IGNOU MEG 3 Solved Question Paper | December 2024
- Last Updated On August 12, 2025
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Welcome to our blog, In this post, we’re sharing the IGNOU MEG 3 Solved Question Paper of December 2024 examination, focusing on British Novel.
This guide is here to help you prepare for your exams with clear answers and explanations. Whether you’re just starting or revising for your exams, this resource will make studying easier and more effective.
In this post, we’ll discuss all the answers including the short and long answer questions.
You can also download all previous year question papers of MEG 3 from our website.
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Question 1
1. An important thematic aspect of Tom Jones is the division of life in segments : The Country, The Road, and The City. Discuss the significance of these segments in the development of Tom’s character.
In Tom Jones by Henry Fielding, the narrative structure is significantly shaped by the division of the protagonist’s life into three broad segments The Country, The Road, and The City. Each of these geographical and symbolic spaces represents a stage in Tom’s moral, social, and personal development, contributing to the formation of his identity and reinforcing the novel’s themes of experience, virtue, and self-discovery.
The Country: Innocence and Foundation:
The novel begins in the country setting of Somersetshire, particularly at Squire Allworthy’s estate, where Tom is raised. This segment represents innocence, natural virtue, and the moral roots of Tom’s character. Despite being foundling-born and treated unfairly by some, Tom exhibits generous, kind-hearted behavior, often guided by instinct rather than calculated reason. The country serves as the moral baseline of the novel, where social structures are more rigid and reputation is tightly controlled. Tom’s love for Sophia Western also begins here, symbolizing a pure and sincere connection, untainted by the complexities of urban life. However, his impulsive actions and entanglements also illustrate his immaturity and lack of control, indicating the need for experience and growth.
The Road: Journey and Transformation:
The road segment functions as the novel’s central picaresque adventure phase, where Tom leaves the protection of the country and is thrust into a world filled with perils, temptations, deceptions, and lessons. This part of the novel is highly dynamic and symbolizes transition. Through encounters with a wide variety of characters—robbers, soldiers, innkeepers, rogues, and noblemen—Tom’s ideals are tested. He faces moral ambiguities, learns to distinguish appearance from reality, and slowly begins to exercise judgment. The road is metaphorically a testing ground for virtue, where Tom learns to balance passion with principle and grows in self-awareness. It reflects Fielding’s belief in experience as a path to true wisdom and virtue.
The City: Maturity and Resolution:
London, as the city, represents both corruption and sophistication, but also the place where Tom’s identity is fully revealed and social harmony is restored. Here, Tom confronts the final challenges of deceit and betrayal, particularly through Blifil’s schemes. However, it is also in the city that Tom’s moral growth becomes evident—he shows restraint, thoughtfulness, and loyalty. The urban setting contrasts with the simplicity of the country and reveals the complexities of social life, but Tom emerges as a man of virtue and maturity. His reunion with Sophia and recognition by Squire Allworthy brings the story to a full circle.
Question 2
2. Discuss how the social and economic realities of women’s lives in Jane Austen’s time are depicted in Pride and Prejudice.
In Tom Jones by Henry Fielding, the narrative structure is significantly shaped by the division of the protagonist’s life into three broad segments—The Country, The Road, and The City. Each of these geographical and symbolic spaces represents a stage in Tom’s moral, social, and personal development, contributing to the formation of his identity and reinforcing the novel’s themes of experience, virtue, and self-discovery.
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Question 3
3. “Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights evokes both sympathy and derision.” Do you agree with this statement ? Critically analyse the character of Heathcliff.
Yes, the statement that “Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights evokes both sympathy and derision” is highly accurate. Emily Bronte constructs Heathcliff as a complex, multifaceted character who is at once a tragic outsider and a vengeful tormentor. His character defies simplistic categorization, compelling readers to oscillate between pity for his own suffering and the condemnation of his cruelty.
Heathcliff enters the Earnshaw household as a poor, dark – skinned orphan of unknown origin. From the beginning, he is subjected to social and racial prejudice, most notably by Hindley Earnshaw, who demotes him to the status of a servant after Mr. Earnshaw’s death. These early injustices engender sympathy for Heathcliff as a mistreated and marginalized figure, a victim of a rigid class structure that denies him love and respect.
His deep, passionate bond with Catherine Earnshaw further intensifies this emotional pull. Their love transcends conventional romantic tropes — it is fierce, elemental, and spiritual. Catherine’s decision to marry Edgar Linton for social advancement shatters Heathcliff, triggering his descent into vengeance.
However, Heathcliff’s transformation from a wronged lover into a cruel avenger evokes derision. He returns to Wuthering Heights wealthy and embittered, set on enacting revenge not only on those who hurt him but on their innocent descendants. His manipulation and abuse of Isabella, his calculated destruction of Hindley, and his tormenting of young Catherine and Hareton display a sadistic streak. His treatment of women, in particular, undermines the sympathy he once commanded. Heathcliff becomes an embodiment of destructive obsession, driven more by spite than justice.
Yet, Brontë never allows the reader to forget Heathcliff’s inner torment. His inability to move on from Catherine’s death, his haunting monologues, and his descent into madness before his death evoke pity once again. He is a man consumed by loss and longing, whose humanity flickers beneath his harsh exterior. His desire to be reunited with Catherine in death suggests that love remains central to his identity, even when twisted into a vehicle for revenge.
In conclusion, Heathcliff is a Byronic anti-hero, simultaneously a victim of circumstance and a perpetrator of cruelty. Brontë’s portrayal encourages readers to sympathize with his suffering while also criticizing his moral decay. The brilliance of Heathcliff’s character lies in this duality — he is neither hero nor villain but a complex embodiment of love, rage, and the enduring scars of emotional trauma.
Question 4
4. Comment on the theme of ‘self – improvement’ in Great Expectations.
In Great Expectations, Charles Dickens intricately weaves the theme of self – improvement throughout the narrative, using the journey of its protagonist, Pip, to explore personal, social, and moral growth. The novel is structured as a bildungsroman, or a coming – of – age story, where Pip’s aspirations and evolution reflect broader Victorian concerns about class mobility, education, and inner transformation.
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Question 5
5. “George Eliot is actually conscious of her role as a historian of society.” Comment with reference to Middlemarch.
George Eliot’s Middlemarch stands as a remarkable example of the 19th-century realist novel, not only for its rich characterizations and intricate plots but also for its sociological depth and historical consciousness. Through this novel, Eliot acts as a historian of society, deliberately portraying the complexities of provincial English life during the early 1830s—a period of significant political, social, and intellectual change. Her narration reflects a clear intent to document the forces shaping individuals and communities, thereby elevating the novel into a study of societal evolution.
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Question 6
6. Discuss the significance of the title Heart of Darkness in the portrayal of characters and continents.
Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness is a richly symbolic and haunting novella that critiques colonialism and explores the moral ambiguity of human nature. The title itself, Heart of Darkness, holds immense significance in portraying both the characters and the continents—Africa and Europe—while simultaneously evoking the inner and outer journeys into the abyss of human evil.
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