East of Eden, Chapter 11 quiz

Questions and answers

1. 1

   Question 1. What is Adam's emotional response to Cathy during her recovery at the Trask farmhouse?

   • He feels pity but no romantic interest
   • He is indifferent and leaves her care to Charles
   • Correct answer: He falls deeply in love with her while nursing her back to health
   • He is suspicious of her motives and keeps his distance

   Adam nurses Cathy himself, and when she smiles weakly at him he thinks "What a child! What a helpless child!" as a surge of love fills him.

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2. 2

   Question 2. What does Cathy ask Adam to promise right after he proposes to her?

   • To identify her attacker and deliver him to the sheriff
   • To take her to California right after the wedding
   • To purchase Charles's share of the farm before the ceremony
   • Correct answer: Not to tell his brother that he has asked her to marry him

   Right after Adam proposes, Cathy asks, "Will you promise not to tell your brother you have asked me?" and begs for a night to think it over.

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3. 3

   Question 3. What sends Adam into a heavy sleep on his wedding night?

   • He celebrates by drinking too much beer in town
   • Correct answer: He drinks tea that held Cathy's sleeping medicine
   • The doctor administers morphine to calm his nerves
   • He is exhausted from laboring on the stone wall

   Cathy tells Adam he drank from her cup and "It had my medicine in it"; he falls into "a heavy opium sleep," and she goes to Charles's room.

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4. 4

   Question 4. Why is Charles's reaction to Cathy significant in Chapter 11?

   • Correct answer: He distrusts her and, after the wedding, begs Adam to get rid of her
   • He protects her from the sheriff and opposes any official questioning
   • He immediately falls in love with her just as Adam does
   • He refuses to interact with her at all during her recovery

   Charles tells Cathy, "I don't trust you," and wants her out of the house; once Adam says they are married, Charles begs, "Please, Adam. Throw her out."

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5. 5

   Question 5. What does Cathy confess to Adam just before he asks her to marry him?

   • That she once lodged upstairs at the inn
   • That she had fallen under a harrow in a field
   • That her father was her attacker
   • Correct answer: That she never really lost her memory

   Gripping Adam's hand, Cathy says, "Adam, I didn't ever lose my memory," then hints she is shielding someone she reveres and lets Adam make up the rest of the story himself.

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6. 6

   Question 6. Where does Adam tell Cathy they will go after their marriage?

   • Correct answer: To California, which Adam says has sun all the time
   • To stay on the Connecticut farm with Charles
   • To Europe, to walk around Paris as Adam once suggested
   • To New York to be near Adam's army connections

   Adam tells Cathy, "We're going to California," and when she says she does not want to go, he answers, "You are my wife."

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7. 7

   Question 7. What does Alex Platt find while hunting rabbits near the county road?

   • A woman's purse containing a letter identifying the injured girl
   • The body of a murdered traveler concealed among the cedars
   • Correct answer: A suitcase of man's clothes and a box with near four thousand dollars
   • An abandoned horse and buggy hidden beside the county road

   Charles reports that Alex Platt found a suitcase of man's clothes with no labels and a locked wooden box with "near four thousand dollars in it," which he took to the sheriff.

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8. 8

   Question 8. Which of these events actually occur in Chapter 11 of East of Eden?

   • Adam proposes marriage to Cathy during her recovery.

     Happened

     While Cathy is still bandaged and in bed, Adam comes to her doorway and asks, "Will you marry me?"

   • Charles gives Adam and Cathy his blessing before they leave.

     Didn't happen

     Charles rages that Cathy is "no damn good" and begs Adam, "Throw her out."

   • Adam drinks tea with Cathy's sleeping medicine in it on their wedding night.

     Happened

     Adam finishes his tea, Cathy tells him he took her cup with her "sleeping medicine" in it, and he falls into "a heavy opium sleep."

   • Adam discovers Cathy in Charles's bedroom.

     Didn't happen

     Adam lies in "a heavy opium sleep" while Cathy goes to Charles's room, and the chapter ends without his waking.

   • The newlyweds depart Connecticut for California.

     Didn't happen

     Adam tells Cathy, "We're going to California," but the chapter ends on the wedding night, before they leave.

   Read the passage
9. 9

   Question 9. Which of the following accurately describes Charles's behavior in Chapter 11?

   • Charles claims Cathy talked under the drug and warns that if she stays, the sheriff will hear of it.

     Happened

     Charles tells Cathy, "When you had all that dope you talked a lot," and that if she does not go soon, "so will the sheriff" know; behind the henhouse he laughs, "I thought she was smarter."

   • Charles drives Cathy to town and puts her on the train.

     Didn't happen

     Charles only assumes Adam took her "to put her on the train"; Adam in fact drove her to the county seat and married her.

   • Charles sleeps with Cathy on her wedding night.

     Happened

     Cathy comes to Charles's bed and says Adam "drank my sleeping medicine by mistake," and Charles throws back the blanket to receive her.

   • Charles tells the sheriff that Cathy is faking her memory loss.

     Didn't happen

     Charles tells Cathy herself, "I don't believe you lost your memory," but he never says so to the sheriff; he only threatens to.

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10. 10

    Question 10. What does 'assent' mean as used to describe Cathy when the sheriff asks her to write: 'She blinked her eyes rapidly to indicate assent'?

    • Physical pain or distress one tries to conceal
    • Correct answer: Agreement or consent to what is asked
    • An upward climb or rise to a higher position
    • Refusal or objection to what is proposed

    Assent means agreement or consent. Unable to nod or speak, Cathy blinks rapidly to show the sheriff she will try to write her answers.

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11. 11

    Question 11. What does 'convalescence' mean in the context of Chapter 11: 'the prettiness of convalescence came to her face'?

    • Correct answer: The gradual recovery of health and strength after injury
    • An emotional collapse following a shock or trauma
    • A gradual deterioration of health following an injury
    • A deliberate pretense of being sicker than one is

    Convalescence refers to the process of gradually recovering health after illness or injury. In this chapter, it describes the period during which Cathy heals from her beating while Adam falls in love with her.

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12. 12

    Question 12. What does 'truculently' mean when the doctor asks what happened to the girl and 'Charles said truculently'?

    • In an evasive, noncommittal way
    • Correct answer: In an aggressively defiant way
    • In a weary and indifferent way
    • In a timid and apologetic way

    Truculently means in an aggressively defiant or quarrelsome way. Charles snaps back at the doctor's questions, already hostile to having the girl in the house.

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