Past Questions and Answers
Current JAMB Literature in English Past Questions and Answers
Current JAMB Literature in English Past Questions and Answers
Writing JAMB and passing with high grade can be so challenging if you do not have assess to past questions to use during your preparation for the exams. As an expert JAMB tutor for over 15 years, here are some current past questions and correct answers that you may likely see during your actual exams in 2025 exams in literature in English:
Prose
- Who is the protagonist in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart?
A) Unoka
B) Okonkwo ✅
C) Ezinma
D) Obierika - The setting of To Kill a Mockingbird is in which state of the U.S.?
A) Alabama ✅
B) Texas
C) Georgia
D) Florida - In A Grain of Wheat, who betrays Kihika?
A) Gikonyo
B) Mugo ✅
C) Karanja
D) General R - In The Old Man and the Sea, the old man’s name is
A) Santiago ✅
B) Manolin
C) Pablo
D) Hernandez - Who is the author of The Trials of Brother Jero?
A) Chinua Achebe
B) Ngugi wa Thiong’o
C) Wole Soyinka ✅
D) Ola Rotimi - Animal Farm is an allegory for which historical event?
A) French Revolution
B) Russian Revolution ✅
C) American Revolution
D) World War II - In Julius Caesar, who says, “Et tu, Brute?”
A) Brutus
B) Cassius
C) Mark Antony
D) Julius Caesar ✅ - Who is the main character in The Great Gatsby?
A) Nick Carraway
B) Tom Buchanan
C) Jay Gatsby ✅
D) Daisy Buchanan - In Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth Bennet initially dislikes Mr. Darcy because
A) He is poor
B) He is arrogant ✅
C) He loves her sister
D) He is a soldier - The major theme of The Mayor of Casterbridge is
A) Fate and character ✅
B) Love and betrayal
C) War and peace
D) Colonialism
Drama
- Who wrote Death and the King’s Horseman?
A) Wole Soyinka ✅
B) Ola Rotimi
C) Chinua Achebe
D) John Pepper Clark - The dominant theme in Our Husband Has Gone Mad Again is
A) Politics and satire ✅
B) War and survival
C) Religion
D) Love - The central conflict in Romeo and Juliet is between
A) Montagues and Capulets ✅
B) Lovers and enemies
C) Priests and warriors
D) Parents and children - In The Lion and the Jewel, Baroka is the
A) Schoolteacher
B) Trickster
C) Chief ✅
D) Warrior - A Raisin in the Sun explores themes of
A) Race and dreams ✅
B) War and heroism
C) Religion and morality
D) Betrayal and revenge
Current JAMB Literature in English Past Questions and Answers
Poetry
- A poem of mourning is called
A) Ode
B) Elegy ✅
C) Sonnet
D) Limerick - The use of “like” or “as” to compare is called
A) Metaphor
B) Simile ✅
C) Hyperbole
D) Personification - “The sun smiled at us” is an example of
A) Simile
B) Metaphor
C) Personification ✅
D) Irony - The Abab pattern in a poem refers to its
A) Theme
B) Rhyme scheme ✅
C) Structure
D) Tone - Who wrote The Road Not Taken?
A) Robert Frost ✅
B) William Wordsworth
C) John Keats
D) T.S. Eliot
Prose (Continued)
- In So Long a Letter, the protagonist is
A) Ramatoulaye ✅
B) Aissatou
C) Nabou
D) Modou - In The Joys of Motherhood, Nnu Ego dies
A) Happy and fulfilled
B) In loneliness and misery ✅
C) As a rich woman
D) While giving birth - The central theme in No Longer at Ease is
A) Corruption and morality ✅
B) Love and betrayal
C) War and peace
D) Slavery - The Beautiful Ones Are Not Yet Born explores
A) Political corruption ✅
B) Romance and marriage
C) Science and technology
D) Folklore - In Purple Hibiscus, Kambili’s father is
A) A priest
B) A wealthy businessman ✅
C) A teacher
D) A farmer - The antagonist in Oliver Twist is
A) Mr. Brownlow
B) Fagin ✅
C) Bill Sikes
D) Dodger - Lord of the Flies explores
A) The loss of innocence ✅
B) Love and romance
C) African history
D) Politics - In Great Expectations, Pip loves
A) Estella ✅
B) Miss Havisham
C) Biddy
D) Clara - The author of Murder in the Cathedral is
A) T.S. Eliot ✅
B) Wole Soyinka
C) Chinua Achebe
D) George Orwell - The setting of Pride and Prejudice is
A) 18th-century England ✅
B) 19th-century America
C) 16th-century France
D) 20th-century Italy
Current JAMB Literature in English Past Questions and Answers
Drama (Continued)
- The major conflict in Othello arises because of
A) Desdemona’s love for Othello
B) Iago’s jealousy ✅
C) Othello’s cowardice
D) Cassio’s ambition - Who is the villain in Hamlet?
A) Laertes
B) Claudius ✅
C) Polonius
D) Horatio - In A Doll’s House, Nora leaves her husband because
A) She loves another man
B) She seeks independence ✅
C) He abuses her
D) He is unfaithful - The central theme in Look Back in Anger is
A) Class struggle ✅
B) Betrayal
C) Love and loss
D) Slavery - The setting of The Glass Menagerie is
A) Chicago
B) St. Louis ✅
C) New York
D) Los Angeles - In The Lion and the Jewel, Lakunle represents
A) Modernity ✅
B) Tradition
C) Colonialism
D) War - The main character in She Stoops to Conquer is
A) Tony Lumpkin ✅
B) Mr. Hardcastle
C) Marlow
D) Hastings - Who wrote The Gods Are Not to Blame?
A) Ola Rotimi ✅
B) Wole Soyinka
C) J.P. Clark
D) Ngugi wa Thiong’o - In Fences, Troy Maxson is
A) A baseball player ✅
B) A teacher
C) A politician
D) A doctor - In Twelfth Night, Viola disguises herself as
A) A merchant
B) A warrior
C) A man named Cesario ✅
D) A noblewoman
Poetry (Continued)
- A 14-line poem is called
A) A limerick
B) A haiku
C) A sonnet ✅
D) An elegy - The use of “hiss” and “buzz” are examples of
A) Simile
B) Metaphor
C) Onomatopoeia ✅
D) Irony - “Hope is the thing with feathers” is an example of
A) Metaphor ✅
B) Simile
C) Hyperbole
D) Paradox - Daffodils is written by
A) William Wordsworth ✅
B) John Keats
C) T.S. Eliot
D) Langston Hughes - A poem that tells a story is called
A) A lyric
B) A narrative poem ✅
C) A haiku
D) A sonnet - “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” is from
A) Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18 ✅
B) Wordsworth’s Daffodils
C) Eliot’s The Waste Land
D) Hughes’ Dream Deferred - “I wandered lonely as a cloud” suggests
A) Joy and nature ✅
B) Love and death
C) Pain and war
D) Betrayal and greed - A poem addressed to a person or thing is called
A) An ode ✅
B) A ballad
C) An elegy
D) A haiku - The poet of The Raven is
A) Edgar Allan Poe ✅
B) Walt Whitman
C) Emily Dickinson
D) Robert Frost - The dominant theme in The Waste Land is
A) Modern despair ✅
B) Romantic love
C) Adventure
D) Childhood
Current JAMB Literature in English Past Questions and Answers
Prose (Continued)
- In Things Fall Apart, the Oracle is called
A) Chielo ✅
B) Agbala
C) Unoka
D) Ezeudu - The main theme in Joys of Motherhood is
A) Motherhood and sacrifice ✅
B) War and peace
C) Politics
D) Colonialism - Weep Not, Child was written by
A) Ngugi wa Thiong’o ✅
B) Chinua Achebe
C) Wole Soyinka
D) J.P. Clark - The novel Oliver Twist criticizes
A) The education system
B) Child labor and crime ✅
C) The medical field
D) Industrialization - The Heart of Darkness explores
A) Colonialism and its impact ✅
B) Romantic love
C) The supernatural
D) Science and technology - In To Kill a Mockingbird, the mockingbird symbolizes
A) Innocence ✅
B) Strength
C) Justice
D) Greed - The author of A Man of the People is
A) Chinua Achebe ✅
B) Ngugi wa Thiong’o
C) Wole Soyinka
D) J.P. Clark - In So Long a Letter, Modou leaves Ramatoulaye for
A) Her best friend’s daughter ✅
B) His childhood love
C) A foreigner
D) His cousin - The protagonist in No Longer at Ease is
A) Obi Okonkwo ✅
B) Odili Samalu
C) Odenigbo
D) Okonkwo - The main character in A Grain of Wheat is
A) Mugo ✅
B) Kihika
C) Gikonyo
D) Karanja
Drama (Continued)
- In The Lion and the Jewel, Sidi represents
A) Youth and beauty ✅
B) Power
C) Wisdom
D) Corruption - The Hamartia of Oedipus in Oedipus Rex is
A) Hubris (excessive pride) ✅
B) Greed
C) Anger
D) Love - Death and the King’s Horseman is set in
A) Yoruba land ✅
B) Hausa land
C) Igbo land
D) Ghana - In Julius Caesar, Mark Antony’s famous speech starts with
A) “Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears” ✅
B) “To be or not to be”
C) “All the world’s a stage”
D) “O Romeo, Romeo!” - Who wrote Romeo and Juliet?
A) William Shakespeare ✅
B) Charles Dickens
C) Christopher Marlowe
D) George Bernard Shaw - The protagonist in Othello is
A) Othello ✅
B) Iago
C) Desdemona
D) Cassio - The central conflict in The Gods Are Not to Blame is
A) Fate vs. free will ✅
B) Love and betrayal
C) Political power
D) Generational conflict - The dominant theme in Look Back in Anger is
A) Social class struggle ✅
B) War and peace
C) Love and betrayal
D) Comedy - In She Stoops to Conquer, Marlow is afraid of
A) Wealthy women ✅
B) Poor women
C) Horses
D) His father - The theme of The Lion and the Jewel is
A) Tradition vs. modernity ✅
B) Politics and power
C) Love and romance
D) War and revenge
Current JAMB Literature in English Past Questions and Answers
Poetry (Continued)
- A poem written in memory of someone is
A) An elegy ✅
B) A sonnet
C) An ode
D) A limerick - The poet of Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day is
A) William Shakespeare ✅
B) John Keats
C) Emily Dickinson
D) Robert Frost - A five-line humorous poem is called
A) A limerick ✅
B) A haiku
C) A sonnet
D) An ode - The dominant theme in The Road Not Taken is
A) Choices and consequences ✅
B) Love and heartbreak
C) Power and corruption
D) Adventure - The poem Daffodils describes
A) The beauty of nature ✅
B) War and destruction
C) Urban life
D) Love and romance - “His words cut deeper than a knife” is an example of
A) Metaphor ✅
B) Simile
C) Hyperbole
D) Personification - The poet of The Second Coming is
A) W.B. Yeats ✅
B) John Keats
C) Langston Hughes
D) T.S. Eliot - The literary device used in “sweet sorrow” is
A) Oxymoron ✅
B) Simile
C) Metaphor
D) Hyperbole - The poem The Pulley was written by
A) George Herbert ✅
B) John Milton
C) William Blake
D) Robert Browning - The theme of If We Must Die by Claude McKay is
A) Resistance and courage ✅
B) Love and romance
C) Politics and corruption
D) Nature and beauty
Current JAMB Literature in English Past Questions and Answers
General Literary Terms
- A dramatic monologue is a speech by
A) One character ✅
B) A group of characters
C) A chorus
D) A narrator - A novel is
A) A long fictional narrative ✅
B) A poem
C) A play
D) A documentary - The point of view in Things Fall Apart is
A) Third-person omniscient ✅
B) First-person
C) Second-person
D) Third-person limited - A climax in literature is
A) The turning point ✅
B) The beginning
C) The introduction
D) The resolution - The main function of a prologue is to
A) Introduce the story ✅
B) Conclude the story
C) Describe the climax
D) Change the theme - Allegory is
A) A story with hidden meanings ✅
B) A romantic poem
C) A drama with suspense
D) A play with three acts - Foreshadowing is used to
A) Hint at future events ✅
B) Describe past events
C) Create humor
D) Introduce conflict - Irony is when
A) The opposite of what is expected happens ✅
B) Words have the same meaning
C) A character gives a speech
D) A poem rhymes - A paradox is
A) A contradictory statement that is true ✅
B) A long poem
C) A rhetorical question
D) A historical novel
