East of Eden, Chapter 6 quiz

Questions and answers

1. 1

   Question 1. What does Cyrus first offer Adam after asking why he re-enlisted?

   • Correct answer: To get him discharged so he can enter West Point
   • To secure him a sergeant's position in his old regiment
   • To arrange for Charles to join them in Washington
   • To pay for his journey home to the farm

   Cyrus says, "I can get you into West Point. I have influence," but Adam does not want to go, and when his father asks whether he is defying him, Adam answers, "Yes, sir."

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2. 2

   Question 2. What causes Charles's forehead scar?

   • He is thrown from his horse while patrolling the pastures
   • He is injured fighting a drunken stranger at the inn
   • A stone wall he is constructing collapses upon him
   • Correct answer: His crowbar slips while he is prying rocks from the soil

   Charles gashes his forehead when his crowbar slips while he is clearing rocks from the farmland, leaving a dark permanent scar.

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3. 3

   Question 3. What is significant about the appearance of Charles's scar?

   • It fades completely within a year
   • Correct answer: It is darker than the surrounding skin, unlike typical scars
   • It forms the shape of a cross on his forehead
   • It is hidden by his hairline and only visible up close

   Most scar tissue is lighter than the skin around it, but Charles's scar turns dark brown, perhaps because the bar forced iron rust under the skin; Charles writes that it looks as if he had been marked like a cow.

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4. 4

   Question 4. How does Charles reply once Adam finally writes about re-enlisting?

   • Angrily, demanding that Adam return and share the labor
   • Warmly and immediately, begging Adam to come home soon
   • Correct answer: Coolly, saying he had hardly expected Adam anyway
   • Not at all; Charles never writes to Adam again

   Charles waits until he has received four anxious letters, then replies coolly, "I didn't hardly expect you anyway," and goes on about the farm and animals.

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5. 5

   Question 5. What happens to the farmhouse while Charles lives alone?

   • He abandons it and lives permanently at the inn in town
   • It burns down in an accidental fire
   • Correct answer: It falls into increasing disrepair and filth
   • He rents rooms to boarders from town

   Charles rarely does more than sweep, so the house takes on "a gloomy, rustling decay"; after a hired woman scrubs it for Adam's expected return, Charles moves back in and lives "in a kind of savage filth."

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6. 6

   Question 6. Where does Adam go after his army discharge before re-enlisting?

   • Correct answer: He drifts to Niagara Falls and stays in a cheap boarding house
   • He travels west to California and finds employment on a ranch
   • He returns to the Connecticut farm for a brief visit with Charles
   • He travels to Washington to stay with Cyrus at his hotel

   After his discharge, Adam drifts to Niagara Falls, talks with a bartender, and stays in a cheap boarding house, knowing he cannot go home.

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7. 7

   Question 7. What best describes Adam's reason for re-enlisting in the army?

   • He receives a promotion that makes the position attractive
   • Correct answer: He has no other plan and cannot face returning home
   • Charles writes asking him not to come back to the farm
   • He hopes to rise to an officer's commission and a career

   Adam's re-enlistment is an act of avoidance — he chooses continued military misery over the harder task of confronting his family situation.

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8. 8

   Question 8. Which of the following events actually occur in Chapter 6?

   • Charles injures his forehead while clearing rocks from the farm.

     Happened

     Prying at a boulder with a long iron bar, Charles loses his temper; the bar slips and its upper end crashes against his forehead.

   • Adam is promoted to officer rank during his cavalry service.

     Didn't happen

     Adam tells the Secretary of War, "I was discharged a corporal, sir"; he never becomes an officer.

   • Charles writes Adam that the scar makes him feel marked.

     Happened

     Charles writes that the scar looks as if somebody had marked him like a cow and that people at the inn are always looking at it.

   • Adam visits Charles on the farm before re-enlisting.

     Didn't happen

     Adam does not go home: he drifts from Chicago to Buffalo to Niagara Falls, then re-enlists back in Chicago.

   • Charles lives alone on the farm after Cyrus moves to Washington.

     Happened

     The chapter opens with Charles living alone on the farm, after Adam has joined the army and Cyrus has moved to Washington.

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9. 9

   Question 9. Which of these descriptions of Charles's life alone are accurate?

   • The farmhouse becomes increasingly dirty and neglected.

     Happened

     Charles rarely does more than sweep; the curtains turn gray, the floors grow sticky, and the kitchen is lacquered with grease.

   • Charles hires farmhands to help with the heavy labor.

     Didn't happen

     Charles works the farm himself, and mightily, because he is lonely; the only help the chapter shows him hiring is a woman to clean the house.

   • Charles cycles through relationships with various women.

     Happened

     Charles begins to keep one slovenly woman after another and throws them out when they get on his nerves.

   • Charles sells part of the farm to pay off debts.

     Didn't happen

     Charles adds a hundred acres to the farm, which has never been so well run.

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10. 10

    Question 10. What does 'slovenly' mean as used to describe the women Charles keeps company with?

    • Extremely shy and withdrawn
    • Deeply religious and conservative
    • Elegant and refined in manner
    • Correct answer: Messy, untidy, and careless in habits

    Slovenly means messy and careless in appearance or habits, reflecting the low, transactional nature of Charles's relationships during his isolation.

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11. 11

    Question 11. What does "obsequious" mean in the context: "the obsequious respect of that officer"?

    • Hostile and openly disrespectful
    • Obscure; difficult to notice or see
    • Correct answer: Too eager to please or obey; fawning
    • Cold, formal and strictly by the regulations

    Obsequious means excessively eager to please or obey. Doors open straight to the Colonel for Cyrus, and the officer treats him with fawning respect.

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12. 12

    Question 12. What does "torpor" mean in the context: "went to bed and to sleep in the resulting torpor"?

    • Correct answer: A state of sluggish, heavy inactivity
    • A feeling of melancholy and loneliness
    • A restless, nervous wakefulness
    • An attack of indigestion and stomach pain

    Torpor is a state of sluggish, heavy inactivity. After gorging himself on fried food, Charles goes to bed and falls asleep in a dull stupor.

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