East of Eden, Chapter 41 quiz

Questions and answers

1. 1

   Question 1. Why does Aron want to get out of town in this chapter?

   • Cal has told him the truth about their mother
   • Abra has ended the engagement and left Salinas
   • Correct answer: People still mock the family as Lettuce-heads
   • Adam has ordered him to sit the entrance exams

   Aron says people still call them Lettuce-heads and laugh at him for a lettuce scheme that was not his. He wants never to come back.

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2. 2

   Question 2. If the principal thinks Aron can finish early, what does Cal ask him not to do?

   • Correct answer: Tell Adam until he can present a finished surprise
   • Tell Abra he means to leave Salinas for good
   • Ask the Reverend Rolf for extra tutoring help
   • Walk Abra home from school in the afternoons

   Cal wants Aron to keep the plan from Adam so that Aron can walk in and announce he has already done it. Aron finds the secrecy silly.

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3. 3

   Question 3. What does Lee say when he follows Cal to the front door?

   • He wants a share of any future ranch profits now
   • Correct answer: He has five thousand dollars if Cal ever needs it
   • He forbids Cal from going down to the ranch alone
   • He will tell Adam about Cal's secret college scheme

   Lee is left out of Cal's errand, asks if Cal is worried, and offers five thousand dollars if he ever needs it. Cal does not explain why he would.

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4. 4

   Question 4. How much money does Cal tell Will he wants to make?

   • Five or ten thousand dollars
   • Forty or fifty thousand dollars
   • Seventy or eighty thousand dollars
   • Correct answer: Twenty or thirty thousand dollars

   Cal names twenty or thirty thousand dollars, then explains that he wants to make enough money to give Adam back what he lost on the lettuce. Five thousand is the later partnership stake, not the target.

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5. 5

   Question 5. What does Cal admit the restored money would be?

   • Will's idea of a fair finder's fee
   • Correct answer: An attempt to buy his father's love
   • Proof that he is now a good son
   • A loan Adam asked him to recover

   Will asks whether it would cross Cal's mind that he was trying to buy Adam's love. Cal says yes, and that it would be true.

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6. 6

   Question 6. Who is Rantani in this chapter?

   • Will's partner in the automobile garage
   • The British purchasing agent in Salinas
   • Correct answer: Adam's Swiss Italian tenant on the ranch
   • The high-school principal Aron must see

   Will names Rantani as Adam's tenant, a Swiss Italian and a good farmer with nearly five hundred acres under cultivation. They drive out to talk him into planting beans.

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7. 7

   Question 7. How is the bean plan supposed to make money?

   • Correct answer: Guarantee five cents, then sell at ten cents or more
   • Buy the crop at eight cents and hold it at five cents
   • Loan Rantani three cents against a ten-cent market
   • Pay farmers ten cents now and sell locally at three

   Current Salinas prices are about three to three and a half cents a pound. Will would guarantee farmers five cents plus a seed loan and sell ahead at ten cents or more.

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8. 8

   Question 8. What about Cal's manner most wins Will over in the garage office?

   • Cal pretends he wants only farming advice
   • Cal offers Will a share of Adam's ranch land
   • Cal brings Aron along in order to impress him
   • Correct answer: Cal asks frankly how to make a lot of money

   Will approves even more when Cal uses candor as a weapon and asks, straight out, how to make a lot of money. The later stripped answers about love and badness seal it.

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9. 9

   Question 9. Which of these events actually occur in Chapter 41?

   • Lee offers Cal five thousand dollars if he ever needs it.

     Happened

     Lee, left out of Cal's errand, says, "I’ve got five thousand dollars if you ever need it," and when Cal asks why he would need it, Lee answers, "I don’t know."

   • Cal tells Aron he will help through college if Aron passes a year early.

     Happened

     On the walk to school Cal promises that if Aron knuckles down and passes the examinations a year early, he will help him through college.

   • Cal tells Will who is lending him the five thousand dollars.

     Didn't happen

     When Will asks where he will get the money, Cal answers, "I won’t tell you, sir."

   • Cal reveals their mother's identity to Aron on the walk to school.

     Didn't happen

     Cal only has a violent urge to shout that he knows who their mother is; he does not say it.

   Read the passage
10. 10

    Question 10. Which of these events actually occur during Cal's Saturday with Will?

    • Will wants a partner with money and asks how soon Cal can get five thousand dollars.

      Happened

      Will asks Cal to be partners but will not take a partner without money; Cal says he can get five thousand dollars, and Will asks how soon.

    • They drive toward the old Trask place to talk to Rantani.

      Happened

      Will asks if Cal would like to go up to the old place and talk to Rantani, and the Winton turns into the side road to the Trask place.

    • Will lends Cal the five thousand dollars at interest.

      Didn't happen

      Will says he could lend Cal the money but there is only trouble in that; Cal says he can get it, borrowed at no interest, from someone he will not name.

    • Adam agrees on the spot to let Cal take over the ranch.

      Didn't happen

      Adam is not part of Cal's Saturday with Will; when Cal asked after supper to farm the ranch, Adam said the lease had more than a year to run and "Well, we’ll see."

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11. 11

    Question 11. What does candor mean in: "He used candor as a weapon."?

    • A legal claim on another person's land
    • Silent patience while waiting for a chance
    • Careful flattery meant to soothe a listener
    • Correct answer: Frank, unguarded honesty in how one speaks

    Candor is frankness. Cal deploys it as a weapon by asking Will how to make money and then answering the ugliest questions without disguise.

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12. 12

    Question 12. What does doltish mean in: "He thought of himself as slow, doltish, conservative, uninspired."?

    • Bitter toward anyone who has more money than he
    • Proud of being the only practical one in the family
    • Correct answer: Stupid or slow-witted next to gifted people
    • Restless and eager to leave a small town behind

    Doltish means stupid or slow-witted. Will measures himself against the Hamiltons' gifts and concludes that money and bookkeeping were all he had.

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13. 13

    Question 13. What does nakedly mean in: "Will had never met anyone who spoke so nakedly."?

    • Correct answer: Without disguise or covering of any kind
    • In the formal tone of a business contract
    • In a whisper meant to stay off the record
    • With jokes that hide what the speaker feels

    Nakedly here means without disguise. Cal's stripped answers about loving his father and thinking bad bring Will near to embarrassment, and Will knows how safe Cal is in his stripped honesty.

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