Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 39 quiz

Questions and answers

1. 1

   Question 1. Where do the three elder Bennet sisters meet Kitty and Lydia at the beginning of Chapter 39?

   • Correct answer: At an appointed inn in Hertfordshire, where Mr. Bennet's carriage has been sent to collect them
   • At the Gardiners' home on Gracechurch Street, where the entire Bennet family gathers for a farewell dinner
   • At Lucas Lodge, where Lady Lucas has organized a welcome-home celebration for all the returning travelers
   • At the gates of Longbourn, where the family carriage is waiting with Mr. and Mrs. Bennet inside

   Elizabeth, Jane, and Maria Lucas set out from Gracechurch Street and meet Kitty and Lydia at "the appointed inn where Mr. Bennet's carriage was to meet them." Kitty and Lydia have been waiting above an hour.

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2. 2

   Question 2. How have Kitty and Lydia been spending their time while waiting at the inn?

   • Writing letters to officers in the regiment and planning their social calendar for the coming fortnight
   • Correct answer: Visiting an opposite milliner, watching the sentinel on guard, and dressing a salad and cucumber
   • Reading novels in the upstairs sitting room and complaining to the innkeeper about the quality of service
   • Shopping for fabric to make new dresses and gossiping with the innkeeper's wife about local scandals

   They were "happily employed in visiting an opposite milliner, watching the sentinel on guard, and dressing a salad and cucumber." This trio of activities perfectly captures their frivolous, scattered interests.

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3. 3

   Question 3. What is ironic about Lydia's offer to "treat" her sisters at the inn?

   • She offers to pay for the meal but then pretends to forget her purse and lets Jane cover the entire bill
   • She orders the most expensive items on the menu while her sisters must eat the cold meat already laid out
   • She claims they should celebrate Elizabeth's engagement, though Elizabeth has no engagement to announce at all
   • Correct answer: She says they will treat everyone but immediately asks to borrow money because they have spent their own

   "And we mean to treat you all," Lydia says, "but you must lend us the money, for we have just spent ours at the shop out there." The irony of treating others with their own money encapsulates Lydia's oblivious self-centeredness.

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4. 4

   Question 4. What does Lydia plan to do with the bonnet she has purchased?

   • She intends to wear it to the next Meryton ball to impress the officers before the regiment departs for Brighton
   • She plans to give it as a gift to Mrs. Forster as a token of their close friendship and mutual affection
   • Correct answer: She will pull it to pieces as soon as she gets home and try to remake it with prettier-colored satin trim
   • She wants to exchange it at a London shop for a more fashionable design she saw in a ladies' magazine

   Lydia says: "I shall pull it to pieces as soon as I get home, and see if I can not make it up any better." She admits the bonnet is not very pretty but bought it anyway, showing her impulsive spending habits.

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5. 5

   Question 5. What is Lydia's "excellent news" about Wickham?

   • Correct answer: Mary King has gone to stay with her uncle at Liverpool permanently, so Wickham is free from that attachment
   • Wickham has received an inheritance from a distant relative that resolves all his financial difficulties entirely
   • Wickham has been promoted to a higher rank in the regiment and will be leading the march to Brighton
   • Wickham has proposed to one of the Harrington sisters, and the wedding is expected before the regiment moves

   Lydia announces that Mary King has "gone down to her uncle at Liverpool: gone to stay. Wickham is safe." She considers it wonderful news that Wickham is no longer in danger of marrying Mary King.

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6. 6

   Question 6. What does Elizabeth recognize about herself when Lydia calls Mary King a "nasty little freckled thing"?

   • She recognizes that she shares Lydia's jealousy of Mary King's fortune and has been hiding it behind false propriety
   • She admits she had secretly hoped Wickham would marry Mary King to resolve his financial troubles and leave Meryton
   • She realizes she has been equally harsh about Mary King in her letters to Charlotte and feels ashamed of her words
   • Correct answer: She acknowledges that while she could never use such coarse expression, the underlying sentiment was much the same as her own

   Elizabeth is "shocked to think that, however incapable of such coarseness of expression herself, the coarseness of the sentiment was little other than her own breast had harboured and fancied liberal." She sees her own bias reflected in Lydia's crude words.

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7. 7

   Question 7. Where is the militia regiment relocating, and when will they leave Meryton?

   • They are returning to their home county barracks in two months after their temporary posting at Meryton concludes
   • They are being stationed at a garrison in London within three weeks to prepare for an overseas deployment
   • Correct answer: They are going to be encamped near Brighton in a fortnight, prompting Lydia's scheme to follow them there
   • They are transferring to a northern camp in Yorkshire by the end of the month for extended field training

   Lydia reports "they are going to be encamped near Brighton; and I do so want papa to take us all there for the summer!" The regiment is departing in a fortnight (two weeks).

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8. 8

   Question 8. How does Elizabeth privately react to the news that the regiment is leaving Meryton?

   • She is indifferent to the news, having lost all interest in the officers, and thinks only of how much to tell Jane about Darcy
   • Correct answer: She finds the comfort of their approaching removal "beyond expression" and hopes to have no more trouble from Wickham
   • She is upset that Wickham may leave Meryton before she can face him with what she has learned of his conduct toward Darcy
   • She is sorry to hear it, since the monthly balls of Meryton will be very dull for the whole summer once the officers are gone

   "The comfort to her of the regiment's approaching removal was indeed beyond expression." Elizabeth dreads seeing Wickham again and is "resolved to avoid it as long as possible," hoping once gone, nothing more will plague her on his account.

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9. 9

   Question 9. What prank does Lydia describe from Colonel Forster's party?

   • They rearranged the place cards at dinner so that Wickham was seated beside the colonel's least favorite guest
   • They hid all the officers' hats and refused to return them until each man danced a jig for the company
   • Correct answer: They dressed up Chamberlayne in woman's clothes to pass for a lady, deceiving the men until laughter gave it away
   • They convinced Denny to serenade Mrs. Forster from the garden while pretending to be an anonymous admirer

   Lydia recounts how they "dressed up Chamberlayne in woman's clothes on purpose to pass for a lady." When Denny, Wickham, Pratt and others arrived, "they did not know him in the least" until the women's laughter gave it away.

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10. 10

    Question 10. What does Lydia say about Jane's age and marriage prospects during the carriage ride?

    • She tells Jane to write to Bingley in London and invite him back to Netherfield before some other lady catches him
    • She teases Jane about having secret admirers in London and demands every detail of the men she met at the Gardiners'
    • She says Jane is still young enough to wait for a better match, and that their aunt Phillips agrees there is no hurry
    • Correct answer: She declares Jane will be "quite an old maid soon" since she is "almost three-and-twenty" and still unmarried

    Lydia says: "Jane will be quite an old maid soon, I declare. She is almost three-and-twenty!" She also mentions their aunt Phillips's desire for them to find husbands and adds that "Lizzy had better have taken Mr. Collins."

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11. 11

    Question 11. What does Mr. Bennet voluntarily say to Elizabeth at dinner?

    • Correct answer: He tells her he is glad she is come back, a remark notable for its direct warmth from a typically ironic father
    • He announces that he has decided to take the family to Brighton for the summer as Lydia has been requesting
    • He apologizes for not having written to her during her stay at Hunsford and promises to be a better correspondent
    • He asks her about Mr. Collins and Charlotte's household and whether the parsonage is as modest as he imagined

    "More than once during dinner did Mr. Bennet say voluntarily to Elizabeth: 'I am glad you are come back, Lizzy.'" This simple, direct statement of affection is remarkable from a father who usually communicates through wit and irony.

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12. 12

    Question 12. How does Mary respond to Lydia's account of fun at the George inn?

    • She laughs along with them and admits that she wishes Kitty and Lydia had taken her along to the George as well
    • Correct answer: She gravely says such pleasures would suit most female minds but she would infinitely prefer a book to them
    • She scolds Lydia for spending all her money at the shop and lectures her at length on the virtues of thrift
    • She changes the subject to a book of sermons she has been reading and urges everyone at the table to study it

    Mary replies: "Far be it from me, my dear sister, to depreciate such pleasures! They would doubtless be congenial with the generality of female minds. But I confess they would have no charms for me -- I should infinitely prefer a book." Lydia hears not a word.

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13. 13

    Question 13. Why does Elizabeth oppose Lydia's suggestion to walk to Meryton in the afternoon?

    • She wants to keep Jane at home, fearing that any talk of Bingley in Meryton would only grieve her sister further
    • She is too tired from the long journey and insists that the whole family rest at home before making any calls in Meryton
    • Correct answer: She argues the Bennets should not appear to chase officers within half a day of returning, and she dreads seeing Wickham
    • She wants the afternoon free to write to Charlotte at Hunsford and to the Gardiners in London about their safe arrival home

    Elizabeth argues "it should not be said that the Miss Bennets could not be at home half a day before they were in pursuit of the officers." She also has a private reason: she "dreaded seeing Mr. Wickham again, and was resolved to avoid it as long as possible."

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14. 14

    Question 14. What is happening with the "Brighton scheme" at the end of Chapter 39?

    • Mr. Bennet has firmly refused to consider it, and Mrs. Bennet has accepted his decision with quiet resignation
    • Correct answer: It is under frequent discussion between Elizabeth's parents, with Mr. Bennet's answers vague enough to keep Mrs. Bennet hopeful
    • Lydia has written to Colonel Forster's wife requesting an invitation to Brighton independent of her family's plans
    • Mrs. Bennet has already begun packing trunks and making arrangements with a Brighton inn for the summer season

    Elizabeth discovers the Brighton scheme "was under frequent discussion between her parents." Mr. Bennet has "not the smallest intention of yielding; but his answers were at the same time so vague and equivocal, that her mother, though often disheartened, had never yet despaired of succeeding at last."

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15. 15

    Question 15. What are Mrs. Bennet and Lady Lucas each occupied with at the dinner gathering?

    • Mrs. Bennet is complaining about the cost of Lydia's new bonnet and bandbox, while Lady Lucas asks Elizabeth about the dinners at Rosings
    • Mrs. Bennet is planning a ball to welcome her daughters home, while Lady Lucas presses Maria for every detail of Lady Catherine and her daughter
    • Mrs. Bennet is boasting about Elizabeth's six weeks at Hunsford, while Lady Lucas praises Charlotte's fine house and her close ties to Rosings
    • Correct answer: Mrs. Bennet is collecting fashion news from Jane and retailing it to the younger Lucases, while Lady Lucas inquires about Charlotte's welfare and poultry

    Mrs. Bennet was "doubly engaged, on one hand collecting an account of the present fashions from Jane...and, on the other, retailing them all to the younger Lucases." Lady Lucas was "inquiring of Maria, after the welfare and poultry of her eldest daughter."

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