East of Eden, Chapter 4 quiz

Questions and answers

1. 1

   Question 1. In the letter Adam keeps, what does Charles say he never understood?

   • Correct answer: Why their father did not like the birthday knife
   • Why his mother's rocking chair creaks at night
   • Why Adam has not answered his last letter
   • Why their father went all the way to San Francisco

   Charles writes, "I never understood—well, why our father did it," and asks why Cyrus did not like the knife Charles bought him for his birthday, the gift recalled from Chapter 3; if he had liked it, Charles adds, "I wouldn't have took out after you."

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2. 2

   Question 2. Despite Adam's revulsion for violence, what does his army record show?

   • A reprimand for cowardice under enemy fire
   • Correct answer: Three commendations and a decoration for bravery
   • A promotion to sergeant for his marksmanship
   • A formal charge of malingering against him

   His officers watched him for malingering but brought no charge, and the narrator says there was never any hint of cowardice in his record: "he was commended three times and then decorated for bravery."

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3. 3

   Question 3. What reason does Cyrus give Adam for putting him in the cavalry?

   • Adam should serve as Cyrus himself once served
   • Barrack life will give Adam the discipline he lacks
   • It will keep Adam safely away from his brother
   • Correct answer: The cavalry has work to do, and fighting is coming

   Cyrus says "Barrack life is not a good life for long," but "the cavalry has work to do": there is action coming in the Indian country, and "There's fighting on the way."

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4. 4

   Question 4. When Charles finally returns home, how does he pay his penalty?

   • In a public apology to both Adam and his father
   • In a whipping Cyrus gives him in the barn
   • Correct answer: In overwork and a false theatrical humility
   • In giving up his share of the farm to Adam

   Told that Cyrus is looking for him with a shotgun, Charles hides out for two weeks; when he returns, murder has "sunk back to simple anger," and he pays his penalty "in overwork and a false theatrical humility."

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5. 5

   Question 5. According to the narrator, what would Cyrus probably have done had he found Charles that night?

   • Forgiven him and brought him home
   • Correct answer: Killed him, or at least tried to
   • Driven him off the farm for good
   • Sent him into the army beside Adam

   Cyrus searches the road and the inn in "a kind of despairing anger," and the narrator says that if he had found Charles that night "he would have killed him, or tried to."

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6. 6

   Question 6. How does Adam, a marksman and sharpshooter, use his carbine in the Indian fighting?

   • Correct answer: He deliberately fires it so as to miss
   • He teaches the new recruits how to shoot
   • He refuses to carry it into battle at all
   • He kills more enemies than any other man

   The narrator says Adam, a marksman and sharpshooter, "was peculiarly fitted to miss"; when he fired his carbine to miss he was "committing treason against his unit, and he didn't care."

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7. 7

   Question 7. Where is Adam when he is enlisted in the army?

   • In Washington, at his father's office in the G.A.R.
   • Standing in the dooryard beside the soldiers' horses
   • Correct answer: Lying in his bed, too stiff to move without a groan
   • At a recruiting office in the village near the inn

   Adam lies four days in bed after the beating; on the third day a captain of cavalry and two sergeants come into his bedroom, and there, still in bed, "Adam was enlisted in the army as a private in the cavalry."

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8. 8

   Question 8. Which of these events actually occur in Chapter 4?

   • Charles stands laughing at the inn, rubbing his split knuckles.

     Happened

     Right after the beating, Charles stands at the bar of the village inn, laughing at the drummers' stories, buying them drinks and rubbing his split knuckles.

   • Adam begs his father to let him stay home from the army.

     Didn't happen

     Adam makes no protest: when Cyrus explains why he has put him in the cavalry, Adam answers only "Yes, sir."

   • Cyrus's eyes glisten with tears as Adam takes the oath.

     Happened

     Adam signs the Articles of War and takes the oath while Cyrus and Alice look on, and the narrator notes that his father's eyes glistened with tears.

   • The family has a long conversation about why Charles attacked Adam.

     Didn't happen

     No such talk is shown: Charles hides out for two weeks, and Adam is still in bed when the soldiers come to enlist him.

   • Cyrus hunts for Charles with a gun after finding Adam beaten.

     Happened

     Cyrus searches the road and the inn for Charles in despairing anger, and Charles is soon told that his father is looking for him with a shotgun.

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9. 9

   Question 9. Which of the following accurately describes events in Chapter 4?

   • Charles hides out for two weeks after beating Adam.

     Happened

     Charles hides out for two weeks, and by the time he returns, the narrator says, murder had sunk back to simple anger.

   • Adam kills many of the enemy in the Indian fighting.

     Didn't happen

     The narrator says that if Adam killed any enemy at all, it was an accident of ricochet.

   • Alice dies of consumption while Adam is in the army.

     Happened

     Charles's letters tell Adam of Alice's choking death from her consumption.

   • Charles signs the long letter that Adam keeps.

     Didn't happen

     The letter was not signed; the narrator suggests Charles may have forgotten he meant to destroy it and sent it along.

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10. 10

    Question 10. What does "drummers" mean in the context: "laughing delightedly at the funny stories the night-stranded drummers were telling"?

    • Soldiers drumming up recruits for the army
    • Boys who beat drums to keep marching soldiers in step
    • Musicians who play percussion instruments
    • Correct answer: Traveling salesmen who sell goods town to town

    In nineteenth-century American English, 'drummers' referred to traveling salesmen who went from town to town selling goods, a common fixture in rural communities.

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11. 11

    Question 11. What does "cavalry" mean in the context: "I've put you in the cavalry for a reason"?

    • A branch of the army made up of soldiers on foot
    • A branch of the military that fires heavy cannon
    • The hill outside Jerusalem where Jesus was crucified
    • Correct answer: A branch of the military originally fighting on horseback

    The cavalry is a military branch that originally fought on horseback. Cyrus enrolls Adam in the cavalry, beginning his military service away from home.

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12. 12

    Question 12. What does the narrator say the exchange of letters does for the brothers while Adam is away?

    • It finally settles their quarrel over the beating
    • Correct answer: It brings a closeness neither could have imagined
    • It persuades Adam to come home and work the farm
    • It leaves them as distant from each other as before

    Charles, "who could not talk, wrote with fullness," and the narrator says that "In the exchange of letters there grew a closeness neither of them could have imagined."

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