East of Eden, Chapter 15 quiz

Questions and answers

1. 1

   Question 1. Why does Adam send Lee to fetch Samuel Hamilton in Chapter 15?

   • Correct answer: He needs wells dug on his property before he can irrigate his gardens
   • He wants Samuel's advice on whether to sell the ranch
   • He needs help repairing the house before Cathy gives birth
   • He wants Samuel to meet Cathy for the first time

   The dry California summer alarms Adam, who needs water for his planned gardens, so he sends Lee to bring Samuel to find and dig wells.

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2. 2

   Question 2. How does Adam describe Cathy when telling Samuel his life story?

   • As a shrewd woman who talked him into moving out West
   • As a tireless helper who will work beside him clearing the land
   • Correct answer: As the best thing that ever happened to him, glorifying her
   • As a girl he has known since his school days in Connecticut

   Adam says a light spread out from Cathy and changed his gray life; Samuel recognizes the feeling as an old friend and tells him to preserve it.

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3. 3

   Question 3. What is Cathy's true attitude toward her pregnancy in Chapter 15?

   • She is anxious and seeks reassurance from Adam
   • She is indifferent but accepts it as part of her new life
   • She is genuinely excited about becoming a mother
   • Correct answer: She does not want it and merely endures it with patience

   The narrator says Cathy never reconciled herself to the pregnancy; she sat it out as she would an illness and waited for the change she knew must come.

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4. 4

   Question 4. What does Lee reveal when Samuel asks why he talks pidgin?

   • That he learned all his English from missionaries before leaving China
   • Correct answer: That he speaks pidgin on purpose because Americans expect it of him
   • That he has a speech impediment he has tried to overcome
   • That he speaks better Cantonese than English and prefers it

   Lee drops his pidgin English and speaks perfectly, explaining that he uses broken English because white Americans expect it of a Chinese man, since he will always be seen as a foreigner regardless of being born in the United States.

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5. 5

   Question 5. What biblical parallel does Adam explicitly invoke in Chapter 15?

   • He likens Cathy to the Virgin Mary, a pure mother carrying a holy child
   • Correct answer: He models himself after Adam in Genesis, building a garden paradise with Cathy as Eve
   • He compares his journey west to the Israelites' exodus into a promised land
   • He compares his gray years in the army and at home to the trials of Job

   Adam tells Samuel he means to make a garden of his land: "Remember my name is Adam." He will plant no apples, and when Samuel asks what Eve will say, Adam answers that Samuel does not know this Eve.

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6. 6

   Question 6. Why does Samuel talk compulsively during the dinner at the Trask ranch?

   • He is trying to warn Adam about the dangers of the dry climate
   • He is excited about the business opportunity of digging wells
   • He wants to impress Cathy with his knowledge
   • Correct answer: He is afraid of the silence that would ensue if he stopped

   Samuel suddenly realizes he is making his talk last to keep silence from falling; when he pauses it drops, Cathy's wide-set eyes communicate nothing, and he shivers.

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7. 7

   Question 7. What does Samuel's water-divining symbolize in Chapter 15?

   • Correct answer: Samuel's intuitive ability to sense hidden truths about people
   • The economic struggles of settlers in the Salinas Valley
   • The conflict between science and superstition in rural California
   • The futility of Adam's dream of paradise

   The tension Samuel feels before his divining rod finds water parallels his intuitive sense that something is deeply wrong with Cathy — his physical and psychological perceptions operate in the same way.

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8. 8

   Question 8. Which of these events actually occur in Chapter 15 of East of Eden?

   • Adam shares much of his life story with Samuel Hamilton.

     Happened

     Riding back, Adam tells Samuel about his mother, stepmother and father, the army, his wandering, and then Cathy, though he saves her story for another time.

   • Cathy confides her true feelings about the pregnancy to Lee.

     Didn't happen

     Cathy confides in no one; when Lee offers her tea, she cannot read his eyes and he makes her uneasy.

   • Samuel uses a divining rod to locate water on the property.

     Happened

     Samuel walks a zigzag course with his forked wand until its point is pulled down, and he finds water in more than one place.

   • Lee drops his pidgin and speaks fluent English.

     Happened

     On the buggy ride Lee drops his pidgin and talks with Samuel in fluent English about why he uses it.

   • Samuel directly confronts Adam about Cathy's true nature.

     Didn't happen

     Samuel says a friend's duty would be to show Adam the danger in his feeling, but he calls himself a false friend and tells Adam to preserve it.

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9. 9

   Question 9. Which of these statements about Chapter 15 are accurate?

   • Adam plans to renovate the ranch house slowly and perfectly.

     Happened

     Adam has carpenters from Salinas rebuild the old Sanchez house slowly, inspects every joint, and wants it built strong and well done.

   • Cathy enthusiastically participates in planning the garden.

     Didn't happen

     Cathy only gives Adam proper answers; the narrator thinks she probably never even looked at his new land, since she did not mean to stay.

   • Samuel shivers when Cathy's wide-set eyes communicate nothing at supper.

     Happened

     At supper Cathy's wide-set eyes communicate nothing and Samuel shivers, calling it a goose walking over his grave.

   • Lee explains that he was born in China and came to America as a child.

     Didn't happen

     Lee tells Samuel he was born in Grass Valley and studied at the University of California, and that when he went to China he was not accepted.

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10. 10

    Question 10. What does 'vehemence' mean as used in: 'His voice grew strong with vehemence'?

    • A violent physical attack on someone
    • Calm, steady restraint in one's speech
    • Correct answer: Forceful, passionate intensity of feeling
    • Bitter mockery aimed at wounding a listener

    Vehemence is forceful, passionate intensity. Samuel's voice grows strong with it as he lists what a true friend's duty to Adam would be.

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11. 11

    Question 11. What does 'pidgin' mean as used in: 'The trouble with pidgin is that you get to thinking in pidgin'?

    • A regional American dialect from the western states
    • Correct answer: A simplified form of language used between groups without a common tongue
    • A formal style of speech used in academic settings
    • A type of code language used to conceal meaning

    Pidgin is a simplified form of a language used between people who share no common tongue. Lee tells Samuel he speaks it because it is what people expect of him.

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12. 12

    Question 12. What does 'raptly' mean as used in: 'He glanced at Adam and saw that he was looking raptly at his wife'?

    • Correct answer: With complete, delighted absorption
    • With quick, uneasy glances to the side
    • With cold and narrow suspicion
    • In a drowsy, half-attentive way

    To look raptly is to look with complete, delighted absorption. While Samuel senses something strange at the table, Adam only gazes happily at Cathy.

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