Spunk quiz

Questions and answers

1. 1

   Question 1. Which literary tradition best describes "Spunk"?

   • Correct answer: Southern Gothic / Harlem Renaissance folk tale
   • Naturalism
   • High Modernism
   • Domestic Realism
   • Science Fiction

   Correct — Hurston blends Southern Gothic (the haunting bobcat and the sawmill death) with Harlem Renaissance folk storytelling rooted in Black rural dialect.

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2. 2

   Question 2. Which phrase best describes Spunk Banks at the start of the story?

   • Correct answer: Bold, fearless, and openly defiant of community norms
   • Quiet, humble, and eager to avoid any kind of confrontation
   • Religiously devout and committed to traditional marriage vows
   • Physically weak but clever enough to outwit stronger men

   Spunk is introduced as a giant of a man who walks brazenly with another man's wife and rides the deadly circle-saw others fear — the embodiment of fearless swagger.

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3. 3

   Question 3. What weapon does Joe Kanty take with him to confront Spunk?

   • A shotgun hidden under his shirt
   • Correct answer: A large, shiny hollow-ground razor
   • A pocketknife borrowed from Elijah
   • An old family hunting rifle

   Joe draws a hollow-ground razor from his trouser pocket and runs his thumb along its edge before heading out to find Spunk and Lena.

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4. 4

   Question 4. What does Spunk mean when he says to plant Joe in "Stoney lonesome"?

   • An isolated stretch of palmetto woods where lovers meet
   • A lonely bend in the road leading out of the village
   • Correct answer: A folk name for the local cemetery
   • An abandoned cabin used for nighttime gatherings

   "Stoney lonesome" is a folk nickname for the graveyard — Spunk's casual use of it shows his cold indifference to having just killed Joe.

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5. 5

   Question 5. How does "Spunk" explore the gap between legal and moral justice?

   • The village law is strict, but Spunk escapes with a clever alibi and disappears before the sheriff arrives
   • Spunk confesses to the community and is forgiven because everyone knows Joe had a violent temper
   • Correct answer: The law fails to punish Spunk, so supernatural forces deliver the justice the community will not
   • Spunk is quickly arrested and tried, but Lena testifies that Joe drew the razor first

   The men only "talk" about locking Spunk up and no legal action is taken, so the ghostly bobcat and the invisible hand at the sawmill deliver the moral justice the community fails to enforce.

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6. 6

   Question 6. What does the black bobcat most likely symbolize?

   • The wild, untamed Florida frontier that civilized society cannot control or contain
   • The superstitions of the village that Spunk dismisses as foolishness and ignorance
   • Lena's hidden guilt over leaving Joe, projected outward as a frightening animal
   • Correct answer: Joe Kanty's vengeful spirit returning from the dead in animal form

   Elijah explicitly says Spunk believed the bobcat was Joe "sneaked back from Hell" — a folk-rooted symbol of the murdered husband's vengeful spirit returning for retribution.

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7. 7

   Question 7. How does Spunk change between the killing of Joe and his own death?

   • He becomes more generous and tries to make amends with Joe's family
   • He grows more ruthless and openly threatens anyone who questions him
   • Correct answer: His fearless swagger is replaced by nervous terror before he finally dies cursing
   • He turns religious and seeks forgiveness before going to the sawmill

   The fearless man who rode the circle-saw and took Lena in broad daylight becomes too nervous to shoot a bobcat and dies "cussin'" in terror, believing Joe's ghost has pushed him — his identity as the fearless man collapses.

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8. 8

   Question 8. In which landmark anthology was "Spunk" first published?

   • Correct answer: The New Negro (1925)
   • Mules and Men (1935)
   • Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937)
   • The Souls of Black Folk (1903)

   "Spunk" appeared in Alain Locke's 1925 anthology The New Negro, a defining text of the Harlem Renaissance.

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9. 9

   Question 9. Why is the rural Florida setting important to the story?

   • It reflects the cold industrial Northeast where migrants built new lives
   • It dramatizes the violent conflicts of the Reconstruction-era Deep South after emancipation
   • It captures the urban Harlem streets where the Renaissance writers gathered
   • Correct answer: It preserves rural Black Floridian folk culture, which Hurston studied as an anthropologist

   Hurston grew up in Eatonville, Florida and was trained as an anthropologist; the sawmill village, palmetto thickets, and authentic dialect preserve the Black folk culture she dedicated her career to documenting.

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10. 10

    Question 10. Which narrative technique does Hurston use to tell the story?

    • Stream of consciousness — we are inside Spunk's thoughts as he dies
    • Correct answer: Framing chorus — the men at the general store narrate the events through gossip
    • Epistolary form — the story is told through letters between the characters
    • Unreliable first-person — Lena tells us her biased version of events

    The shooting, the bobcat, and the sawmill accident all happen off-stage — we learn about them through the men at the general store, who serve as a Greek-chorus-like framing voice anchoring the tale in communal gossip.

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11. 11

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

    • Spunk walks openly with Lena past the general store where the men are gathered.

      Happened

      The story opens with Spunk sauntering up the street arm-in-arm with Lena in full view of the loungers.

    • Elijah Mosley taunts Joe by telling him Lena just walked by with Spunk.

      Happened

      Elijah's mock-innocent question about Joe's wife is what drives Joe to finally grab his razor and go after her.

    • Joe Kanty stabs Spunk in the arm with his razor before being shot.

      Didn't happen

      Spunk claims Joe sneaked up and cut his clothes "clean through," but there is no confirmed injury — and the men later question whether Joe even attacked.

    • Spunk shoots Joe with an Army .45 pistol in the palmetto thicket.

      Happened

      The men hear "the sharp report of a pistol" from the thicket, and Spunk confirms he shot Joe, whose body is found still clutching his razor.

    • The sheriff arrives from Orlando and arrests Spunk.

      Didn't happen

      The men only talk about locking Spunk up until the sheriff comes; no legal action is ever taken.

    • Spunk and Lena move into the Bradley house together shortly after Joe's death.

      Happened

      Elijah reports that Spunk is buying the Bradley house and has already moved Lena and her things in.

    • A large, completely black bobcat circles Spunk's new house at night.

      Happened

      On their first night together, an unnaturally black bobcat howls and circles the house, staring Spunk down until he cannot shoot.

    • Lena shoots the bobcat through the window with Spunk's pistol.

      Didn't happen

      Spunk himself tries to shoot it, but the bobcat stares him down and he cannot pull the trigger.

    • Spunk dies after falling into the circle-saw at the sawmill.

      Happened

      The saw that Spunk had been riding fearlessly kills him under suspicious circumstances — he claims something invisible pushed him.

    • Elijah ends by saying he believes Joe's ghost pushed Spunk into the saw.

      Happened

      Walking to the wake, Elijah admits: "Ah b'leeve Joe pushed 'im mahself," confirming the story's supernatural reading.

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