1ºBACH BIL 3RD TERM READER I.E.S.

CASTILLA
HOW MANY MILES TO BABYLON BY JENNIFER JOHNSTON
Questionnaire
Reading Comprehension
1. What feeling does the narrator convey to readers at the very beginning of the novel?
a. Hopefulness
b. A religious feeling
c. Hopelessness
d. Excitement
“The fact that I have no future except what you can count in hours doesn’t seem to disturb me
unduly. After all, the future whether here or there is equally unknown. So for the waiting days I
have only the past to play about with…There is no hope for speculation or hope, or even
dreams.”
2. Why doesn’t Frederick, Alec’s father, want Alec to join war?
a. He wants Alec to take care of her mother.
b. He wants Alec not to break his friendship with Jerry.
e. He wants Alec to work in his business.
c. He thinks it is not necessary because his family has money enough.
“I don’t say it to make you feel pity, or anything. I really don’t mind. I would like things to be
clear. I would like to know that you will always do what is best for the land. Not for you or her or
the strange dreams that may come into your head. Here, the land must comes first”
3. Where is Alec brought up?
a. At a private school
f. At home with private tutors
b. At home with the help of his mother
“Not that I was educated in any formal way. A series of ladies taught me a series of subjets
until at the magic age of ten I was handed over to the curate who, …, spent several hours
each day trying to teach me mathematics, English literature […]”
4. Why was the reason Alec’s mother decided not to bring Alec to school?
a. Because she didn’t trust the education system.
b. Because Alec had pneumonia.
c. Because she was afraid of leaving his son alone with other children.
g. Because she didn’t want to stay alone with her husband, Frederick.
ALICIA: “I have no intention of remaining alone in this with you. I have already said that. Made
myself quite clear, I thought. Perhaps you didn’t believe me”.

5. What was Alec’s dream?

1ºBACH BIL 3RD TERM READER I.E.S. CASTILLA
a. To have a good relationship with her mother.
b. To inherit his father’s business.
h. To own a stud farm together with his friend Jerry.
c. To go to war and be widely known as a good officer.
ALEC. “Bang goes our stud farm,” I heard myself say mournfully.
JERRY. “That’ll be all right” He put out his hand and touched mine. “There’ll be time enough
for what we want to do when we’ve done what we have to do”
6. Why does Alicia, Alec’s mother, want to break Alec and Jerry’s friendship?
a. Jerry is from a more affluent family than her.
b. She is having an affair with Jerry.
c. Jerry is involved in criminal issues.
i. Jerry belongs to a lower social class.
ALEC. In the summer, they were bare, dust-grey and with soles obviously as hard and
impervious to stones, thorns, damp, as were the soles of my expensive black leather shoe
7. Before leaving to war, Alec looked at “the two swans rocking gently on the lake”
referring to:
a) A future prediction on his relationship with Jerry as it would be probably the last
great time together.
b) A reflection of his father and mother’s love relationship.
c) He’s fond of the type of animal.
ALEC. “I’ll see you all at Christmas”, was all I could think of to say and then I ran down the
steps and got into the motor. I opened the window so that I could smell the turf smoke and
catch a glimpse of the two swans rocking gently on the lake.
8. “The pigs that remained alive … fed and grew temptingly fat on human flesh” What
might this quote mean?
a. The poor conditions men suffer during war time.
b. Human loss during war time.
c. Little dignity men have when dying at war.
d. All of them are correct
“We were ordered not to eat pork when we got up near the front, as the pigs that remained
alive not many I may say, fed and grew temptingly fat on human flesh. English, French,
German. The is no chauvinist, all races are the same to the curly-tailed pig.”
9. What does Alicia feel affection for?
a. His son
b. His husband
c. Dogs
d) Swans
1ºBACH BIL 3RD TERM READER I.E.S. CASTILLA
“The lake. The swans …
ALEC: I heard her call once to them in a voice so unlike her own recognisable voice that for a
moment I felt a glow of love for her.
“Mother’s daily ritual was to stroll down the gravelled path to the late after tea to feed them”
10. Why did Alec decide to shoot Jerry?
a. Jerry betrayed Alec because he ran away to search for his father without telling Alec.
b. He wanted to kill someone and feel the short simmering in his ear.
c. Jerry was going to pass through a suffering death, therefore, Alec decided to do it
himself as a final compassionate act.
“I shut my own eyes and pulled with my finger. As the echoing crash died I could hear running
feet. He fell slowly away from me, his fingers pulling slowly out of my hand. The chair fell with
him … They took the gun away from me eventually and led me away. “

“They will never understand. So I say nothing. “

11. In no more than a sentence, what might be the valuable of Alec and Jerry’s friendship
according to Alec when he says: “it all seems idyllic”? An escape and full-of-joy route
from his mother; childhood; lonely life.
12. For what reason Alicia takes Alec to a European tour: To separate Alec from Jerry/ To
break Alec’s friendship with Jerry.
13. How would you describe Alec’s childhood in one word: Lonely; sad…
ALEC: As a child I was alone … I was isolated from the surrounding children of my own age,
by the traditional barriers of class and education.”
14. Can you please put in the correct order the structure of the novel (Alec’s time in war; Alec’s
current situation when knowing the reason why he will be executed; Alec’s current situation
when not being acquainted with the context; Alec’s childhood).
1. Alec’s current situation when not being acquainted with the context.
2. Alec’s childhood.
3. Alec’s time in war.
4. Alec’s current situation when knowing the reason why he will be executed.
15. Thanks to settings description, readers can understand characters’ feelings:
Alec describes his home with an “unwelcoming” living room and “furniture without
kindness”. However, during his time in the trenches, he says that “rain thudded on the roof,
but it was almost pleasant”. Explain in no more than 2 lines his feelings regarding these two
totally different situations.
Home, where you are supposed to receive love, is for Alec a tedious and full of
hatred place, whereas war, an unhappy, troubled time, means a safer place for Alec.
16. Apply to adjectives to Alicia as a mother: controlling and snobbish.
1ºBACH BIL 3RD TERM READER I.E.S. CASTILLA
Example: “You never speak with authority, she said as the door was closed. “You don’t ever
sound as if you knew what you were talking about. You have always been an ineffective man”.
*She is trying to make Frederick vulnerable as she does perfectly know that she is
authoritative and superior to him.
Example 2: “You’ll do what your mother tells you, my boy. That’s the way… Yes”.
17. “I had got used to your company, and now I find my own very unsatisfactory”. Who says
this to whom? Frederick to his son Alec.
FREDERICK: “I had got used to your company, and now I find my own very unsatisfactory. I
remain your loving father”
18. Mr Cave and Jerry belong to a lower class than Alec and his family; therefore, they use
colloquialisms when speaking. Give two examples of each character: “fellamelad” and
“queer eejit”
Mr Cave: “And you, young fellamelad … till Tuesday. Mind your practise now”
Jerry: “A queer eejit you are”
Choose between one of these questions:
19. –
a. How does Alec describe himself and other men at the front? “[They] obeyed and
transmitted orders as working as machines.
ALEC. “I obeyed and transmitted orders. A machine.”
b. Related to Geography; what does protect Alec, according to himself? The hills
surrounded his hose.
ALEC: “I felt nothing but the joy of feeling the hollow hills move closer to protect me, the
pleasure of damp air on my face discoloured by the unfiltered sun”

Choose between one of these questions:

20. -
a. Alec’s family is wealthy, but not a happy family. However, Alec’s friend, Jerry, is poor,
but Alec seems to be full of joy with him.” In no more than one sentence, what
message does Johnston want to convey?
(More than one possible answer) Wealth does not lead to happiness, but love.
b. What does the following sentence mean? “We were all equal when face with the cold
wind of death”. Men fighting in war time all equal. No social classes, except
miserable men fighting under fire. With no illusions nor hope.

PERSONAL NOTES: