Regret quiz

Questions and answers

1. 1

   Question 1. Which literary movement best describes "Regret"?

   • Gothic
   • Naturalism
   • Modernism
   • Correct answer: Realism
   • Romanticism

   Realism fits perfectly — Chopin depicts ordinary rural Louisiana life with precise, unsentimental detail. Mamzelle's transformation is psychologically plausible, not idealized or exaggerated.

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2. 2

   Question 2. How does Chopin establish Mamzelle Aurélie's character at the story's opening?

   • Correct answer: Ruggedly self-sufficient and indifferent to romantic or family life
   • Deeply religious and devoted to her community above all else
   • Lonely and bitter, still regretting the marriage proposal she declined
   • Envious of Odile's family life and quietly resentful of her

   Chopin uses physical details — the man's hat, the army overcoat, the gun — and the fact that she promptly declined her one marriage proposal to portray Mamzelle as robustly self-sufficient and unconcerned with conventional feminine or domestic life.

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3. 3

   Question 3. Why did Mamzelle decline the marriage proposal she received at age twenty?

   • She wanted to run the farm on her own terms
   • She had fallen out of love with him
   • Correct answer: She had never been in love at all
   • She felt she was too young to marry at twenty

   The text is direct: "She had never been in love." There was no heartbreak, no ambition — simply an absence of romantic feeling that made marriage seem unnecessary.

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4. 4

   Question 4. What does "Akimbo" mean in this story?

   • Raised high above the head in greeting
   • Correct answer: Hands on hips with elbows turned outward
   • Crossed tightly over the chest in refusal
   • Slumped forward in exhaustion or defeat

   Standing with arms akimbo — hands on hips, elbows out — signals Mamzelle's confident, commanding presence. It's exactly the posture you'd expect from a woman who runs her own farm and has never needed anyone's help.

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5. 5

   Question 5. Why does Odile leave her children with Mamzelle Aurélie?

   • Odile wants a holiday from her children; she thinks Mamzelle is lonely and would enjoy the company
   • Correct answer: Odile's mother is dangerously ill; her husband is away in Texas and Mamzelle is the nearest neighbor
   • Odile's husband is injured in Texas; Valsin must drive her to the station so she can bring him home
   • Odile's mother is arriving for a visit; Valsin must drive Odile to the station to meet her train

   Odile is summoned to a neighboring parish because her mother is dangerously ill. Her husband Léon is far away in Texas, and Mamzelle — though not a very near neighbor — is the only option available.

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6. 6

   Question 6. What does "Inapt" mean in this story?

   • Hopelessly confused about the simplest tasks
   • Reluctant or unwilling to try a new or difficult task
   • Correct answer: Unsuited or lacking the skill for a particular task
   • Slow, motionless, or lacking the energy to act

   Chopin writes that Mamzelle was "very inapt in her management of Odile's children during the first few days" — meaning she lacked the knowledge and skill, not the willingness. She simply had no experience.

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7. 7

   Question 7. Which of the following correctly matches the children to their specific needs?

   • Ti Nomme ate constantly; baby Elodie refused to sleep unless held upright
   • Marcélette destroyed Mamzelle's garden; Ti Nomme refused to eat what Mamzelle cooked
   • Marcéline cried whenever spoken to loudly; Ti Nomme refused to nap in the chair he was tied to
   • Correct answer: Marcélette cried when spoken to in a loud tone; Elodie needed to be rocked and sung to sleep

   Marcélette (not Marcéline) always wept when spoken to in a loud and commanding tone; it was a peculiarity of hers. Ti Nomme had to be tied in a chair when mischievous, and took a nap in it. Baby Elodie had to be rocked and sung to sleep; she could not fall asleep on her own.

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8. 8

   Question 8. What role does Aunt Ruby, the cook, play in Mamzelle's adjustment?

   • Correct answer: She taught Mamzelle small "mother-tricks" to manage the children
   • She kept the children in her own cabin at night so Mamzelle could sleep
   • She refused to help, saying it was not her place to meddle
   • She warned Mamzelle that the children were too wild to manage

   Aunt Ruby, who had "raised five an' buried six" in her day, teaches Mamzelle a few little "mother-tricks" — practical knowledge Mamzelle had never needed before. Ruby's expertise quietly highlights how much Mamzelle had missed.

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9. 9

   Question 9. What objects does Mamzelle retrieve while caring for the children, and what do they symbolize?

   • Correct answer: White aprons and a sewing basket retrieved from high on the armoire
   • Her basket of keys and a looking-glass Aunt Ruby warned her about
   • Her gun and the old blue army overcoat she wore when it was cold
   • Doll-rags and a grindstone for sharpening Ti Nomme's knife

   Ti Nomme's sticky fingers force Mamzelle to unearth white aprons she had not worn in years, and she retrieves her neglected sewing basket from the top shelf of the armoire. These domestic objects — unused for so long — symbolize the maternal life she had set aside and forgotten.

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10. 10

    Question 10. What is the central theme of "Regret"?

    • She was far more capable of running a farm than she had ever believed
    • She had been wrong to trust Odile and would not help her again
    • She was actually suited to city life rather than the rural isolation she had chosen
    • Correct answer: She had a hidden capacity for maternal love she had never acknowledged

    The story's central theme is the belated recognition of what one has missed in life. Mamzelle lived fifty years without regretting her solitary independence. Two weeks with the children reveal a maternal capacity — and a depth of longing — she had never known she possessed.

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11. 11

    Question 11. Which of these events actually happened in the story?

    • Mamzelle Aurélie declined a marriage proposal at age twenty.

      Happened

      The text states directly: "At the age of twenty she had received a proposal, which she had promptly declined."

    • Odile's husband was away in Texas when she left the children.

      Happened

      Odile tells Mamzelle that her husband Léon is away in Texas — "it seemed to her a million miles away" — and cannot return in time.

    • Mamzelle immediately took to the children and enjoyed caring for them.

      Didn't happen

      The children's coming was "unwelcome." Mamzelle was "very inapt" at first and complained to Aunt Ruby: "I'd rather manage a dozen plantation' than fo' chil'ren."

    • Ti Nomme plucked all the choicest flowers from Mamzelle's garden.

      Happened

      Ti Nomme plucked all the choicest gardenias and pinks — apparently to study their "botanical construction."

    • Mamzelle used to wear the white aprons every day before the children arrived.

      Didn't happen

      Ti Nomme's sticky hands "compelled her to unearth white aprons that she had not worn for years" — they had been set aside long ago.

    • Baby Elodie had to be rocked and sung to sleep every night.

      Happened

      Marcéline and Marcélette laugh merrily at the idea that Mamzelle "should for a moment have believed" that Elodie "could fall asleep at all without being rocked and sung to" — it was essential, not optional.

    • Odile returned with a beaming face that showed her home-coming was a happy one.

      Happened

      As the cart drew near, "the young woman's beaming face indicated that her home-coming was a happy one" — Odile returns upright and alert, looking pleased.

    • Mamzelle wept quietly and softly when the children left.

      Didn't happen

      The text says explicitly: "Not softly, as women often do. She cried like a man, with sobs that seemed to tear her very soul."

    • Ponto the dog tried to comfort Mamzelle as she cried.

      Happened

      The final line notes that Ponto licked her hand — but she "did not notice," showing that even her oldest companion was no longer comfort enough.

    • At the end of two weeks, Mamzelle no longer complained about the children.

      Happened

      The text states: "at the end of two weeks Mamzelle Aurélie had grown quite used to these things, and she no longer complained."

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12. 12

    Question 12. Which literary device does Chopin use most significantly in describing Mamzelle's clothing and retrieved objects?

    • Metaphor: the man's hat and army overcoat are described as armor protecting her from other people
    • Foreshadowing: the army overcoat suggests she will eventually have to battle Odile to keep the children
    • Correct answer: Symbolism: the man's hat and army coat represent independence while the aprons represent the maternal life she abandoned
    • Personification: the neglected aprons and sewing basket are given human feelings of loneliness and longing

    Chopin uses symbolism throughout. Mamzelle's man's hat and old blue army overcoat symbolize her masculine self-sufficiency. When the children force her to retrieve white aprons and a sewing basket long stored away, those objects symbolize the domestic and maternal life she had chosen to leave behind. The contrast measures the distance between her two selves.

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13. 13

    Question 13. What is the central irony of "Regret"?

    • A woman who promptly declined a proposal at twenty finally falls in love and marries at fifty
    • Correct answer: A woman who had "not yet lived to regret" refusing marriage spends two weeks discovering exactly what she missed
    • Odile's children are inconvenient to Mamzelle but perfectly well-behaved once she learns their habits
    • The children leave behind a "sad disorder" even though Mamzelle had managed to keep them neat

    The opening states that at fifty, Mamzelle "had not yet lived to regret" her decision to remain single. The entire story then proceeds to manufacture, in two weeks, exactly the regret she thought she was immune to — thirty years of unlived maternal life compressed into a single devastating moment of loss.

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14. 14

    Question 14. What does "Solitary" mean in this story?

    • Proud and unwilling to accept help from others
    • Correct answer: Existing or enduring alone, without companions
    • Wrapped in shadow and hidden from sight
    • Deeply exhausted after a long period of hard work

    Chopin describes the room "into which the evening shadows were creeping and deepening around her solitary figure" — Mamzelle sits alone, the darkness closing in. "Solitary" means existing without companions, and in that final image it carries the weight of her entire unlived life.

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15. 15

    Question 15. How does the story describe Mamzelle's weeping at the end, and why does it matter?

    • She cries briefly and then regains her composure and returns to her usual tasks
    • She cries because she is exhausted and relieved the hard work of childcare is over
    • She cries softly and privately, as the text says women typically do in difficult moments
    • Correct answer: She cries with raw, convulsive sobs — a grief so deep it tears her very soul

    Chopin writes that Mamzelle cried "Not softly, as women often do. She cried like a man, with sobs that seemed to tear her very soul." The simile subverts gender expectations one final time: the woman who lived like a man, cries like one — and the depth of her grief measures the depth of everything she never allowed herself to want.

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16. 16

    Question 16. What do the evening shadows "creeping and deepening" in the final scene symbolize?

    • The peacefulness and natural beauty of the Louisiana countryside at dusk
    • The end of the work day and the start of domestic evening routines
    • Correct answer: The approaching end of Mamzelle's life — and the emotional darkness of solitude
    • The literal distance between Mamzelle's farm and the road the children traveled

    The evening shadows that close in around Mamzelle's "solitary figure" symbolize the twilight of her life. She is fifty — her child-bearing years are long past, her chance for a family is gone. The deepening darkness is not just nightfall; it is the closing of all the possibilities she did not know she had wanted.

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