East of Eden, Chapter 52 quiz

Questions and answers

1. 1

   Question 1. What does Adam believe is wrong with his numb left hand?

   • A kitchen burn from helping Lee stew fruit
   • A sprain from trying to tie his own shoes
   • Numbness Lee has already named out loud
   • Correct answer: Poor circulation he can rub back with heat

   Adam sits rubbing the back of his left hand, brushes it, soaks it in hot water, and says it is circulation. Lee does not agree that the trouble is so simple.

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2. 2

   Question 2. Why does Lee refuse to have Adam's eyes tested right away?

   • Correct answer: He doubts it is the eyes and fears a test
   • Cal has forbidden any doctor to enter the house
   • Adam must first write a letter to Aron himself
   • He already ordered glasses without telling Adam

   Lee shuts the kitchen door and says he does not think it is the eyes. Finding out might trouble Adam after a bad shock; Lee would rather keep reading to him.

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3. 3

   Question 3. How does Cal get in front of Abra after school?

   • He waits on the school steps with her books
   • He follows her home and knocks at her front door
   • Correct answer: He runs around the block and meets her in front
   • He calls to her from across the street after class

   Cal tries all day to find her alone, then runs along a parallel street and times his turn so he meets her as she strolls home.

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4. 4

   Question 4. What does Aron's penny postcard tell Abra not to do?

   • Tell Lee that he has enlisted
   • Correct answer: Go anywhere near his father
   • Show the postcard around school
   • Write to him from the training camp

   Besides saying he does not feel clean and is not fit for her, Aron writes that she should not go near his father. Cal curses him under his breath.

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5. 5

   Question 5. Why had Abra been walking away from Cal at school?

   • Lee told her not to visit the Trasks
   • Correct answer: She would not talk while he looked mad
   • Aron had ordered her not to speak
   • Her mother wanted her to come straight home

   She says she saw it in his face and the way he walked. Once he is not mad, she smiles and lets him take her books.

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6. 6

   Question 6. Why does Abra say she stopped loving Aron?

   • Her mother forbade her to see him
   • He had asked her to wait out the war
   • Correct answer: Their childhood story was no longer true
   • Cal demanded that she choose a brother

   She says they lived in a story they made up as children. When she grew up the story was not enough; Aron wanted it to come out his way even if he had to tear the world up by the roots.

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7. 7

   Question 7. Where does Abra keep the few letters she owns?

   • In a hatbox on her closet shelf
   • In a locked drawer of her bureau
   • Under the mattress in her room
   • Correct answer: In Grant's memoirs in the sitting room

   She has no private object in her room. The letters are filed in the sitting room among the pages of the two-volume Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant, which, as far as she knows, nobody else has ever opened.

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8. 8

   Question 8. What does Abra believe about her father's supposed illness?

   • Correct answer: He is hiding from something and is not ill.
   • He has the same eye trouble Adam has.
   • Judge Knudsen has already sent him to the hospital.
   • The doctor is right that war work collapsed him.

   She knows certain things without question: her father is not ill but hiding, while Adam, whom she has seen in the street, truly is ill.

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9. 9

   Question 9. Which of these events actually occur in Chapter 52?

   • Adam is given a leave of absence from the draft board for ill health.

     Happened

     He does not have to resign from the draft board; he is given a leave of absence for ill health.

   • Lee tells Cal to confess Thanksgiving night to Adam immediately.

     Didn't happen

     When Cal offers to tell his father what he did, Lee says, "No, Cal. Not now." He adds that Cal will have to tell him once Adam gets well.

   • Lee is stewing apricots when Cal asks about Adam's eyes.

     Happened

     Cal finds Lee stewing apricots in the kitchen; Lee closes the kitchen door before saying he does not want Adam to go.

   • Cal throws Abra down on the sidewalk to make her talk.

     Didn't happen

     Cal only tells Lee that he could throw her down and make her talk to him, then adds, "But I won't."

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10. 10

    Question 10. Which of these happen during Abra's walk with Cal or at her house?

    • Abra shows Cal a penny postcard from Aron in her binder.

      Happened

      Abra tells Cal to open her binder and look next to the first page, where he finds Aron's penny postcard.

    • Abra says she has never heard anything about Cal's mother.

      Didn't happen

      Abra says she has known about his mother "for a long, long time" because she heard her parents talking when they thought she was asleep.

    • Abra burns Aron's letters in the incinerator of the gas stove.

      Happened

      While her mother carries the steaming bouillon upstairs, Abra opens the incinerator end of the gas stove and burns Aron's letters.

    • Abra's father comes downstairs and takes Judge Knudsen's call.

      Didn't happen

      Abra's father stays in his room; her mother answers the telephone and tells Judge Knudsen it is doctor's orders that no one see him.

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11. 11

    Question 11. What does 'mutinous' mean as used in: 'Many units of the French army were mutinous.'?

    • Eager to attack without waiting
    • Correct answer: Refusing to obey orders; rebellious
    • Newly equipped for a long campaign
    • Too tired to march another mile

    Mutinous describes soldiers who will not obey. Steinbeck uses it of French units in the dark winter of 1917-1918, when the war looks hopeless.

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12. 12

    Question 12. What does 'self-indulgence' mean as used in: 'That can be the cheapest kind of self-indulgence.'?

    • Strict self-denial after a crime
    • A formal apology offered in public
    • Correct answer: Giving in to one's own feelings or wants
    • Kind tolerance shown toward another person's faults

    Self-indulgence means giving in to your own feelings or wishes. Lee uses it when Cal says, "Maybe I deserve to be killed"; Lee wants Cal to open up instead, since he cannot carry this alone.

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13. 13

    Question 13. What does 'diligently' mean as used in: 'her shoes standing diligently side by side'?

    • Correct answer: With careful, dutiful, steady order
    • In a crooked, neglected heap
    • With grudging, slow, unwilling effort
    • With proud, showy, boastful display

    The adverb makes the shoes look dutiful, like the rest of Abra's mother-managed room. Even the footwear stands at attention.

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