East of Eden, Chapter 19 quiz

Questions and answers

1. 1

   Question 1. After the opening essay on churches and brothels, where does Chapter 19 settle its attention?

   • On Chinatown, across the railroad tracks from the Salinas Row
   • On the Trask ranch, where Adam is recovering from his shoulder wound
   • Correct answer: On Faye's house in Salinas, where a new girl called Kate works
   • On the Hamilton ranch, where Samuel is at work in his forge

   The essay narrows down the Row and then into Faye's house, where the newest girl, Kate, quickly makes herself indispensable.

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2. 2

   Question 2. What does the narrator claim the church and the whorehouse had in common in the Far West?

   • Both were run openly and advertised in the local paper
   • Both were opposed by the businessmen and the lawyers
   • Both were founded by the same families of early settlers
   • Correct answer: Both took a man out of his bleakness for a while

   Steinbeck argues that the singing and poetry of the churches and the release offered by the brothels were two facets of the same relief.

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3. 3

   Question 3. Why do the two established madams give up trying to drive Faye out of Salinas?

   • Faye pays them a share of what her house takes in
   • Correct answer: They discover her motherly house is no competition
   • Her house sits too far from the Row to draw customers
   • The sheriff warns them to leave the newcomer alone

   Faye's house is what the narrator calls a third phase, warm and forgiving rather than raucous or severe, so it draws a different customer.

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4. 4

   Question 4. What convinces Faye that Kate is not learning the trade for the first time?

   • Correct answer: Customers come back and ask for Kate by name
   • Kate arrives with a large sum of money saved
   • The other girls recognize her from another house
   • Kate refuses to answer any of her questions

   The narrator notes that when customers return and ask for a girl by name you know you have something, because a pretty face alone will not do it.

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5. 5

   Question 5. Which change does Kate make that most impresses Faye?

   • Correct answer: She takes over the marketing and cuts the bills sharply
   • She teaches the other girls to do drawn work
   • She hires a new piano player for the parlor
   • She persuades the sheriff to leave the house alone

   The food improves while the grocery bill falls by a third in the first month and the laundry bill drops twenty-five percent.

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6. 6

   Question 6. What does the sheriff say he wants in exchange for leaving Kate alone?

   • A signed statement describing the night of the shooting
   • Her promise to leave the state before his term ends
   • A share of whatever the house earns each month
   • Correct answer: Peace in his county and no harm to Mr. Trask or his boys

   He explicitly refuses to make a record of her past. What he wants is quiet in the county and the Trask family left untouched.

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7. 7

   Question 7. Why does the sheriff mention his own son before he leaves the room?

   • He wants Kate to warn him if the boy gambles
   • He suspects the boy already knows who Kate is
   • Correct answer: He wants the boy sent to Jenny's if he comes in
   • He hopes Kate will hire the boy to drive a hack

   He describes a nice-looking young man with a broken nose, says he does not want him in this house, and adds that Faye will be told the same.

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8. 8

   Question 8. How does the chapter present Kate's kindnesses toward the other girls?

   • As a habit she picked up during her own childhood
   • Correct answer: As acts that also buy her loyalty and quiet authority
   • As a burden Faye forces on her to keep the peace
   • As proof that she has genuinely reformed her character

   She nurses them, lends money, and remembers birthdays, and within a year they treat her as a second boss and predict she will own the house.

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9. 9

   Question 9. Which of these events actually occur in Chapter 19?

   • Faye goes to the sheriff and gets herself cleared about her new girl.

     Happened

     The narrator says Faye went to the sheriff and got herself cleared, since she sensed something was wrong about Kate and saw no sense in taking chances.

   • The sheriff arrests Kate and holds her in the county jail.

     Didn't happen

     The sheriff only talks with Kate in her room at Faye's; he tells her that if Adam had bled to death she would be staying with him in the jail.

   • The other girls predict that Kate will own the house someday.

     Happened

     By the time a year has passed, Faye and Kate are like mother and daughter, and the girls say Kate will own the house some day.

   • Kate finally tells Faye the full reason she left her husband.

     Didn't happen

     Kate never explains why she came to Faye's; she says only that someone dear to her is involved, and later that she changed her hair for fear of being recognized.

   • Kate digs a splinter of walnut shell out of Faye's tooth with a nut pick.

     Happened

     When a sharp fragment of walnut shell from the panocha strikes Faye's hollow tooth, Kate digs it out with a nut pick and packs the tooth with paregoric.

   • Faye persuades Kate to dye her hair blond again.

     Didn't happen

     Faye says she still liked Kate's hair blond better, but Kate answers that she changed it so she would not be recognized, and the chapter never shows her changing it back.

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10. 10

    Question 10. What does 'circumspect' mean as used in: "The brothels were quiet, orderly, and circumspect."

    • Correct answer: Discreet and careful to avoid attention
    • Loud and eager to attract new customers
    • Poorly built and falling into ruin
    • Expensive and open only to the rich

    Circumspect means cautious and discreet. The houses on the Row kept their shades drawn and their voices low rather than advertising themselves.

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11. 11

    Question 11. What does 'demure' mean as used in: "she put on her slightly stupid demure look"?

    • Angry and openly hostile to a stranger
    • Exhausted after a long night of work
    • Correct answer: Modest and shy, here deliberately put on
    • Curious about a visitor's real purpose

    Demure means modest and reserved. Kate wears the expression as a mask and drops it once the sheriff begins to talk.

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12. 12

    Question 12. What does 'inviolate' mean as used in: "Faye took her into her own inviolate bedroom"?

    • Recently redecorated and freshly painted
    • Correct answer: Kept private and not normally entered
    • Shared by everyone working in the house
    • Locked because of a quarrel with a girl

    Inviolate means kept free from intrusion. Faye's own room is off limits, so bringing Kate into it shows how unusual she finds the new girl.

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