, responsibility and the war's lasting effects open
    • it shows that the war ended on the same day it began

  17. Which question best supports an evaluation of the novel's view of the war's legacy?

    • Does art offer a way to record the war's damage, or does some suffering resist representation?
    • Does the novel include a glossary of terms at the end?
    • Is the author's photograph printed on the cover of the book?
    • Does the novel contain a map of the city at the front?

  18. Which statement best describes the novel's use of historical figures?

    • they replace all the fictional characters in the later scenes
    • they are removed entirely from the story after the first chapter
    • they appear alongside fictional characters to ground the novel in real debates
    • they appear only in a footnote at the back of the book

  19. What effect does the historical setting have on the novel?

    • it removes the war from the story entirely
    • it makes the novel a comedy about student life
    • it connects the art school to the effects of the war
    • it confines the story to a village pub in the countryside

  20. What does drawing from life involve?

    • observing a live model and recording what is seen
    • building models from wood and wire in a workshop
    • memorising poems in a classroom under supervision
    • copying from printed photographs only and never from life

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