The Pearl, Chapter 5 quiz

Questions and answers

1. 1

   Question 1. Before the first rooster crows, what does Kino see Juana do in the dark?

   • Light the twig fire and begin making corncakes for the trip
   • Wake him gently and beg him once more to give up the pearl
   • Correct answer: Take the pearl from under the fireplace stone and slip out
   • Lift Coyotito from his hanging box and carry him outside

   Kino lies still and watches as Juana works so carefully that he hears only the lightest sound "when she moved the fireplace stone." She pauses beside Coyotito's hanging box, and then she is gone through the doorway, toward the shore.

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2. 2

   Question 2. What does Kino do when he catches Juana at the water's edge with her arm up to throw?

   • Correct answer: Wrenches the pearl away, strikes her face, and kicks her
   • Takes the pearl from her and walks home without a word
   • Shouts at her but lets her throw the pearl into the sea
   • Pulls her out of the waves and carries her back home

   He catches her arm and wrenches the pearl from her. "He struck her in the face with his clenched fist," she falls among the boulders, and he kicks her in the side. Then the rage leaves him and "a sick disgust took its place."

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3. 3

   Question 3. As Juana drags herself up from the rocks, what does she feel toward Kino?

   • Fury; she resolves to abandon him for good
   • Fear; she plans to hide with Apolonia
   • Shame; she blames herself for his rage
   • Correct answer: No anger; she knows she will follow him

   "There was no anger in her for Kino." To Juana his words "I am a man" mean that he is half insane and half god, and "Of course she would follow him." She washes her bruised face with salt water and creeps up the beach after him.

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4. 4

   Question 4. When Juana finds the pearl lying in the path, what does she see ahead of her?

   • Juan Tomás bending over Kino to help him to his feet
   • Correct answer: Kino on the ground and a dead stranger beside him
   • The attacker running off toward the town in the dark
   • Kino alone, desperately searching the brush for the pearl

   In the moonlight she sees two dark figures lying in the path: one is Kino and "the other a stranger with dark shiny fluid leaking from his throat." When the dark figures rushed him, Kino had felt his knife go home, and the pearl was knocked from his hand.

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5. 5

   Question 5. Once Juana knows "the old life was gone forever," what does she do?

   • Correct answer: Drags the dead man into the brush and tells Kino they must flee
   • Runs back to the sea with the pearl to finish her job at last
   • Hides the pearl from Kino and runs off to fetch Juan Tomás for help
   • Sits beside Kino in the path and waits there for the daylight to come

   She abandons the past at once. She drags the dead man from the pathway into the shelter of the brush, sponges Kino's face, gives him back his pearl, and tells him, "You have killed a man. We must go away."

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6. 6

   Question 6. What does Kino find when he reaches his canoe on the beach?

   • It has been filled with stones and sunk
   • It has been taken by one of his neighbors
   • Correct answer: A great hole has been knocked in its bottom
   • It has been pushed off and set adrift

   When the moon breaks through, he sees that "a great hole had been knocked in the bottom" of his grandfather's canoe. To Kino the killing of a boat is worse than the killing of a man, and he never thinks of taking a neighbor's canoe. The chapter does not say who broke it.

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7. 7

   Question 7. What does Juana tell Kino about the brush house as it burns?

   • The neighbors searched it for the pearl and then left it
   • A spark from her cooking fire caught the roof and spread
   • The rising storm wind blew embers from the fire into the walls
   • Correct answer: It was torn up and the floor dug before it was set on fire

   Juana escapes with Coyotito and Kino's shoulder-blanket and says "It was torn up and the floor dug," even the baby's box turned out, before "they put the fire to the outside." When Kino asks who, she answers, "The dark ones." The chapter never names them.

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8. 8

   Question 8. While the family hides all day in his house, what does Juan Tomás tell the neighbors about Kino?

   • That Kino fled north into the hills with the pearl before the fire
   • Correct answer: That Kino may have gone south along the coast, or drowned
   • That Kino has gone over the mountains to the capital
   • That Kino died inside the burning brush house that night

   He says he thinks they "have gone south along the coast," that Kino may have found another boat, and, once the wind makes the sea unsafe, "If he went to the sea, he is drowned by now." Each time he comes back with something borrowed for the journey.

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9. 9

   Question 9. Which of these events happen in Chapter 5, between the fight on the path and the coming of dawn?

   • Kino tells Juana he was attacked and struck to save his life.

     Happened

     When his senses come back, Kino says, "I was attacked," and that he struck to save his life.

   • Kino decides to go into the town and explain that he struck to save his life.

     Didn't happen

     Juana asks whether his explanation will help with the men of the city; Kino agrees that she is right, and they plan to be gone before daylight.

   • Kino tells Juana to bring Coyotito and all the corn they have.

     Happened

     He sends her to the house for Coyotito and all their corn while he goes to drag the canoe into the water.

   • Kino takes one of his neighbors' canoes when he finds his own broken.

     Didn't happen

     It never once occurs to him to take a neighbor's canoe, any more than he could have conceived breaking a boat; he runs back toward his house instead.

   • Before dawn a nervous, restless wind with the smell of storm blows into the estuary.

     Happened

     As the roosters crow, with the dawn not far off, a nervous, restless wind "with the smell of storm on its breath" blows into the estuary.

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10. 10

    Question 10. Which of these events happen in Chapter 5, from the fire to the family's departure from Juan Tomás's house?

    • Apolonia raises a lament for the dead of the family as the house burns.

      Happened

      As the nearest woman relative, Apolonia raises a formal lament for the dead of the family, until Kino quietly tells her that they are not hurt.

    • Juan Tomás refuses to hide Kino because of the danger to his own family.

      Didn't happen

      Worry shows in his eyes, but when Kino asks to stay only until the new night, Juan Tomás says, "I will hide you," and later, "I will protect you."

    • Juan Tomás brings back a long working knife, and Kino tests its edge with his thumb.

      Happened

      Among the things he borrows is a long working knife, eighteen inches long and heavy; Kino's eyes light up and his thumb tests the edge.

    • The family sets out from Juan Tomás's house under a bright, full moon.

      Didn't happen

      They leave quietly in the dark before the moon has risen, with Coyotito asleep on Juana's back under her head-shawl.

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11. 11

    Question 11. What does "forestalled" mean in "he forestalled him in a possible refusal" as Kino asks his brother to hide them?

    • Waited patiently for another person to decide
    • Gave in to something he could not prevent
    • Warned of trouble that lay far in the future
    • Correct answer: Acted first to keep something from happening

    To forestall is to act ahead of time to prevent something. Seeing deep worry in his brother's eyes, Kino speaks before Juan Tomás can refuse: "Not for long," he says, only until a day has passed and the new night has come.

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12. 12

    Question 12. What does "divert" mean in "went out among the neighbors to divert their suspicions" as the family hides?

    • Sharpen or increase a feeling in others
    • Entertain or amuse a group of people
    • Correct answer: Turn something aside in another direction
    • Disprove something with plain evidence

    To divert is to turn something aside. Juan Tomás draws the neighbors' suspicions elsewhere by giving them theories and ideas of what has happened to Kino, Juana and the baby.

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13. 13

    Question 13. At the parting, Juan Tomás asks, "You will not give up the pearl?" What does Kino answer?

    • Correct answer: That the pearl has become his soul and he will keep it
    • That he will sell it in the north and send money home
    • That he will offer it to the Church once they are safe
    • That he will hide it with his brother until he returns

    Kino says, "This pearl has become my soul," and that if he gives it up he will lose his soul. Juan Tomás has said "Go with God," and it was like a death; Kino answers, "Go thou also with God." Earlier he told his brother they would go to the north.

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