East of Eden, Chapter 42 quiz

Questions and answers

1. 1

   Question 1. At the start of Chapter 42, how does Salinas imagine American fighting power?

   • Only West Point officers are thought fit to face German troops.
   • The town believes the navy alone can sink the Kaiser's fleet within a month.
   • The town expects to lose quickly and hopes only to hold the coast.
   • Correct answer: Every American is a rifleman by birth, worth ten or twenty foreigners.

   The narrator says every American was a rifleman by birth and one American was worth ten or twenty foreigners in a fight. That boast is the myth the chapter then dismantles.

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2. 2

   Question 2. Which episode first punctures Salinas's martial myths?

   • Wilson's speech from a balcony on Main Street
   • Correct answer: Pershing's expedition into Mexico after Villa
   • The sinking of a troopship in the harbor at Monterey
   • A German raid on the Southern Pacific Depot

   Troop C comes wearily back from the border and reports that Mexicans could shoot straight and that Villa's horsemen outlasted the town boys. The Mexico campaign is the rehearsal for later disillusionment about Germany.

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3. 3

   Question 3. What does the narrator name as Mexico's ally against the local boys?

   • Correct answer: Dysentery, the Mexicans' ally on the border
   • A sandstorm blowing across the border
   • Influenza spreading through the border barracks
   • A shortage of rifles and ammunition

   When the Mexicans were joined by their ally, dysentery, it was godawful, and some of the town boys did not feel good again for years.

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4. 4

   Question 4. How do the narrator and his friends first watch the European war?

   • Through letters from British purchasing agents in town
   • From the roof of the high school during drills
   • Correct answer: As if from bleacher seats, sure someone else will be killed
   • By tracking casualty lists posted at the depot each morning

   The war is for other people at first: the narrator, his family, and his friends have kind of bleacher seats, it is pretty exciting, and they take it for granted that someone else always gets killed, until the dreadful telegrams begin to arrive.

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5. 5

   Question 5. Who teaches the high-school boys the manual of arms?

   • Correct answer: The physics teacher at the high school
   • A visiting British army sergeant
   • The uncle who rewrites speeches to sell bonds
   • Black Jack Pershing, stopped in Salinas

   High-school students wear olive drab and campaign hats and learn the manual of arms from the physics teacher. The chapter never brings in an army drillmaster.

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6. 6

   Question 6. Where do the draftees march, and who plays for them?

   • Out the county road to the fairgrounds, with Liberty Belles singing
   • Across the railroad bridge to the high school, with no music at all
   • From the poolrooms to the courthouse, with a church choir behind them
   • Correct answer: Down Main Street to the Southern Pacific Depot, with the Salinas Band ahead

   Gangling boys with suitcases march awkwardly down Main Street to the Southern Pacific Depot. The Salinas Band goes ahead, and the patriotic music sounds like a dirge.

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7. 7

   Question 7. What happens to the price of beans once British buyers are in the country?

   • The government freezes the price so farmers cannot sell.
   • Correct answer: Beans are twelve and a half cents a pound and hard to find.
   • Only the British are allowed to eat beans, and locals go without.
   • Beans fall to two cents a pound and flood the stores.

   British purchasing men buy beans because they travel and do not spoil. Beans stand at twelve and a half cents a pound, and farmers wish they had not contracted their crop six months earlier for two cents above the going price.

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8. 8

   Question 8. What simile closes the chapter's account of the nation's mood?

   • A rifleman who reaches the front lines and finds his gun is unloaded
   • A flock of frightened sheep driven in rain toward the depot
   • Correct answer: A tough, inexperienced boy punched in the nose in the first flurry
   • A Liberty Belle whose white sharkskin parade uniform is torn

   The narrator compares the country to a tough but inexperienced little boy who gets punched in the nose in the first flurry. It hurts, and they wish the fight were over.

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9. 9

   Question 9. Which of these events actually occur in Chapter 42?

   • Troop C comes home saying Mexicans could shoot straight.

     Happened

     When Troop C came wearily back from the border, its men said Mexicans could shoot straight and that Villa's horsemen had outridden and outlasted the town boys.

   • After Mexico, Salinas permanently drops the boast that one American is worth twenty Germans.

     Didn't happen

     The myth breaks only for a little while: Salinas does not connect Germans with Mexicans and goes right back to saying one American is as good as twenty Germans.

   • Some local boys do not feel good again for years after dysentery on the border.

     Happened

     When the Mexicans were joined by their ally, dysentery, it was godawful, and some of the town's boys did not really feel good again for years.

   • Pershing's expedition is presented as a clean American triumph.

     Didn't happen

     The expedition explodes a myth instead: Villa's horsemen outride and outlast the town boys, and the Mexicans seem to outthink and outambush Pershing.

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10. 10

    Question 10. Which of these home-front details actually appear in Chapter 42?

    • Draftees marching to the depot will not look at their mothers.

      Happened

      As the draftees march down Main Street to the Southern Pacific Depot with their families crying beside them, they will not look at their mothers; they do not dare.

    • Farmers are glad they locked in bean contracts six months earlier.

      Didn't happen

      The opposite: with beans at twelve and a half cents a pound, farmers wish they had not contracted their beans six months earlier for two cents a pound above the going price.

    • British purchasing agents, many of them crippled, buy beans at a high wartime price.

      Happened

      A good many of the British purchasing men are crippled but still wear their uniforms, and among other things they buy beans, paying big, while beans stand at twelve and a half cents a pound.

    • The physics teacher is replaced by an army sergeant for drill.

      Didn't happen

      The high-school students learn the manual of arms from the physics teacher; no army sergeant appears in the chapter.

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11. 11

    Question 11. What does 'dirge' mean as used in: 'and the families walking along beside them were crying, and the music sounded like a dirge'?

    • A bugle call that orders troops to halt
    • A victory hymn, or music that sounds like celebration
    • A lively marching tune meant to keep step
    • Correct answer: A funeral song, or music that sounds like mourning

    A dirge is music of mourning. The Salinas Band is still playing a patriotic march, but beside crying families it sounds like a funeral song.

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12. 12

    Question 12. What does 'carrion' mean as used in: 'And usually these carrion talkers were the same ones who had said one American was worth twenty Germans in a scrap'?

    • Official, well-informed, and careful with facts
    • Comic and harmless, meant only to raise a laugh
    • Correct answer: Like scavengers feeding on rotting flesh; ghoulish
    • Patriotic and eager to volunteer for the draft

    Carrion is rotting flesh. Calling the rumor-spreaders carrion talkers paints them as scavengers on panic, and the narrator notes they are the former boastful patriots.

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13. 13

    Question 13. What does 'outambushed' mean as used in: 'the Mexicans seemed to have outthought and outambushed Black Jack Pershing'?

    • Attacked openly instead of hiding to lie in wait
    • Correct answer: Laid ambushes more effectively than Pershing's side did
    • Fell into more ambushes than Pershing's side did
    • Moved out of an ambush before it could be sprung

    Outambushed is built like outthought just before it: the Mexicans seemed not only to think ahead of Pershing but to lay ambushes for his forces more successfully than his side laid them.

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