The Christmas Present quiz

Questions and answers

1. 1

   Question 1. Which literary genres best describe "The Christmas Present"?

   • Ghost Story & Gothic Horror
   • Fairy Tale & Fantasy
   • Adventure & Survival Story
   • Mystery & Detective Fiction
   • Correct answer: Domestic Comedy & Twist Tale

   Domestic Comedy & Twist Tale is the best fit. The story is about home life and marriage on ordinary farms, its humour is quiet and ironic, and its surprise, that the deaf aunt can hear perfectly well, turns everything before it into a joke on the men.

   Read the passage
2. 2

   Question 2. Where do Mary and John live?

   • A busy shop in the middle of a crowded town
   • Correct answer: An old farmhouse with no other house in sight
   • A cottage beside the sea in a fishing village
   • A large manor house with many servants and a park

   Mary looks out at "hill and field and woodland, bare, colourless, mist-covered—with no other house in sight." Their home is Cromb Farm, old and rambling, and she has no help with the housework.

   Read the passage
3. 3

   Question 3. What does Mary love most?

   • Correct answer: Sewing, reading, and quiet lamplit evenings
   • Working with the animals out in the farmyard
   • Long walks over the hills and visits to the village
   • Parties and long talks with friends and neighbours

   "She liked sewing. She was passionately fond of reading. She was not fond of talking." She had looked forward to "quiet, peaceful, lamplit evenings."

   Read the passage
4. 4

   Question 4. How long have Mary and John been married when the story begins?

   • Twenty years
   • Thirty-five years
   • Correct answer: Ten years
   • Two years

   Only "after ten years of married life" has Mary given up hope of peaceful evenings.

   Read the passage
5. 5

   Question 5. What does Mary dread most of all?

   • John leaving her alone at the farm for days
   • Cooking a large supper for all the farm hands
   • Walking down to the village in the dark
   • Correct answer: John reading his newspaper out loud to her

   John liked to hear his voice reading the paper aloud in the evening. "She dreaded that most of all."

   Read the passage
6. 6

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

   • Soft and soothing to the ear
   • Correct answer: Loud, harsh, and unpleasant
   • Slow, careful, and correct
   • Quiet and hard to make out

   "His voice going on and on, raucous and sing-song, became unspeakably irritating." Raucous means loud and harsh.

   Read the passage
7. 7

   Question 7. Why has Mary never said "Get your own slippers" to John?

   • John would send her back to her aunt
   • She is too tired after the housework
   • Her aunt taught her never to complain
   • Correct answer: She is a woman who cannot bear anger

   The words "had trembled on her lips, but had never passed them, for she was a woman who could not bear anger. Noise of any kind appalled her."

   Read the passage
8. 8

   Question 8. Why does John agree to go to the aunt's for Christmas?

   • Correct answer: He likes talking with Mary's uncle and hearing the gossip
   • He wants to buy presents at the shops in the village
   • He feels sorry for the old aunt living all alone
   • The farm hands have asked for a holiday at Christmas

   "He always grumbled about the invitation at first, but really he wanted to go. He liked to talk with her uncle." He enjoyed going down to the village and hearing all its gossip.

   Read the passage
9. 9

   Question 9. What does "Proverbial" mean in this story?

   • Recently discovered by a doctor
   • Proved false by careful tests
   • Correct answer: Famous and widely talked about
   • Kept as a closely guarded secret

   "The Crewe deafness was proverbial." Everyone knew that the women of the family went deaf, as surely as they knew a common saying.

   Read the passage
10. 10

    Question 10. At what age did Mary's great-grandmother go stone deaf?

    • Twenty-one
    • Fifty
    • Correct answer: Thirty-five
    • Forty

    "Mary's great-grandmother had gone stone deaf at the age of thirty-five," and her daughter and granddaughter went deaf at exactly the same age.

    Read the passage
11. 11

    Question 11. What happens when James asks his wife to fetch the photos?

    • Correct answer: She answers about boats and coats instead of photos
    • She tells him to fetch them himself because she is busy
    • She pretends to be asleep in her chair by the fire
    • She goes upstairs at once and brings the photographs

    She replies "What about boats?" and then "Coats?" until James goes himself, grumbling, "It's quicker to do a thing oneself."

    Read the passage
12. 12

    Question 12. What does James say about deaf people?

    • They should be sent to a doctor in the city
    • Correct answer: They get a bit stupid and are best let alone
    • They should be treated with extra kindness
    • They can hear perfectly well if you speak slowly

    "And deaf folks get a bit stupid, too. Can't see what you mean. They're best let alone." Readers soon learn that his wife has heard every word.

    Read the passage
13. 13

    Question 13. What does Aunt Jane do once the men have left?

    • She shouts for her husband to come back inside
    • She writes a note and pushes it across the table
    • She begins knitting faster and refuses to look up at Mary
    • Correct answer: She speaks normally to wish Mary a happy Christmas

    "Mary! A happy Christmas to 'ee." When Mary answers in her ordinary low tones, the aunt thanks her, and Mary gasps.

    Read the passage
14. 14

    Question 14. What is the truth about the Crewe deafness?

    • She has always been able to read their lips perfectly
    • She was cured by a doctor last winter
    • She only hears well on Christmas Eve
    • Correct answer: She and her mother and grandmother all pretended

    "I was never deaf, child, nor never will be, please God. I've took you all in fine." Her mother and grandmother were never deaf either.

    Read the passage
15. 15

    Question 15. What does "Sardonic" mean in this story?

    • Correct answer: Quietly mocking
    • Blank and empty
    • Gentle and loving
    • Sad and tearful

    "Upon her sunken face there was a curious sardonic smile that was her habitual expression." A sardonic smile is a quietly mocking one, a clue that she knows something the others do not.

    Read the passage
16. 16

    Question 16. What Christmas present does Aunt Jane give Mary?

    • A shawl she knitted for Mary's birthday
    • Correct answer: The family's pretended deafness
    • Money she has saved from the farm
    • Her mother's wedding ring

    "I'll make you a Christmas present of it, dearie." Mary can "hear what you choose and not hear what you choose."

    Read the passage
17. 17

    Question 17. Where did James's brother send the picture postcards from?

    • France
    • Scotland
    • Correct answer: Switzerland
    • Italy

    "They're what my brother sent from Switzerland, where he's working now."

    Read the passage
18. 18

    Question 18. What is the dramatic irony in the men's talk about the deafness?

    • The aunt cannot hear the men leave the kitchen
    • Mary wishes for noise but gets more silence
    • John reads the paper though he cannot read well
    • Correct answer: The husbands mock deaf women who hear every word

    James complains that deaf folks are stupid and best let alone, while his wife sits smiling at the fire, having "took you all in fine" for years.

    Read the passage
19. 19

    Question 19. What does Mary do when James loudly calls her name at the end?

    • She answers James politely at once
    • Correct answer: She blushes but shows no sign of hearing
    • She laughs and tells the men about the secret
    • She runs from the room in tears

    "A faint pink colour came into her cheeks, but she did not show by look or movement that she had heard." The blush shows she heard; her silence shows she has taken the present.

    Read the passage
20. 20

    Question 20. What is a central theme of the story?

    • Living in the country is better than living in town
    • Christmas is the best time to visit family members
    • Correct answer: Women find quiet ways to resist unfair treatment
    • People should always tell the truth to each other

    The men shout orders and treat their wives as servants. The Crewe women answer with a secret that lets them choose when to listen, passed from mother to daughter.

    Read the passage
21. 21

    Question 21. Which of these events actually happened in the story?

    • John meets the postman and brings Mary a letter from her aunt.

      Happened

      "Met the postman," he said. "From your aunt."

    • Mary has two servants to help her with the housework.

      Didn't happen

      She "was to have no help in the housework."

    • Snow falls in blinding showers on Christmas Eve.

      Happened

      "Outside, the snow fell in blinding showers."

    • Aunt Jane says she has a daughter of her own to give the present to.

      Didn't happen

      She says, "I haven't a lass of my own to give it to, so I give it to you."

    • Mary first whispers that she will not use the present.

      Happened

      "I—I'll not do it," whispered Mary, trembling.

    • The men walk all the way to the next village and back.

      Didn't happen

      "We didn't get far. It's coming on again," John says.

    Read the passage