East of Eden, Chapter 2 quiz
From East of Eden by John Steinbeck
Chapter 2 of East of Eden introduces the Hamilton family, Irish immigrants who settle on barren Salinas Valley land and embody perseverance.
12 questions · about 13 minutes
Questions and answers
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Question 1. Where did Samuel Hamilton emigrate from before settling in the Salinas Valley?
- Wales
- Southern Scotland
- Correct answer: North of Ireland
- Northern England
Samuel Hamilton emigrated from the north of Ireland to settle in the Salinas Valley around 1870.
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Question 2. Why did the Hamilton family end up on barren hillside land?
- Liza insisted on isolation from other families
- They preferred the higher elevation for health reasons
- Samuel chose it for its mineral deposits
- Correct answer: All the good, fertile bottomland had already been claimed
The fertile land along the Salinas River had been claimed by earlier settlers, so the Hamiltons could only homestead on the dry eastern hillside.
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Question 3. What were Samuel Hamilton's two main occupations?
- Correct answer: Blacksmith and well-digger
- Saloonkeeper and horse trader
- Preacher and county official
- Schoolteacher and land agent
Samuel supported his family by working as a blacksmith and well-digger, serving the wider community while struggling with his own barren land.
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Question 4. How many children did Samuel and Liza Hamilton raise?
- Seven
- Correct answer: Nine
- Twelve
- Five
The Hamiltons raised nine children on their difficult hillside homestead in the Salinas Valley.
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Question 5. What is Liza Hamilton's religious denomination?
- Correct answer: Presbyterian
- Baptist
- Roman Catholic
- Methodist
The narrator gives Liza "a dour Presbyterian mind" and a code of morals that beat the brains out of nearly everything pleasant, and says she had a finely developed sense of sin.
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Question 6. What is ironic about Samuel Hamilton's inventive talent?
- His children refuse to learn his trade
- His inventions only work in wet climates
- Correct answer: He designs useful tools but never profits from them
- His wife forbids him from inventing on Sundays
Samuel is a gifted inventor who creates useful devices, yet he never manages to make money from any of his ideas, highlighting the disconnect between talent and financial success.
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Question 7. What does the narrator reveal about himself and the Hamiltons in Chapter 2?
- He is a neighboring rancher's son who visited Samuel's forge
- Correct answer: He belongs to their family and must rely on hearsay and memories
- He is a local historian relying on official county records
- He is a county doctor who once treated the Hamiltons' children
The narrator speaks of "my family" and of Liza's grandchildren, and says he must depend on hearsay, old photographs, stories told and hazy memories to tell about the Hamiltons.
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Question 8. Which of these events or details actually appear in Chapter 2?
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Samuel Hamilton emigrates from Ireland to the Salinas Valley.
Happened
The narrator says young Samuel came from the north of Ireland and came to the Salinas Valley about thirty years before the turn of the century.
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Samuel and Liza Hamilton raise nine children on barren hillside land.
Happened
Nine children were born, four boys and five girls, on the barren hill land Samuel homesteaded east of what is now King City.
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Samuel Hamilton meets Adam Trask for the first time.
Didn't happen
Adam Trask is only named in the chapter's last line, as one of the settlers who arrived with money; he does not meet Samuel here.
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Liza Hamilton is described as a strict Presbyterian.
Happened
The narrator gives Liza a dour Presbyterian mind and a code of morals that beat the brains out of nearly everything pleasant.
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The Hamilton children are each described in individual detail.
Didn't happen
The chapter gives only their number, four boys and five girls, and the story of the youngest's birth; it names none of them.
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Question 9. Which of these descriptions of Samuel Hamilton are established in Chapter 2?
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He is a gifted inventor who cannot profit from his ideas.
Happened
He was forever inventing better ways of doing old things, but other men sold his tricks and grew rich while Samuel barely made wages.
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He works as a blacksmith and well-digger.
Happened
He had a blacksmith shop, and he built a well-boring rig and bored wells on the lands of luckier men.
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He is small and quiet with a serious temperament.
Didn't happen
The narrator calls him a big man, delicate in a way, and a laughing man whose talk the farmers loved to hear.
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He is beloved by the wider valley community.
Happened
Men from all over the district brought him tools and came to hear him talk, and neighbors from twenty miles away called on him to help with births.
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Question 10. What does "barren" mean as used in "in the barren hills, to the east of what is now King City"?
- Extremely cold and swept by harsh winds
- Lying at a high, remote altitude
- Recently cleared of its original forest
- Correct answer: Too poor or dry to produce vegetation
Barren means too poor or dry to support plant growth, describing the Hamiltons' unyielding land that could not produce crops easily.
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Question 11. What does "dour" mean in the narrator's description of Liza's "dour Presbyterian mind"?
- Sour, acidic and bitter-tasting
- Cheerful, relaxed and easygoing
- Doubtful, hesitant and uncertain
- Correct answer: Stern, severe and gloomy
Dour means stern, severe and gloomy; Liza's dour mind goes with a code of morals that beat the brains out of nearly everything pleasant to do.
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Question 12. What does "improvise" mean when the narrator says Samuel "could improvise anything with bits of wood and metal"?
- Correct answer: To make something from whatever is at hand
- To reproduce something exactly from a design
- To reduce someone to poverty
- To improve something through careful study
To improvise is to make or do something with whatever is at hand, without a plan; Samuel could make anything from bits of wood and metal.
Read the passage
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