The Prussian Officer quiz

Questions and answers

1. 1

   Question 1. Which literary movement best describes “The Prussian Officer”?

   • Correct answer: Modernism
   • Realism
   • Romanticism
   • Naturalism
   • Gothic

   Modernism explores subjective inner experience, breaks from Victorian convention, and experiments with form—Lawrence’s psycho-physical prose and focus on unconscious forces make this a hallmark Modernist story.

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2. 2

   Question 2. What is the orderly Schöner’s defining characteristic?

   • Cold, calculating ambition to advance through the military ranks
   • Deep loyalty and admiration for the Prussian military institution
   • Correct answer: Natural, instinctive vitality rooted in the body and senses
   • Intellectual curiosity and a passion for reading and writing

   Lawrence describes the orderly as someone who “seemed never to have thought, only to have received life direct through his senses, and acted straight from instinct”—his defining trait is natural, bodily vitality.

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3. 3

   Question 3. Why does the Captain escalate his abuse of the orderly rather than simply transferring him to another unit?

   • The orderly has committed serious military infractions that require punishment
   • Correct answer: He is unable to acknowledge his repressed attraction and channels it into cruelty
   • He suspects the orderly of planning to desert before his service ends
   • He resents the orderly’s friendship with other soldiers in the regiment

   The Captain’s obsession with the orderly stems from a repressed homoerotic attraction he cannot acknowledge. Rather than admitting his feelings, he transforms them into sadistic violence—Lawrence makes clear the Captain “did not choose to be touched into life by his servant” yet could not leave him alone.

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4. 4

   Question 4. What was the orderly writing when he had a pencil in his ear—the act that provoked a brutal kicking?

   • A letter requesting a military transfer
   • A complaint about the Captain’s treatment of soldiers
   • Correct answer: A verse for his sweetheart’s birthday card
   • A diary entry about the Captain’s behavior

   The orderly confesses under torture that he had been “writing”—“some poetry… for my girl.” The innocent tenderness of the act makes the Captain’s cruelty all the more devastating.

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5. 5

   Question 5. What does "Orderly" mean in this story?

   • Correct answer: A soldier assigned as a personal servant to an officer
   • A military officer responsible for troop discipline
   • A battlefield medic who tends to the wounded
   • A senior officer’s messenger and translator

   An orderly (German: Bursche) is a soldier assigned to personal service for an officer—cooking, cleaning, grooming horses. This role gives the Captain complete institutional authority over Schöner.

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6. 6

   Question 6. What does the recurring image of the Captain’s throat symbolize in the story?

   • The Captain’s aristocratic breeding and fine physical appearance
   • The vulnerability of military authority when challenged by the common soldier
   • Thirst and hunger as metaphors for spiritual emptiness and moral decay
   • Correct answer: The intersection of erotic desire and the violence that replaces it

   The Captain’s “strong throat” is described with fascination throughout the story, and it is by the throat that the orderly ultimately kills him. The throat motif fuses desire and violence—the very feature that represents attraction becomes the site of destruction.

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7. 7

   Question 7. Lawrence’s concept of “blood consciousness” refers to knowledge that operates through:

   • Correct answer: The body and instinct, bypassing rational thought entirely
   • Ancestral memory passed down through bloodlines and heritage
   • Military tradition and the bonds of loyalty between soldiers
   • Passionate emotion experienced as physical pain or pleasure

   “Blood consciousness” is Lawrence’s term for deep, instinctive bodily knowledge. The orderly embodies it: he “had never thought, only received life direct through his senses.” The Captain, governed by intellect and rigid self-control, represents the opposite—and Lawrence shows that suppressing blood consciousness is fatally destructive.

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8. 8

   Question 8. What was Lawrence’s original title for this story before his editor changed it?

   • The Orderly
   • Correct answer: Honour and Arms
   • The Officer and the Soldier
   • The Bavarian March

   Lawrence originally titled the story “Honour and Arms.” His editor Edward Garnett changed it to “The Prussian Officer” without permission—a decision that angered Lawrence, who felt the new title shifted emphasis away from his intended meaning.

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9. 9

   Question 9. What is the dominant theme of “The Prussian Officer”?

   • The injustice of rigid class hierarchies in pre-war Prussian society
   • The psychological trauma endured by soldiers in the age of modern warfare
   • Correct answer: The catastrophic consequences of suppressing one’s deepest instincts and desires
   • The impossibility of friendship across military rank and social class

   The dominant theme is the destructiveness of repression. The Captain’s inability to acknowledge his feelings for the orderly transforms desire into sadistic violence, ultimately destroying both men. Lawrence argues that denying the body’s deepest instincts is not discipline—it is self-destruction.

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10. 10

    Question 10. What does "Psycho-physical prose" mean in this story?

    • Writing that uses clinical medical terminology to describe mental illness
    • Narration that alternates between internal monologue and external action
    • Prose that focuses on physical sensations to the exclusion of emotion
    • Correct answer: Writing that describes psychological states through bodily sensation

    Psycho-physical prose is Lawrence’s signature technique: he describes emotional and psychological states through physical sensations rather than abstract language. Examples: “his heart suddenly ran hot,” “a flash blazed through him,” “a hot flame ran in his blood.” The body and the psyche are inseparable.

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11. 11

    Question 11. How does the Bavarian landscape function in “The Prussian Officer”?

    • It provides historical authenticity by grounding the story in a specific German military setting
    • Correct answer: It mirrors the characters’ inner states and symbolizes the peace they cannot reach
    • It contrasts German efficiency and order with the chaos of the two men’s relationship
    • It establishes a realistic framework that makes the violence more shocking and believable

    The landscape functions as pathetic fallacy and symbolic counterpoint. The oppressive heat mirrors the suffocating tension between the men. The distant snow-capped peaks represent transcendent peace and purity—beautiful but unreachable. The orderly’s dying vision of “golden, lustrous” mountains marks his passage from life into death.

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12. 12

    Question 12. Lawrence describes the killing in the forest clearing with phrases like “a passion of relief” and “the tension of his wrists exquisite with relief.” What technique is this?

    • Correct answer: Juxtaposition of pleasure and violence to reveal the psychological complexity of trauma
    • Dramatic irony that makes the reader aware of what the orderly himself cannot see
    • Unreliable narration that calls into question whether the killing really occurred
    • Stream of consciousness that reproduces the orderly’s thoughts in real time

    Lawrence deliberately juxtaposes pleasure and violence in the killing scene. The orderly experiences relief, even satisfaction, because the killing is the release of unbearable suppressed tension. This complexity is Lawrence’s point: the orderly is not a monster—he is a natural being pushed to a natural breaking point.

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13. 13

    Question 13. Lawrence constructs the Captain and the orderly as deliberate opposites. Which pairing best captures their contrast?

    • Wealth versus poverty, with the Captain’s privilege enabling his cruelty
    • Age versus youth, with the Captain’s experience giving him dangerous knowledge
    • Ambition versus contentment, with the Captain driven by frustrated career desires
    • Correct answer: Intellect and rigid self-control versus natural instinct and bodily vitality

    The Captain is governed by intellect, discipline, and rigid self-control—he has “always kept himself suppressed.” The orderly lives through his body and instincts, receiving “life direct through his senses.” Their tragedy lies in this collision: the Captain’s repression destroys the orderly’s wholeness, while the orderly’s instinctive response destroys them both.

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14. 14

    Question 14. The orderly has a sweetheart described as “independent and primitive.” What does their relationship primarily provide him?

    • A secret means of communicating his suffering to the outside world
    • A reminder of civilian life and the career ambitions he holds for after service
    • Correct answer: Physical closeness and comfort that helps him endure the Captain’s oppression
    • Proof of his heterosexuality that he uses to resist the Captain’s advances

    Lawrence tells us the orderly went with her “not to talk, but to have his arm round her, and for the physical contact. This eased him, made it easier for him to ignore the Captain.” Her role is purely sensory comfort—perfectly aligned with the orderly’s blood-conscious nature.

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15. 15

    Question 15. What is the significance of the story’s final image—the two bodies lying side by side in the mortuary?

    • Correct answer: In death the two men achieve the physical closeness the Captain desired but could never permit in life
    • Military justice is served as both men are punished equally for their roles in the violence
    • The orderly’s young, vital body next to the rigid Captain’s suggests hope for future generations
    • The doctors’ silence about the bruises shows that institutional power protects the officer class

    The final image is deeply ironic: the Captain’s body “white and slender, but laid rigidly at rest,” beside the orderly’s that looks “as if every moment it must rouse into life again.” In death, they share the closeness the Captain could never acknowledge in life. Even in death, the contrast holds: one rigid, one vital—the same opposition that defined and destroyed them.

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16. 16

    Question 16. Which of these events actually happened in the story?

    • The orderly’s name is Schöner.

      Happened

      The Captain calls him “Schöner!” when summoning him after the brutal kicking incident—the only time his name is used in the story.

    • The Captain is a young man of about twenty-five in the prime of his military career.

      Didn't happen

      The Captain is about forty, grey at the temples—an older man whose gambling debts ruined his early career prospects and left him bitter and isolated.

    • The orderly kills the Captain by strangling him against a tree stump in a forest clearing.

      Happened

      During a halt in the march, the orderly snaps and presses the Captain’s chin backward over a tree stump, strangling him—an eruption of instinct that had been suppressed too long.

    • After the killing, the orderly returns to his regiment and confesses to the lieutenant.

      Didn't happen

      The orderly cannot bear to return. He mounts the Captain’s horse and rides away into the mountains, where he descends into delirium and fever.

    • The Captain had previously served with great distinction but was passed over for promotion due to a rival officer’s scheming.

      Didn't happen

      The Captain’s ruined career prospects were his own fault—he made too many gambling debts when young. There is no rival officer—only his own choices.

    • The orderly hides the Captain’s body under felled tree trunks in the forest.

      Happened

      After the killing, the orderly “gathered it up and pushed it under the felled tree-trunks,” covered the face with the helmet, and brushed dead leaves from the uniform.

    • The Captain once struck the orderly in the face with a military glove.

      Happened

      Lawrence describes how “he flung a heavy military glove into the young soldier’s face,” which provoked a flash of anger in the orderly’s dark eyes—giving the Captain a brief satisfaction.

    • The orderly dies peacefully in a village inn, cared for by local peasants.

      Didn't happen

      He dies in a hospital at night, never having regained full consciousness. Soldiers find him lying in the forest, and he cannot recover from the fever and delirium.

    • The doctors who examine the orderly’s body observe the bruises on his legs and remain silent.

      Happened

      The final paragraph notes: “The doctors saw the bruises on his legs, behind, and were silent.” Their silence implies the institutional protection of the officer class.

    • The orderly’s last coherent vision before dying is of the snow-capped mountains gleaming in the light.

      Happened

      In his final lucid moment, the orderly gazes at “the mountains in a wonder-light”—their snow “radiant like pure, soft gold.” The mountains, representing the peace he could never reach, are his dying vision.

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