East of Eden, Chapter 43 quiz

Questions and answers

1. 1

   Question 1. How does Adam first learn that Aron will take the college examinations a year early?

   • Mr. Rolf writes Adam a note from the church rectory
   • Aron announces the plan at the dinner table that night
   • Correct answer: Mr. Kilkenny from the high school assumes Adam already knows
   • Cal boasts about his brother's extra studying at home

   Adam meets Mr. Kilkenny, who thinks Adam knows. Aron has covered the next year's work and will sit the exams to save a year.

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2. 2

   Question 2. What present does Adam, on Lee's suggestion, plan to have ready for Aron's announcement?

   • A tuition check for college
   • Correct answer: An engraved gold watch
   • A new broadcloth suit
   • A case of champagne

   Lee names a gold watch. Adam says he will get one and have it engraved, and he keeps it wound under his handkerchiefs, ready for the day Aron speaks.

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3. 3

   Question 3. What does Aron tell Mr. Rolf he sometimes wants from the church?

   • Permission to tell Adam about the exams that same night
   • A chance to preach against the war from the pulpit
   • A louder choir, new vestments, and a higher salary
   • Correct answer: Orders like the Augustines or Franciscans, a place to withdraw

   Aron wishes for a monastic withdrawal because he feels dirty and wants to be clean. Mr. Rolf refuses and insists priests must stay in the world.

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4. 4

   Question 4. Where does the veiled woman sit during evening service?

   • Correct answer: In the last row on the left-hand side
   • In the balcony above the organ
   • In Mr. Rolf's own chair at the rectory
   • In the front pew beside the choir

   Mr. Rolf says she has come for five weeks, always in the last row on the left, off at an angle, and always gone before he can get back after the recessional.

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5. 5

   Question 5. Who first tells Adam that Aron has already passed the examinations?

   • Aron, speaking to Adam's face in the mirror
   • Lee, while putting the turkey in the oven
   • Mr. Kilkenny, stopping by the house
   • Correct answer: Cal, who thinks there is no secret to keep

   Aron only mentions dinner at the rectory. Cal, smelling his cologne and assuming celebration, tells Adam that Aron passed. Adam then pretends he already knew.

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6. 6

   Question 6. What does Cal intend to do when Lee finds him on the lowest porch step?

   • Walk Lee to the post office with a letter
   • Correct answer: Beat Aron when his brother comes home
   • Give Aron the gold watch himself
   • Apologize to Aron for telling Adam

   Cal says he is going to beat the hell out of Aron. Lee talks him off it, warning that Aron would slaughter him, and they walk toward the post office instead.

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7. 7

   Question 7. What advice of Sam Hamilton's does Lee pass on to Aron?

   • Correct answer: Go through the motions; pretend it is true and maybe it will be
   • Never mention ambition or the exams in front of Cal again
   • Leave Salinas before the European war can reach the town
   • Save a year now and get out of town to college at once

   Lee tells Aron to go through the motions, as Sam Hamilton said, then to get up early and make the exam news exciting for lonely Adam.

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8. 8

   Question 8. Which of these events actually occur in Chapter 43?

   • Adam learns of Aron's accelerated exams when he meets Mr. Kilkenny from the high school.

     Happened

     Adam tells Lee he met Mr. Kilkenny from the high school, who thought Adam knew all about it, and learned that Aron has covered next year's work to save a year.

   • Mr. Rolf tells Aron that a Salinas madam has been coming to evening service for five weeks.

     Happened

     Mr. Rolf says a veiled woman has come to evening service for the last five weeks, and his discreet inquiries show she owns a house of ill fame in Salinas.

   • Aron wakes Adam that same night and tells him he passed the examinations.

     Didn't happen

     Lee asks Aron to wake his father and tell him, but Aron refuses; Lee sends him to bed to tell Adam about the tests early in the morning instead.

   • Lee names a gold watch as the present Adam should have ready.

     Happened

     When Adam says they ought to have a present for Aron, Lee answers, "A gold watch," and Adam decides to buy one.

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9. 9

   Question 9. Which of these events actually occur the evening Aron comes home after passing?

   • Cal tells Adam that Aron passed, then catches Adam lying that he already knew.

     Happened

     Cal takes Aron's night out for a celebration of the exams and says he passed; when Adam claims Aron told him that morning, Cal answers that Aron did not know that morning.

   • Lee finds Cal on the porch ready to beat Aron and talks him into walking to the post office.

     Happened

     Lee finds Cal on the lowest porch step planning to beat Aron, warns him that Aron would slaughter him, and Cal walks along with him to the post office.

   • Lee punches Aron in the face to make him sit down on the steps.

     Didn't happen

     Lee only stands in front of Aron with his tiny fists doubled ineffectually; Aron nervously backs away and sits down on the steps, and no blow is struck.

   • The veiled woman knocks on the rectory door and asks Mr. Rolf for salvation.

     Didn't happen

     Mr. Rolf only predicts that one day she will tap on his door and beg to come in; the chapter never shows it happen.

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10. 10

    Question 10. What does "immaculate" mean as used in: "He was immaculate."

    • Tired from walking
    • Angry without showing it
    • Correct answer: Perfectly clean and neat
    • Secretly ambitious

    Lee's American conservative clothes are described as immaculate: black broadcloth, stiff collar, and an uncrushed hat, without a stain or wrinkle.

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11. 11

    Question 11. What does "conducive" mean as used in: "in an atmosphere not conducive to hard clean thought"?

    • Correct answer: Tending to produce or allow a result
    • Strictly forbidden by church law
    • Able to carry heat or an electric current
    • Hidden from the rest of the family

    Mr. Rolf understands that the Trask house is not an atmosphere that helps hard, clean study, so he gives Aron a room in the rectory.

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12. 12

    Question 12. What does "ineffectually" mean as used in: "his tiny fists doubled ineffectually"?

    • Secretly and with careful, practiced aim
    • Quickly, before anyone nearby can answer
    • Loudly enough to wake the sleeping house
    • Correct answer: In a way that produces no real force

    Lee's tiny fists and silly stance cannot actually hurt Aron; the threatened fight works only because it is embarrassing, not because it is strong.

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