East of Eden, Chapter 40 quiz

Questions and answers

1. 1

   Question 1. What does Kate keep in the steel tube on the chain around her neck?

   • A lock of Faye's hair
   • Correct answer: Six grains of morphine
   • Ethel's envelope of glass
   • A key to the gray lean-to

   Besides two safe-deposit keys and a gold watch, the chain holds a steel tube. Kate unscrews it and shakes out a gelatine capsule of six grains of morphine, then puts it back.

   Read the passage
2. 2

   Question 2. Who is the only other person Kate remembers making her feel this panic hatred?

   • Correct answer: Samuel Hamilton
   • The dark-haired Joe
   • Dr. Wilde
   • Charles Trask

   Right after Cal's visit, Kate thinks of Samuel Hamilton, "the only person who had ever made her feel this panic hatred," with his white beard, pink cheeks, and laughing eyes. Charles comes into her thoughts later in the chapter, as one of the clever people she fears.

   Read the passage
3. 3

   Question 3. Where is Ethel living when she comes to see Kate?

   • A cell in the county jail
   • A boarding house on Castroville Street
   • Correct answer: A room at the Southern Pacific Hotel
   • A cot in the kitchen of Kate's house

   Ethel says she has a room at the Southern Pacific Hotel, right up the hall from the desk, and that the night clerk is a friend who never sleeps on duty.

   Read the passage
4. 4

   Question 4. What does Ethel say she found at the back of the lot after Faye died?

   • A letter from Dr. Wilde about croton oil
   • A signed will leaving Kate the house
   • A buried cash box from Charles
   • Correct answer: Smashed medicine bottles and an eye-dropper nipple

   Ethel describes a dream of Kate stooping behind the house the night Faye died, then says the only things out there were smashed medicine bottles and a little rubber tit from an eye-dropper.

   Read the passage
5. 5

   Question 5. How much money does Ethel have when she appears in court?

   • The original forty dollars Kate offered
   • Correct answer: Ninety-six dollars
   • Exactly one hundred dollars
   • Nothing but whiskey and cigarettes

   The arresting officer says she had ninety-six dollars and had already bought whiskey, cigarettes, and magazines from the night clerk at six in the morning. The complaining witness claimed a loss of pretty close to a hundred.

   Read the passage
6. 6

   Question 6. Where is Ethel taken after the judge rules?

   • Correct answer: Over the county line at the Pajaro River
   • To Kenoe's barbershop to wait
   • To San Quentin that same morning
   • Back to a room at Kate's house

   The judge tells the officer to have the sheriff run her over the county line. A deputy drives her to the bridge over the Pajaro River and she is threatened with San Quentin only if she comes back.

   Read the passage
7. 7

   Question 7. In Kate's later reasoning, what drug would a clever person ask about in small repeated doses?

   • Morphine
   • Bromide
   • Whiskey
   • Correct answer: Croton oil

   Trying to think like a clever investigator, Kate imagines asking what would happen if you gave croton oil to a person, then what would happen if you gave little doses and kept it up a long time.

   Read the passage
8. 8

   Question 8. Why does Kate reject the idea of a secret door in the lean-to?

   • She plans to sell the house and go to New York
   • Joe tells her the carpenter cannot be trusted
   • Correct answer: If she could get out, something could get in
   • The light would still trouble her eyes

   A feeling rather than a thought throws out the plan. If she had an avenue of escape, the presence crouching outside the walls could use the same door to get in.

   Read the passage
9. 9

   Question 9. Which of these events actually occur during Ethel's visit and the next morning?

   • Kate offers Ethel four tens, then six more tens, and says she will send money.

     Happened

     Kate first hands Ethel four ten-dollar bills, then counts out six more, and promises the monthly money: "I’ll send it to you."

   • Ethel takes the smashed bottles to a doctor to have them analyzed.

     Didn't happen

     Ethel says, "Oh, I didn’t do nothing like that," and explains that she put the broken glass in an envelope and stuck it away.

   • Ethel refuses to sleep at the house and says the envelope is with a friend.

     Happened

     Ethel turns down Kate's offer of a bed and meals at the house and says she left the envelope with a friend.

   • The judge agrees to see Ethel alone after she calls the arrest a frame.

     Didn't happen

     When Ethel says the arrest is a frame, the judge answers, "Everything’s a frame," and calls the next case.

   Read the passage
10. 10

    Question 10. Which of these happen in Kate's later fear and withdrawal?

    • Kate has a secret door built so she can escape the lean-to unseen.

      Didn't happen

      Kate only considers a secret door; a feeling rather than a thought throws out the plan, because if she could get out, something could get in.

    • Kate takes a heavy dose of bromide after working through the buried-bottle thought.

      Happened

      After she works out what a clever person might make of the buried bottles, Kate gets up from her bed and takes a heavy dose of bromide.

    • Kate has the lean-to built and painted gray, saying the light troubles her eyes.

      Happened

      She builds the lean-to and has it painted gray, says it is because the light troubles her eyes, and gradually comes to believe it.

    • Kate sells the house at once and boards a train for New York.

      Didn't happen

      Kate thinks she should go to New York without bothering to sell the house, but she stays and spends more and more time in her gray room.

    Read the passage
11. 11

    Question 11. What does 'doggedly' mean as used in: 'She continued doggedly'?

    • Sleepily, as if still dreaming
    • Angrily, looking for a fight
    • Correct answer: Stubbornly, refusing to stop
    • Cheerfully, as if sharing a joke

    Ethel keeps telling the dream even after Kate's face stays cold and expressionless. Doggedly means she pushes on and will not drop it.

    Read the passage
12. 12

    Question 12. What does 'listless' mean as used in: 'It was a slow, listless night—a Tuesday night'?

    • Correct answer: Lacking energy or liveliness
    • Officially closed to customers
    • Bright with extra lamps
    • Crowded and noisy

    Listless describes a dull, low-energy night at the house, so slow there are not even enough customers to put on the circus.

    Read the passage
13. 13

    Question 13. What does 'bromide' mean as used in: 'Kate got up from her bed and took a heavy dose of bromide'?

    • A tonic taken to restore her strength
    • A painkiller for her twisting hands
    • A stimulant to keep her touring the house
    • Correct answer: A sedative taken to calm her nerves

    Bromide is a sedative. Kate takes it after the crouching fear starts, and the chapter ends with the gentle weight of bromide on her eyes.

    Read the passage