East of Eden, Chapter 46 quiz

Questions and answers

1. 1

   Question 1. What is Mr. Fenchel's work and where is his shop?

   • He clerks at the Troop C armory
   • He keeps a grocery on Main Street
   • Correct answer: He does hand tailoring on Alisal Street
   • He runs a small bakery on Central Avenue

   For about twenty years Mr. Fenchel has done hand tailoring in a little shop on Alisal Street. His house, not the shop, is far out on Central Avenue.

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2. 2

   Question 2. What do the narrator and his sister say when Mr. Fenchel greets them?

   • Correct answer: They say Hoch der Kaiser! in unison
   • They tell him to buy more war bonds
   • They wish him luck with the Home Guard
   • They ask why he stopped painting his fence

   Standing stiffly in the gutter, they answer his friendly greeting in unison with Hoch der Kaiser! He begins to cry and does not pretend otherwise.

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3. 3

   Question 3. What do the thirty men do on the Saturday-night march?

   • They tar and feather Fenchel in a bar
   • Correct answer: They wreck his fence and burn the house front
   • They burn his Alisal Street tailor shop
   • They force Fenchel to enlist in the army

   They march out Central Avenue, tear down the white picket fence, and burn the front out of his house. The shop is not burned; it sits idle because nobody wants a suit made by an enemy. Watsonville, not Salinas, tars and feathers a man.

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4. 4

   Question 4. What is the wartime rule for buying white flour in town?

   • Only Home Guard families may purchase white flour
   • White and brown flour must be bought in equal amounts
   • White flour is banned outright for everyone
   • Correct answer: Buyers must take four times as much brown flour

   White flour can no longer be bought without taking four times the quantity of brown flour. People who can afford it eat the white and feed the brown to chickens.

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5. 5

   Question 5. What happens to William C. Burt in this chapter?

   • He is tarred and feathered in Watsonville
   • He gives a one-minute speech in a theater
   • Correct answer: He dies doing a push-up on the armory floor
   • He leads the thirty men against Fenchel's house

   Burt is one of the older Home Guard men drilling in the old Troop C armory. He dies on the floor in the middle of a push-up because his heart cannot take it.

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6. 6

   Question 6. Why will the Home Guard not accept Mr. Fenchel?

   • He cannot drill while sitting at his table
   • He is under the Home Guard age of fifty
   • He will not spend money on war bonds
   • Correct answer: They fear a spy would learn defense plans

   The Home Guard will not take him in because they do not want a spy knowing their secret plans for defending Salinas. His war-bond purchases do not change their minds.

   Read the passage
7. 7

   Question 7. What British fashion does the town resist for a long time?

   • Correct answer: Wristwatches, dismissed as too silly
   • Sam Browne belts for officers
   • Handkerchiefs worn in the sleeves
   • Swagger sticks for lieutenants

   Americans copy Sam Browne belts, sleeve handkerchiefs, and swagger sticks from the British, but wristwatches strike them as too silly to adopt.

   Read the passage
8. 8

   Question 8. After the attack on Fenchel, what does Watsonville do?

   • It holds a bond drive for German neighbors
   • Correct answer: It tars and feathers a Pole thought to be German
   • It sends its Home Guard to drill in Salinas
   • It burns the front out of the Journal office

   Civic rivalry moves down the road: Watsonville tars and feathers a Pole the crowd takes for a German because he has an accent.

   Read the passage
9. 9

   Question 9. Which of these events actually occur in Chapter 46?

   • Mr. Fenchel bankrupts himself buying war bonds.

     Happened

     The narrator says it did Mr. Fenchel no good to bankrupt himself buying war bonds, because the town called that too easy a cover.

   • A crowd burns Mr. Fenchel's tailor shop on Alisal Street.

     Didn't happen

     The thirty men tear down his white picket fence and burn the front out of his house on Central Avenue; nothing in the chapter burns his shop.

   • The narrator and Mary greet Mr. Fenchel with Hoch der Kaiser!

     Happened

     When Mr. Fenchel wishes them good evening, the narrator and his sister Mary stand stiffly and say "Hoch der Kaiser!" in unison, and he begins to cry.

   • The Home Guard accepts Mr. Fenchel after he volunteers.

     Didn't happen

     The Home Guard will not take him in, because they do not want a spy knowing their secret plans for defending Salinas.

   • Quiet ladies claw one another over a can of tomatoes.

     Happened

     Among the wartime changes in Salinas, the narrator says that nice quiet ladies clawed one another over a can of tomatoes.

   • William C. Burt dies during a Home Guard push-up.

     Happened

     In the old Troop C armory, where the Home Guard drills, William C. Burt dies in the middle of a push-up because his heart cannot take it.

   Read the passage
10. 10

    Question 10. What does 'intransigent' mean as used in: 'there were many people who blamed the strange intransigent weather on the firing of the great guns in France'?

    • Carefully planned in advance
    • Brief and quickly forgotten
    • Correct answer: Unwilling to change or yield
    • Unusually warm and humid

    Intransigent means stubbornly unyielding. The wartime weather is treated as if it, like the war, will not give way, and people blame the guns in France.

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11. 11

    Question 11. What does 'foppish' mean as used in: 'some foppish lieutenants carried swagger sticks'?

    • Strict about following military rules
    • Cowardly when under enemy fire
    • Newly arrived from basic training
    • Correct answer: Overly concerned with stylish display

    Foppish means dandified or overly stylish. The swagger sticks are part of the British manners some American officers copy.

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12. 12

    Question 12. What does 'obliquely' mean as used in: 'Everybody had a secret that he had to spread obliquely to keep its identity as a secret'?

    • Loudly and in public meetings
    • Correct answer: Indirectly, so it still seems hidden
    • Reluctantly, as though under pressure
    • Carelessly, without thinking who hears

    Obliquely means indirectly. People gossip sideways so the rumor can travel while still pretending to be a secret.

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