That Hideous Strength, Chapter 8: Moonlight at Belbury quiz

Questions and answers

1. 1

   Question 1. Why does Wither rebuke Fairy Hardcastle at the beginning of Chapter 8?

   • She botched the newspaper story of the riot
   • Correct answer: She arrested Jane Studdock without authority
   • She refused to take Mark into the Inner Ring
   • She cut down the beech trees on the grounds

   Wither says an arrest was not contemplated and that Jane's collaboration will not be won by force, which is why the Institute has kept Mark at Belbury.

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2. 2

   Question 2. What does Jane find occupying the bathroom at St. Anne's?

   • MacPhee trenching celery in gum-boots
   • A jackdaw hopping on the windowsill
   • Correct answer: Mr. Bultitude, the Director's brown bear
   • Miss Ironwood dressing a patient's burns

   Ivy Maggs has to haul the huge tame bear out of the bathroom; Jane later sees him boxing a punch-ball in the passage.

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3. 3

   Question 3. What is MacPhee's stated position on Jane's dreams?

   • They have been proved true by experiment
   • They are messages sent by the Head at Belbury
   • Correct answer: No crucial test has yet shown them to be true
   • They are ordinary nightmares from her burns

   MacPhee tells Jane that no experimentum crucis has confirmed the hypothesis that her dreams are veridical, which he separates from his personal welcome.

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4. 4

   Question 4. What double object do Wither and the others have in making Feverstone emergency governor of Edgestow?

   • To honor Bracton and then promote him to Head
   • To satisfy the papers and then send him to the Moon
   • Correct answer: To unite rival claims in him and later throw him over
   • To please Jules and then move him to St. Anne's

   Feverstone can represent Nation, University, and Institute at once; when unpopularity peaks, he can be thrown over as a mere politician.

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5. 5

   Question 5. Why does Mark refuse Wither's offer to bring Jane to Belbury?

   • He already knows she is safely hidden at St. Anne's
   • Correct answer: Her presence would make Inner Ring life look vulgar
   • Filostrato has forbidden wives on the grounds
   • He plans to leave the Institute that same night

   Mark realizes Jane would make the Inner Ring's laughter sound metallic and turn Belbury into a vast vulgarity; he cannot imagine teaching her to play up to Wither and Hardcastle.

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6. 6

   Question 6. What future does Filostrato imagine for trees and birds?

   • Protected ancient forests around every Institute
   • Correct answer: Metal trees, switch-operated birds, then no vegetation
   • Transplanting lunar forests to the Belbury grounds
   • Leaving the beeches but banning all roses and briars

   He has the beeches cut down, praises aluminium trees with no mess, would replace birds with machines, and says one day they will shave the planet.

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7. 7

   Question 7. Who is the Head, according to Filostrato and Straik in this chapter?

   • Jules, the Institute's nominal figurehead
   • Deputy Director Wither, speaking through Jules
   • Correct answer: François Alcasan, the man who was guillotined
   • Lord Feverstone, once he becomes governor

   Mark has assumed the Head is Jules. Filostrato says Jules is nothing and, with Straik, names the guillotined Alcasan as a brain kept alive after the body was discarded.

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8. 8

   Question 8. How does Chapter 8 end?

   • Mark is taken inside and hears the Head speak
   • Wither waives Mark's probation after the moonlight talk
   • Correct answer: Filostrato leads Mark and Straik to the Head's door
   • Hardcastle recaptures Jane on the road from St. Anne's

   After the surgical scrub, whites, gloves, and masks, Filostrato leads them to a door in the wall of dials. Mark does not yet see or hear the Head.

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9. 9

   Question 9. Which of these events actually occur in Chapter 8?

   • Wither gives Fairy Hardcastle whisky before they go to the Head.

     Happened

   • Jane asks for the Curdie books, Mansfield Park, and Shakespeare's Sonnets.

     Happened

   • Merlin arrives at St. Anne's and is brought into the kitchen.

     Didn't happen

   • MacPhee says he has no opinions on any subject in the world.

     Happened

   • Mark is present at Hardcastle's before-breakfast interview with the Head.

     Didn't happen

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10. 10

    Question 10. Which of these events actually occur in the Belbury half of Chapter 8?

    • Filostrato orders fine beech trees in the grounds cut down.

      Happened

    • Straik tells Mark he will look upon one who was killed and is still alive.

      Happened

    • The Head speaks and orders Mark to bring his wife to Belbury.

      Didn't happen

    • Mark, Filostrato, and Straik put on surgical whites, gloves, and masks.

      Happened

    • Filostrato agrees with Mark that the Moon is simply a dead world.

      Didn't happen

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11. 11

    Question 11. What does languor mean as used in: "lying in pleasant languor with winter morning sunlight falling across her bed"?

    • Correct answer: A pleasant tiredness or dreamy lack of energy
    • Sharp pain from the burns still on her chest
    • Anger at being kept as a guest against her will
    • Fear that the Director will send her away

    Jane wakes at St. Anne's in a lazy, contented stillness; languor here is ease, not illness or fear.

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12. 12

    Question 12. What does invidious mean as used in: "a double object in getting this invidious post for Feverstone"?

    • Honorary and purely ceremonial in nature
    • Correct answer: Likely to stir resentment or envy in others
    • Secret and unknown to the newspapers
    • Temporary, because Feverstone has resigned

    The emergency governorship is a post that will attract hatred; that is why it is useful both as a unifying appointment and as a later sacrifice.

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13. 13

    Question 13. What does canaglia mean as used in: "only their common people, their canaglia do that"?

    • The Masters who live without organic bodies
    • A chemical used to keep the Head alive
    • Correct answer: The rabble still bound to birth and death
    • The last forests on the far side of the Moon

    Filostrato uses the Italian word for the rabble: on the Moon, only common people still have to be born, breed, and die; the Masters have almost broken free of Nature.

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