A Separate Peace, Chapter 10 quiz

Questions and answers

1. 1

   Question 1. Why does Gene travel to Vermont at the start of Chapter 10?

   • To bring Finny the news of Leper's enlistment
   • Correct answer: To answer the telegram Leper had sent him
   • To report for his own army induction physical
   • To spend the Christmas holidays with relatives

   Gene spends the whole night ride trying to decipher the meaning of Leper's telegram, whose Christmas location line meant that Leper was at home.

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2. 2

   Question 2. Before he arrives, what does Gene convince himself Leper has escaped from?

   • A hospital ward for the badly wounded
   • A military prison somewhere in the South
   • Correct answer: Spies operating inside the United States
   • An enemy patrol in the Pacific islands

   Reasoning that a soldier escapes from danger and that Leper had never gone overseas, Gene decides the only enemies at home would be spies.

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3. 3

   Question 3. Where does Leper spend nearly all of his time at home?

   • In the front parlor
   • In his old bedroom
   • Out in the snowy fields
   • Correct answer: In the dining room

   Leper calls it a useful room where meals arrive three times a day, and says that people get problems in living rooms.

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4. 4

   Question 4. Why did Leper leave the army before it could complete his discharge?

   • He wanted to be at home for the holidays
   • Correct answer: He feared a Section Eight would ruin his future
   • He had been ordered to ship out overseas
   • He believed his commanding officer was a spy

   Leper describes a Section Eight as worse than a dishonorable discharge, because any employer who saw it on his papers would refuse to hire him.

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5. 5

   Question 5. What does Leper accuse Gene of during their argument in the dining room?

   • Reporting his enlistment to the headmaster
   • Refusing to write to him during basic training
   • Correct answer: Knocking Finny out of the tree and crippling him
   • Spreading the Butt Room stories about his travels

   Leper calls Gene a savage underneath and ties the charge directly to the fall from the tree, the first time any character says it to Gene's face.

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6. 6

   Question 6. How does Gene respond to that accusation?

   • Correct answer: He kicks Leper's chair out from under him
   • He confesses to everything and apologizes
   • He walks out of the house without a word
   • He calmly denies ever climbing the tree

   Gene shoves his foot against the rung of the chair and kicks, leaving Leper on the floor laughing and crying at the same time.

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7. 7

   Question 7. What finally drives Gene to run away across the field?

   • Leper threatens to report him to the school
   • Correct answer: Leper begins describing being seized at the camp
   • Mrs. Lepellier orders him off the property
   • A snowstorm closes the road back into town

   As Leper reaches the moment he was grabbed, Gene shouts him down, insists the story has nothing to do with him, and runs for the road.

   Read the passage
8. 8

   Question 8. What does the narrator reveal about his own war service in the chapter's opening pages?

   • Correct answer: He never got to the war before it ended
   • He was decorated for action in the Pacific
   • He was discharged after a training injury
   • He served alongside Brinker overseas

   The adult Gene says he was shuttled from base to base without ever reaching combat, and that the bomb seemed to have saved the lives of his year.

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9. 9

   Question 9. Which of these events actually occur in Chapter 10?

   • Gene walks the last stretch of road to Leper's house alone.

     Happened

   • Leper tells Gene he is home on a two-week pass.

     Didn't happen

   • Leper's mother finds him on the floor after Gene kicks his chair.

     Happened

   • Gene refuses the invitation to lunch and leaves immediately.

     Didn't happen

   • Gene and Leper walk out across a frozen field after eating.

     Happened

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10. 10

    Question 10. Which of these details does Leper actually describe about his time in the army?

    • A man in the next cot coughed so badly that it kept him awake.

      Happened

    • He was wounded during a live-fire training exercise.

      Didn't happen

    • A corporal's face seemed to change into a woman's face.

      Happened

    • He saw a broom as a man's leg that had been cut off.

      Happened

    • He was shipped overseas shortly before his breakdown.

      Didn't happen

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11. 11

    Question 11. What does 'presaged' mean as used in: 'this night which presaged my war'?

    • Correct answer: Foreshadowed or gave warning of
    • Interrupted without any warning
    • Shortened by several months
    • Recalled from a distant memory

    To presage something is to be a sign of it coming. The miserable night journey anticipates the service Gene is about to enter.

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12. 12

    Question 12. What does 'austerity' mean as used in: 'if that meant austerity toward strangers'?

    • Open and eager hospitality
    • Correct answer: Severe plainness and reserve
    • Suspicion of outside authority
    • Careless disregard for money

    Austerity means stern plainness. Gene means Vermonters are unwelcoming to outsiders, but the same hardness produces the beauty he sees that morning.

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13. 13

    Question 13. What does 'querulous' mean as used in: 'his voice fell to a querulous whisper'?

    • Loud and openly threatening
    • Warm and quietly affectionate
    • Correct answer: Complaining and full of grievance
    • Careful and deliberately formal

    Querulous describes a peevish, complaining tone, which is how Leper sounds as he tells Gene what he believes Gene is thinking about him.

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