Lesson C02.3.1

C02.3.1 Dystopia: contexts and themes Quiz: OCR English Literature, Unit 2

20 questions

Written by Revision Ninja · Last reviewed 11 October 2026

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Lesson C02.3.1, Dystopia: contexts and themes: 20 multiple choice questions for the OCR English Literature (H472), Unit 2: Component 02: Comparative and contextual study, written with Revision Ninja.

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The 20 questions

  1. What literary term describes an imagined society marked by extreme suffering and state oppression?

    • Utopia
    • Dystopia
    • Heterotopia
    • Arcadian

  2. Which 1949 novel by George Orwell popularised the concept of omniscient state surveillance?

    • Brave New World
    • Fahrenheit 451
    • We
    • Nineteen Eighty-Four

  3. What term describes a system of government based on strict religious authority and doctrine?

    • Theocracy
    • Oligarchy
    • Autocracy
    • Plutocracy

  4. What linguistic term describes naming women after their male possessor, as seen in Gilead?

    • Matronymic
    • Pseudonym
    • Acronym
    • Patronymic

  5. Which 1921 Russian novel by Yevgeny Zamyatin heavily influenced George Orwell's dystopian writing?

    • Walden Two
    • Kallocain
    • Anthem
    • We

  6. Winston Smith rewriting newspaper articles at the Ministry of Truth is an example of what?

    • Censorship
    • Eugenics
    • Panopticism
    • Indoctrination

  7. Sleep-learning or hypnopaedia in Brave New World serves primarily as a method of what?

    • Indoctrination
    • Resistance
    • Subversion
    • Expatriation

  8. What architectural design by Jeremy Bentham represents central visual surveillance in dystopian critique?

    • Citadel
    • Monolith
    • Panopticon
    • Megastructure

  9. Small private acts of defiance by an oppressed individual best illustrate which dystopian convention?

    • Micro-resistance
    • Systemic reform
    • Totalitarian compliance
    • Collective revolt

  10. Which novel depicts a futuristic society controlled through soma, genetic caste sorting, and consumerism?

    • Fahrenheit 451
    • Brave New World
    • The Handmaid's Tale
    • The Iron Heel

  11. Denying women financial independence and literacy in a dystopian regime primarily aims to do what?

    • Economic liberation
    • Democratic reform
    • Depriving agency
    • Social mobility

  12. Which 1980s American political movement directly influenced Margaret Atwood's creation of Gilead?

    • Civil War
    • Religious Right
    • French Revolution
    • Russian Revolution

  13. In Orwellian dystopia, restricting vocabulary through Newspeak aims to eliminate which human capacity?

    • Trade relations
    • Physical labour
    • Visual art
    • Critical thought

  14. Which subgenre of dystopian fiction focuses on societies surviving after catastrophic environmental or global collapse?

    • Romantic
    • Neoclassical
    • Pastoral
    • Post-apocalyptic

  15. The use of automated killing machines to hunt political dissidents represents what dystopian mechanism?

    • Moral persuasion
    • Economic sanction
    • Divine intervention
    • Technological terror

  16. Which literary device involves projecting current societal trends into exaggerated future scenarios?

    • Juxtaposition
    • Retrospection
    • Extrapolation
    • Anachronism

  17. What term describes an authoritarian regime that seeks complete control over public and private life?

    • Feudalism
    • Anarchism
    • Totalitarianism
    • Liberalism

  18. Ritualised mass expressions of hatred against state enemies in dystopian regimes aim to generate what?

    • Individual empathy
    • Pacifism
    • Intellectual debate
    • Collective hysteria

  19. Which philosopher analysed state power and surveillance through the concept of disciplinary panopticism?

    • Friedrich Nietzsche
    • Karl Marx
    • Michel Foucault
    • Jean-Paul Sartre

  20. What term describes a society that appears ideal on the surface but hides systemic repression?

    • False utopia
    • Post-humanist state
    • Techno-dystopia
    • Anarchic commune

All OCR English Literature quizzes