East of Eden, Chapter 27 quiz

Questions and answers

1. 1

   Question 1. How do Cal and Aron kill the rabbit at the opening of the chapter?

   • With a wire snare set among the willows
   • Correct answer: With a bamboo arrow shot from a bow
   • With a rock thrown from behind the brush
   • With a slingshot loaded with river gravel

   The twins hunt with four-foot bows, and a bamboo arrow passes through the rabbit's chest and into the ground.

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2. 2

   Question 2. Why does Cal insist that the arrow in the rabbit was his?

   • Because Aron had borrowed the arrow without asking him first
   • Because he means to carry the rabbit home and show it off himself
   • Because Lee promised a reward to whichever boy hunted best
   • Correct answer: Because he can then hand Aron the credit and be owed for it

   Cal manufactures a debt. He claims the arrow, then offers the credit away, keeping the advantage either way.

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3. 3

   Question 3. What secret does Cal share with Aron on the walk home?

   • That Lee has decided to stay on at the ranch after all
   • That Mr. Hamilton left the two boys money in his will
   • Correct answer: That their mother did not die but ran away
   • That Adam is planning to sell the land across the river

   Cal says he heard men in the post office at King City say she ran away, and that he means to find her.

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4. 4

   Question 4. How does Aron answer Cal's claim about their mother?

   • Correct answer: He insists she is in Heaven and repeats what Lee told him
   • He says nothing and never raises the subject again
   • He agrees at once and begs Cal to take him along to find her
   • He runs to the house and repeats the story to Adam

   Aron holds to Adam's story and to Lee's assurance that his mother loved him, then attacks Cal with the rabbit.

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5. 5

   Question 5. Why do the Bacons end up at the Trask ranch?

   • They came to offer Adam a seat on the county school board
   • Correct answer: They were lost on the way to another ranch and the rain drove them in
   • They were invited to supper after meeting Adam in King City
   • They came to make an offer on the land Adam has left unfarmed

   Mr. Bacon says he was looking for another ranch, and the cloudburst forced the family to take shelter.

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6. 6

   Question 6. What does Mr. Bacon advise Adam to do with his land?

   • Sell it and put the money into county property
   • Plant it in grain and hire more men to work it
   • Divide it now between Cal and Aron while they are still young
   • Correct answer: Rent it to a tenant and move the boys to town for school

   Bacon presses the value of education and offers to find a reliable tenant so Adam can move near the public schools.

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7. 7

   Question 7. What announcement of Adam's startles the Bacons?

   • That he has never once visited the county seat
   • That he means to send both twins away to a boarding school
   • Correct answer: That he has not written to his brother in over ten years
   • That he intends to run for county supervisor himself

   Adam's mind has drifted to Charles, and he says out loud that he forgot to write to him for more than a decade.

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8. 8

   Question 8. How does Abra take control of the twins once they are outside?

   • Correct answer: She ridicules the explanation of twins that Lee gave them
   • She refuses to speak to either boy until they apologize
   • She offers to buy the rabbit from them with her own money
   • She threatens to tell her father about the dead rabbit

   Abra turns the boys' egg theory into a joke about fried and poached eggs, and after that she is the boss.

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9. 9

   Question 9. Which of these events actually occur in this chapter?

   • Cal and Aron kill a brush rabbit with a bamboo arrow.

     Happened

     A bamboo arrow passes through the brush rabbit's chest while the twins hunt in the river bottom.

   • A cloudburst soaks the twins on their way home.

     Happened

     A cloudburst sweeps across the valley, and the rain soaks the boys through as they race across the county road toward home.

   • Cal tells Abra that Lee has left scars on Aron's back.

     Happened

     Cal tells Abra his brother's back is "All scars" and blames Lee, having read, as the narrator puts it, her "interest in romantic situations."

   • Adam agrees to rent his land to a tenant before the Bacons leave.

     Didn't happen

     Adam only asks Mr. Bacon whether renting would be a good idea, then drifts off thinking of Charles; he agrees to nothing.

   • Abra opens the box and finds Aron's letter before she goes.

     Didn't happen

     Abra tosses the box into the road before the buggy reaches the first turn; only afterward does Aron tell Cal he put a letter in it.

   • Lee is the one who tells the boys that their mother ran away.

     Didn't happen

     Cal says he heard some men talking in the post office at King City; what Lee told Aron is that his mother loved him and still does.

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10. 10

    Question 10. What does 'enigma' mean as used in: "Cal was an enigma to him"?

    • A person who is cruel for no particular reason
    • A person everyone around him admires
    • A person easily frightened by strangers
    • Correct answer: A person who is mysterious and hard to understand

    Aron cannot follow his brother's reasoning, so Cal remains a puzzle he is unable to solve.

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11. 11

    Question 11. What does 'inexorable' mean as used in: "their first experience with the inexorable logic of women"?

    • Careless and easily distracted
    • Correct answer: Impossible to stop or argue with
    • Polite on the surface but insincere
    • Built entirely out of proven facts

    Abra's argument rolls straight over the boys even though it happens to be wrong.

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12. 12

    Question 12. What does 'restive' mean as used in: "Lee held the restive horse while Mrs. Bacon was helped up into the rig"?

    • Worn out after a long journey
    • Gentle and completely tame
    • Correct answer: Restless and hard to keep still
    • Old and beginning to go lame

    The horse will not stand quietly, so Lee has to hold it while the Bacons climb into the buggy.

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