FEDERAL PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION
COMPETITIVE EXAMINATION-2026 FOR RECRUITMENT
TO POSTS IN BS-17 UNDER THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
ENGLISH LITERATURE
Roll Number
TIME ALLOWED: THREE HOURS
(PART-I MCQs) : MAXIMUM 30 MINUTES
(PART-I MCQs) MAXIMUM MARKS: 20
(PART-II) MAXIMUM MARKS: 80
NOTE: (i) First attempt PART-I (MCQs) on separate OMR Answer Sheet which shall be taken back after 30 minutes.
(ii) Overwriting/cutting of the options/answers will not be given credit.
(iii) There is no negative marking. All MCQs must be attempted.
PART-I (MCQs)(COMPULSORY)
Q1 (i) Select the best option/answer and fill in the appropriate Box on the OMR Answer Sheet. (20×1=20)
(ii) Answers given anywhere else, other than OMR Answer Sheet, will not be considered.
1 In “Politics and the English Language,” Orwell argues that unclear language most dangerously affects which of the following?
(A) The aesthetic value of poetry (B) The emotional bond between friends
(C) The ability of political discourse to conceal or distort reality (D) None of these
2 In “Self-Reliance,” Emerson’s emphasis on nonconformity most directly challenges which attitude toward society?
(A) That social customs always protect individual freedom
(B) That moral truth depends entirely on religious authority
(C) That progress comes only through scientific innovation, not character (D) None of these
3 Russell, in “The Conquest of Happiness,” would most likely criticize which response to personal unhappiness?
(A) Examining one’s habits and external interests for possible change
(B) Blaming impersonal forces but still seeking constructive action
(C) Retreating into excessive self-absorption and constant introspection (D) None of these
4 In “The Gift of the Magi,” the story’s irony most powerfully critiques which common assumption about gift-giving?
(A) That material wealth is the only measure of generosity
(B) That surprise gifts are always better than requested ones (C) Both (A) & (B) (D) None of these
5 In “The Lotus-Eater,” the protagonist’s choice to live off his savings on Capri can be read as a challenge to which dominant modern value?
(A) Rational planning and financial security (B) Artistic creativity and self-expression
(C) Solitude as a path to spiritual enlightenment (D) None of these
6 Chesterton’s “A Somewhat Improbable Story” uses improbability primarily to question what?
(A) The validity of scientific laws (B) The reliability of seemingly “obvious” common-sense explanations
(C) The importance of moral responsibility (D) None of these
7 In Wordsworth’s “Tintern Abbey,” the speaker’s changing relationship to nature suggests which development in his inner life?
(A) Nature loses all emotional meaning and becomes merely scenic
(B) Nature becomes threatening as he ages and fears death (C) Both (A) & (B) (D) None of these
8 In Yeats’s “The Second Coming,” the chaotic imagery most strongly implies which view of history?
(A) History moves steadily toward democratic progress
(B) History is determined solely by individual moral choices (C) Both (A) & (B) (D) None of these
9 Philip Larkin’s poems such as “The Trees” and “Continuing to Live” treat time and mortality in what characteristic way?
(A) With romantic celebration of heroic death (B) With abstract philosophical optimism about eternity
(C) With skeptical, muted reflection that finds no easy consolation (D) None of these
10 In Hamlet, the prince’s delay in avenging his father can best be interpreted as revealing what about his character?
(A) A reflective nature torn between moral scruple and the demand for action
(B) An unthinking obedience to supernatural commands
(C) Pure cowardice with no ethical conflict (D) None of these
11 Waiting for Godot disrupts conventional expectations of plot primarily to explore which thematic concern?
(A) The triumph of romantic love over adversity (B) The reliable justice of political institutions
(C) The experience of existential waiting and the search for meaning (D) None of these
12 In Pygmalion, Shaw’s treatment of Eliza’s transformation most directly questions which simplistic idea about social mobility?
(A) That education and speech training automatically secure genuine independence
(B) That gender roles are fixed by biological nature
(C) That economic systems are irrelevant to class identity (D) None of these
13 In Far from the Madding Crowd, Bathsheba’s choices among her suitors primarily illuminate what tension in the novel?
(A) Between religious faith and scientific doubt
(B) Between inherited class position and personal emotional desire
(C) Between colonial expansion and national decline (D) None of these
14 Nineteen Eighty-Four presents Newspeak as a crucial instrument of power because it aims to do what?
(A) Increase citizens’ enjoyment of literature (B) Provide a neutral, purely logical language
(C) Limit thought by shrinking the range of expressible ideas (D) None of these
15 In A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Stephen’s gradual rejection of family, religion, and nationalism most clearly embodies which modernist concern?
(A) The celebration of stable, inherited social roles
(B) The pursuit of artistic and personal identity beyond traditional authorities
(C) The superiority of collective over individual experience (D) None of these
16 In The Scarlet Letter, Hester’s public punishment versus Dimmesdale’s hidden guilt can be read as a critique of what?
(A) The idea that sin is purely a private matter
(B) The belief that social shame automatically leads to moral destruction
(C) The assumption that law and visible punishment always align with genuine moral responsibility
(D) None of these
17 A structuralist reading of Hamlet would most likely focus on which aspect?
(A) The underlying patterns and systems of meaning that organize the text
(B) The hidden psychological drives of the characters
(C) The author’s biographical intentions (D) None of these
18 In postcolonial literature, the concept of “hybridity” typically describes what phenomenon?
(A) The pure preservation of indigenous culture against colonial influence
(B) The blending of colonizer and colonized cultural elements in new, complex forms
(C) The complete rejection of all cultural traditions (D) None of these
19 In psychoanalytic criticism, the “uncanny” (Freud’s unheimlich) refers to which type of experience?
(A) Something entirely unfamiliar and foreign
(B) Something paradoxically both familiar and strange, provoking discomfort
(C) A purely rational, explicable phenomenon (D) None of these
20 Poststructuralism critiques structuralism primarily by arguing that:
(A) Language has a single, fixed meaning independent of context
(B) Literary texts have no connection to historical reality (C) Both (A) & (B) (D) None of these
PART-II
NOTE: (i) Part-II is to be attempted on the separate Answer Book.
(ii) Attempt ONLY FOUR questions from PART-II. ALL questions carry EQUAL marks.
(iii) All the parts (if any) of each Question must be attempted at one place instead of at different places.
(iv) Write Q. No. in the Answer Book in accordance with Q. No. in the Q.Paper.
(v) No Page/Space be left blank between the answers. All the blank pages of Answer Book must be crossed.
(vi) Extra attempt of any question or any part of the question will not be considered.
Q No 2 In his essay “The Transcendentalist”, Emerson derides the supposedly “sturdy capitalist” whose apparently solid enterprise actually rests on “quaking foundations”. Interestingly, Emerson’s very definitions of transcendentalism are forged in the heat of his opposition to the bourgeois obsession with materialism, both as a philosophy and as a way of life, according prominence to economic interests above all else. Discuss. (20)
Q No 3 “Maugham’s writing reflects the ethos of the interwar period, a time when the rigid societal structures of Victorian England were giving way to a more existential questioning of purpose” (de Onís, 2016). Elucidate with reference to “The Lotus Eater”. (20)
Q No 4 T. S. Eliot’s poem “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” has often been read as a thoroughly cynical assessment of the modern individual and community. This totalizing portrayal misses the poem’s ability to serve as a foil to a more ideal community. How far do you agree with this? Substantiate your answer by referring to textual specifics. (20)
Q No 5 “Knowledge acquires a quite different character when in the possession of a newly emancipated representative of the proletariat.” Elaborate with reference to Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion. (20)
Q No 6 In A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, while Stephen at first accepts the roles that others want him to perform—all related to the demands of hegemonic masculinity, homosociality, and patriarchy—he moves away from these performances only to perform a different narrative: the narrative of the artist-genius. Discuss. (20)
Q No 7 The category or trope of “nation” in postcolonial studies has conflicted status. Discuss the central debates around theorizing national identity or the nation. How does the status of the nation as a subject of analysis change alongside the development of the field of postcolonial studies? (20)
Q No 8 Informed by Lawrence’s dualistic philosophy, it can be said that in Sons and Lovers, characters’ quest for ‘Two-in-One’ finally causes the failure of the romance. Discuss. (20)
If you need help with the next page or would like to analyze the central themes or structure essay outlines for any of these prompts, let me know how you want to proceed.
Answer Key to Q 1
1 (C) The ability of political discourse to conceal or distort reality, 2 (A) That social customs always protect individual freedom, 3 (C) Retreating into excessive self-absorption and constant introspection, 4 (A) That material wealth is the only measure of generosity, 5 (A) Rational planning and financial security, 6 (B) The reliability of seemingly “obvious” common-sense explanations, 7 (D) None of these, 8 (D) None of these, 9 (C) With skeptical, muted reflection that finds no easy consolation, 10 (A) A reflective nature torn between moral scruple and the demand for action, 11 (C) The experience of existential waiting and the search for meaning, 12 (A) That education and speech training automatically secure genuine independence, 13 (B) Between inherited class position and personal emotional desire, 14 (C) Limit thought by shrinking the range of expressible ideas, 15 (B) The pursuit of artistic and personal identity beyond traditional authorities, 16 (C) The assumption that law and visible punishment always align with genuine moral responsibility, 17 (A) The underlying patterns and systems of meaning that organize the text, 18 (B) The blending of colonizer and colonized cultural elements in new, complex forms, 19 (B) Something paradoxically both familiar and strange, provoking discomfort, 20 (D) None of these
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