A Tale of Two Cities, Book II - Chapter XIV. The Honest Tradesman quiz

Questions and answers

1. 1

   Question 1. What is Jerry Cruncher's daytime occupation?

   • He is a lawyer's clerk at the Old Bailey courthouse
   • Correct answer: He is an odd-job man and messenger at Tellson's Bank
   • He is a gravedigger at the Saint Pancras churchyard
   • He is a fishmonger who sells his catch on Fleet Street

   Jerry sits on a stool outside Tellson's Bank on Fleet Street, running errands and escorting timid women across the busy road.

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2. 2

   Question 2. Whose funeral procession disrupts Fleet Street?

   • Charles Darnay, the French aristocrat accused of treason
   • Correct answer: Roger Cly, the Old Bailey spy who testified against Darnay
   • Solomon Pross, Miss Pross's long-lost brother and con man
   • Monsieur the Marquis, the cruel French nobleman killed by a peasant

   Jerry learns from a bystander that the funeral is for "one Roger Cly," an "Old Bailey spy" -- the same man who testified against Darnay.

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3. 3

   Question 3. What does the hostile crowd shout during Roger Cly's funeral procession?

   • "Death to the French! Death to traitors and their friends!"
   • Correct answer: "Spies! Yaha! Tst! Spies!" with many forcible compliments
   • "Hang him! String up every spy from Newgate to the Tower!"
   • "Justice for Darnay! Free the innocent man they condemned!"

   The crowd repeatedly shouts "Yah! Spies! Tst! Yaha! Spies!" as the hearse passes, expressing public hatred of government informers.

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4. 4

   Question 4. What happens to the sole mourner in Cly's funeral coach?

   • He is beaten by the mob and left unconscious in the street
   • Correct answer: He scuffles out, sheds his mourning clothes, and escapes up a side street
   • He bravely stands his ground and delivers a eulogy at the grave
   • He is arrested by the Guards for associating with a known spy

   The mourner "scuffled out of himself" and was "so alert" that he ran away "up a bye-street, after shedding his cloak, hat, long hatband, white pocket-handkerchief, and other symbolical tears."

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5. 5

   Question 5. After burying Roger Cly, what does the crowd do next?

   • They return peacefully to their homes, satisfied with the spectacle
   • Correct answer: They chase passersby as spies, break windows, and plunder public houses
   • They march on the Old Bailey to demand the release of political prisoners
   • They carry Jerry Cruncher through the streets as the hero of the day

   Needing new entertainment, the mob chases innocent people, transitions to window-breaking, then plunders pubs and tears up railings until rumors of the Guards disperse them.

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6. 6

   Question 6. What does Jerry Cruncher mean when he says he is going "fishing"?

   • He plans to catch fish in the Thames to supplement the family income
   • Correct answer: He is using a euphemism for grave-robbing, his secret nighttime trade
   • He intends to spy on his wife to catch her praying against him
   • He means he is going to the pub to drink and gamble with his friends

   Jerry's "fishing tackle" is actually a sack, crowbar, rope, and chain. "Fishing" is his euphemism for digging up corpses to sell to surgeons.

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7. 7

   Question 7. What does Jerry accuse his wife of doing that he calls "flopping"?

   • Spending household money on luxuries they cannot afford
   • Correct answer: Praying on her knees, which he believes sabotages his grave-robbing
   • Gossiping about his nighttime activities to the neighbors
   • Fainting dramatically to gain sympathy from Young Jerry

   Jerry uses "flopping" to mean kneeling in prayer. He is superstitious and believes his wife's prayers directly interfere with his illegal trade.

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8. 8

   Question 8. What tools does Jerry take from his locked cupboard for the expedition?

   • A lantern, a pistol, a shovel, and a long coat for disguise
   • Correct answer: A sack, a crowbar of convenient size, a rope and chain
   • A fishing rod, bait box, net, and a pair of wading boots
   • A set of lock picks, a dark cloak, and a bag of coins for bribes

   Jerry brings "a sack, a crowbar of convenient size, a rope and chain, and other fishing tackle of that nature" -- all grave-robbing equipment.

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9. 9

   Question 9. What terrifies Young Jerry as he watches his father in the churchyard?

   • A night watchman catches him spying and threatens to arrest him
   • Correct answer: He sees his father wrench open a coffin and flees in panic
   • A ghost rises from one of the graves and chases the three men away
   • His father discovers him hiding and threatens to beat him severely

   Young Jerry watches the men haul a coffin to the surface. When he sees "his honoured parent about to wrench it open, he was so frightened, being new to the sight, that he made off again."

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10. 10

    Question 10. What imaginative terror haunts Young Jerry on his run home?

    • He imagines ghosts of the dead rising from every graveyard he passes
    • Correct answer: He envisions the coffin hopping after him, hiding in doorways and shadows
    • He fears his father's accomplices will catch and silence him forever
    • He pictures himself being arrested and hanged for his father's crimes

    Dickens describes the coffin "hopping on behind him, bolt upright, upon its narrow end," hiding in doorways "rubbing its horrible shoulders against doors," and even following him into bed.

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11. 11

    Question 11. What evidence the next morning confirms that Jerry's expedition failed?

    • Jerry's clothes are torn and muddy but he carries no sack or package
    • Correct answer: "There was no fish for breakfast, and not much of anything else"
    • Young Jerry finds the locked cupboard still full of unused tools
    • Mrs. Cruncher triumphantly announces that her prayers were answered

    Dickens writes simply: "There was no fish for breakfast, and not much of anything else." Jerry is "out of spirits, and out of temper," confirming the grave robbery failed.

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12. 12

    Question 12. What does Young Jerry say he wants to be when he grows up?

    • A banker at Tellson's, following in his father's respectable footsteps
    • Correct answer: A resurrection man, just like his father's secret profession
    • A soldier in the Guards who keeps order during London's riots
    • A surgeon who buys the bodies that resurrection men provide

    Young Jerry exclaims: "Oh, father, I should so like to be a Resurrection-Man when I'm quite growed up!" Jerry is privately pleased, hoping the boy "will yet be a blessing."

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13. 13

    Question 13. Why is the chapter title "The Honest Tradesman" ironic?

    • Because Jerry is actually very dishonest in his banking duties at Tellson's
    • Correct answer: Because Jerry uses the language of honest commerce to dignify grave-robbing
    • Because the "honest" mourner at Cly's funeral turns out to be another spy
    • Because Tellson's Bank is secretly involved in financing the spy network

    Jerry repeatedly calls himself "a honest tradesman" while referring to body-snatching as his "business" and "wenturs." The title highlights the absurd gap between his self-image and his criminal occupation.

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14. 14

    Question 14. How does this chapter's mob scene connect to the novel's larger themes?

    • It proves that London is more dangerous than Paris throughout the novel
    • Correct answer: It foreshadows the violent French revolutionary mobs that Dickens will depict later
    • It shows that Jerry Cruncher secretly sympathizes with the French revolutionaries
    • It demonstrates that the English legal system is more just than the French one

    The London mob's irrational escalation -- from funeral protest to riot -- directly foreshadows the Parisian crowds who storm the Bastille and drive the Reign of Terror later in the novel.

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15. 15

    Question 15. What does Dickens mean by describing Jerry's fear of his wife's prayer as greater homage to prayer than a devout person could render?

    • He means Jerry is secretly more religious than he pretends to be
    • Correct answer: He means Jerry's terror of prayer proves he truly believes it has real power
    • He means Mrs. Cruncher's prayers are actually causing supernatural interference
    • He means Jerry respects his wife more than he is willing to admit openly

    Dickens notes the irony that Jerry's desperate attempts to prevent his wife from praying show a deeper belief in prayer's efficacy than most believers possess -- "as if a professed unbeliever in ghosts should be frightened by a ghost story."

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