Jane Eyre, Chapter VII quiz

Questions and answers

1. 1

   Question 1. What physical affliction do the Lowood girls suffer during winter?

   • Scarlet fever and sore throats
   • Typhus fever from unhealthy conditions
   • Correct answer: Chilblains on their hands and feet
   • Broken bones from slipping on icy roads

   Jane describes how their "ungloved hands became numbed and covered with chilblains, as were our feet" due to lack of boots and gloves in the severe cold.

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2. 2

   Question 2. How far do the girls walk to attend church on Sundays?

   • One mile
   • Correct answer: Two miles
   • Five miles
   • Half a mile

   Jane states they "had to walk two miles to Brocklebridge Church, where our patron officiated."

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3. 3

   Question 3. Why does Miss Temple provide bread and cheese to the students?

   • Because Mr. Brocklehurst officially added a lunch to the regulations
   • To reward the pupils' endurance on the exhausting walk to church
   • To provide an additional treat, like the Sunday ration of buttered bread
   • Correct answer: Because the breakfast porridge was so badly prepared the girls could not eat it

   Miss Temple explains to Brocklehurst: "the breakfast was so ill prepared that the pupils could not possibly eat it; and I dared not allow them to remain fasting till dinner-time."

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4. 4

   Question 4. What is Mr. Brocklehurst's objection to Julia Severn's hair?

   • Correct answer: It is curled, which he considers a vain defiance of the institution's rules
   • It is braided in elaborate plaits, which he considers a display of worldly vanity
   • It is too long, which he considers a waste of precious time
   • It is red, which he considers evidence of a passionate, wicked nature

   Brocklehurst is outraged that Julia has curled hair, demanding "why has she, or any other, curled hair?" even though Miss Temple explains "Julia's hair curls naturally."

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5. 5

   Question 5. How are Mr. Brocklehurst's wife and daughters dressed when they arrive?

   • Correct answer: In velvet, silk, and furs with elaborately curled hair
   • In black, resembling Mr. Brocklehurst's surtout
   • In modest calico with plain straw bonnets
   • In plain brown frocks just like the students'

   They were "splendidly attired in velvet, silk, and furs" with "grey beaver hats" shaded with ostrich plumes and "a profusion of light tresses, elaborately curled," contrasting sharply with Brocklehurst's demands for the students' austerity.

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6. 6

   Question 6. What causes Jane to be noticed by Mr. Brocklehurst?

   • She laughs aloud at the first class's grimaces
   • Correct answer: Her slate slips from her hand and crashes to the floor
   • Miss Temple identifies her as the new pupil from Gateshead
   • She is caught reading Rasselas instead of working her sum

   Jane had been hiding behind her slate, but "my treacherous slate somehow happened to slip from my hand, and falling with an obtrusive crash, directly drawn every eye upon me."

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7. 7

   Question 7. What does Mr. Brocklehurst order as Jane's punishment?

   • She must stand in the centre of the schoolroom until Miss Miller's sermon is finished
   • She must recopy her exercise and wear the untidy badge for the remainder of the week
   • She must eat only bread and water tomorrow and remain silent during meals
   • Correct answer: She must stand on a high stool for half an hour with no one speaking to her for the rest of the day

   Brocklehurst commands: "Let her stand half-an-hour longer on that stool, and let no one speak to her during the remainder of the day."

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8. 8

   Question 8. What biblical allusion does Jane use to comment on Brocklehurst's focus on the girls' outward appearance?

   • Man shall not live by bread alone (Matthew 4)
   • The pool of Bethesda and its healing waters (John 5)
   • Correct answer: The cleansing of the cup and platter (Matthew 23)
   • Eutychus falling from the third loft (Acts 20)

   Jane notes that "whatever he might do with the outside of the cup and platter, the inside was further beyond his interference than he imagined," alluding to Jesus's rebuke of the Pharisees in Matthew 23:25-26.

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9. 9

   Question 9. Which of these events actually happened in this chapter?

   • Miss Temple openly argues with Mr. Brocklehurst and refuses to follow his orders about the girls' hair.

     Didn't happen

     Miss Temple "seemed to remonstrate" but ultimately gave the order as instructed. She suppressed her disagreement, passing "her handkerchief over her lips, as if to smooth away the involuntary smile that curled them."

   • Helen Burns passes by Jane on the stool and gives her a look and smile that inspires courage.

     Happened

     Helen lifts her eyes to Jane with "a strange light" and later smiles at her -- a smile Jane calls "the effluence of fine intellect, of true courage" that was "like a reflection from the aspect of an angel."

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10. 10

    Question 10. What does the word "penurious" mean as used in the phrase "the same penurious proportion observed in our ordinary meals"?

    • Generous and plentiful
    • Correct answer: Extremely meager and stingy
    • Carefully measured and nutritious
    • Randomly selected and varied

    "Penurious" means extremely poor, meager, or stingy. Jane uses it to describe the scanty, inadequate portions of food the girls received.

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11. 11

    Question 11. What does "hebdomadal" mean in the sentence "it was the hebdomadal treat to which we all looked forward from Sabbath to Sabbath"?

    • Monthly
    • Daily
    • Correct answer: Weekly
    • Seasonal

    "Hebdomadal" means weekly, from the Greek hebdomas (seven). Jane is describing the once-a-week Sunday treat of a full slice of bread with butter.

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12. 12

    Question 12. In the sentence "too well I remembered the perfidious hints given by Mrs. Reed," what does "perfidious" mean?

    • Correct answer: Deceitful and treacherous
    • Vague and unclear
    • Loud and dramatic
    • Well-intentioned and helpful

    "Perfidious" means deliberately faithless and treacherous. Jane uses it to describe Mrs. Reed's deceptive characterization of her to Mr. Brocklehurst.

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