How does John Perkins get to his neighborhood at the start of the story?

He rides the Manhattan Elevated to Eighty-first Street

He takes the ferry across the river to Brooklyn

He takes a horse-drawn streetcar up Broadway

He walks the whole way home from his office

Where does John go most evenings at a quarter past eight?

To McCloskey's, to play pool with the fellows

To the theater to watch a vaudeville show

To the corner saloon to drink with his boss

To his lodge hall downtown for a weekly meeting

What does John find when he reaches his door on this particular night?

No Katy, and her things scattered through the rooms

A locked door, and the janitor holding his key

Katy waiting at the door with her usual kiss

Katy fast asleep, with his dinner left to go cold

In the line "The three rooms seemed in portentous disorder," what does portentous mean?

Ominous, as if warning of trouble

Cheerful, like a party's leftovers

According to her note, why has Katy left?

A telegram said her mother was very sick

She has gone to look for work in another city

She has quarreled with John over his nights out

Her brother Sam is getting married out of town

Which comparison does the narrator use for Katy's place in John's life?

She was like the air he breathed: needed but unnoticed

She was like a clock that ruled every hour of his day

She was like a lamp that lit the dark little flat

She was like a song he could never get out of his head

With Katy away and the whole night free, what does John do?

He stays home, too remorseful to go out

He writes a long letter to Katy's sick mother

He goes to McCloskey's and plays pool until dawn

He rushes to the depot to catch a train after Katy

The narrator says John could trace his descent back to Adam, "whom the cherubim bounced from the orchard." What does this allusion suggest?

Like Adam, he valued what he had only after losing it

Like Adam, he was led into wrongdoing by his wife

Like Adam, he was punished for working too hard

Like Adam, he was the first in his family to marry

When Katy returns, the narrator describes "the click and rattle of the cog-wheels" as the flat buzzes back into "the Order of Things." What does this image suggest?

The household snaps back into its old, fixed routine

John has taken a job repairing factory machines

The elevated train is rattling past the window

The janitor has fixed the broken dumbwaiter

Which best explains the irony of the story's ending?

John's vow to change collapses the moment she returns

Katy secretly knew all along that he played pool

Katy's mother turns out to be much sicker than she said

John stays home now, but Katy goes out for the evening

Why is the story called "The Pendulum"?

John swings to remorse when Katy leaves, then swings back

A loud clock in the parlor ticks through his lonely night

The neighbor's flute music swings back and forth all night

The story swings between John's flat and McCloskey's hall

Which of these happen in the story?

Katy leaves a note hanging from the gas jet by a string.

John eats cold mutton and coffee alone at the table.

John calls himself a 'double-dyed dub' for neglecting Katy.

Tears come into John's eyes as he holds Katy's shirtwaist.

Katy returns that same evening, saying her mother is fine.

Katy has left John because of his nights at the pool hall.

John spends the free evening playing pool at McCloskey's.

John sends Katy a telegram begging her to come home soon.

Katy's mother dies before Katy can reach the depot.

John takes Katy out for an evening of amusement at last.

The Pendulum quiz

By O. Henry

A bored husband comes home to an empty flat and finally sees what his wife means to him

18 questions · about 19 minutes

Read the story

Questions and answers

1
Question 1. Which literary movement best describes "The Pendulum"?
- High Modernism
- Dark Romanticism
- Transcendentalism
- Correct answer: American Realism
Correct. Realism shows ordinary people in everyday settings. O. Henry gives us a working man, his wife, their dinner menu and their noisy neighbors, then lands an ironic point about human habit.
Read the passage
2
Question 2. How does John Perkins get to his neighborhood at the start of the story?
- He takes the ferry across the river to Brooklyn
- He takes a horse-drawn streetcar up Broadway
- Correct answer: He rides the Manhattan Elevated to Eighty-first Street
- He walks the whole way home from his office
The story opens on the Manhattan Elevated train: the conductor yells "Eighty-first street--let 'em out, please," and John drifts down the station stairway with the other passengers.
Read the passage
3
Question 3. Where does John go most evenings at a quarter past eight?
- To the theater to watch a vaudeville show
- Correct answer: To McCloskey's, to play pool with the fellows
- To the corner saloon to drink with his boss
- To his lodge hall downtown for a weekly meeting
Every night he tells Katy, "Thought I'd drop up to McCloskey's," to "play a game or two of pool with the fellows," and comes home at ten or eleven.
Read the passage
4
Question 4. How many years have John and Katy been married?
- Correct answer: Two
- One
- Five
- Ten
The narrator says there are no surprises for "a man who has been married two years and lives in a flat."
Read the passage
5
Question 5. What does John find when he reaches his door on this particular night?
- A locked door, and the janitor holding his key
- Correct answer: No Katy, and her things scattered through the rooms
- Katy waiting at the door with her usual kiss
- Katy fast asleep, with his dinner left to go cold
"No Katy was there" to meet him. Shoes, curling tongs, hair bows and kimonos lie jumbled on the dresser and chairs, which "was not Katy's way."
Read the passage
6
Question 6. In the line "The three rooms seemed in portentous disorder," what does portentous mean?
- Pompous and full of itself
- Harmless and not worth notice
- Cheerful, like a party's leftovers
- Correct answer: Ominous, as if warning of trouble
Portentous means ominous, signaling that something bad has happened or is about to. The disorder makes John's heart sink because it hints at a crisis. (The word can also mean pompous, but that sense does not fit a messy room.)
Read the passage
7
Question 7. According to her note, why has Katy left?
- She has gone to look for work in another city
- She has quarreled with John over his nights out
- Correct answer: A telegram said her mother was very sick
- Her brother Sam is getting married out of town
Katy writes, "I just had a telegram saying mother is very sick," and says she is taking the 4.30 train, with Brother Sam meeting her at the depot.
Read the passage
8
Question 8. Besides explaining her trip, which practical reminder does Katy's note give John?
- Correct answer: Pay the milkman 50 cents
- Take the rent to the janitor
- Wind the clock in the parlor
- Feed the neighbor's terrier
Mixed in with news of her mother, Katy reminds John to "Pay the milkman 50 cents," to write the company about the gas meter, and that his good socks are in the top drawer.
Read the passage
9
Question 9. Which comparison does the narrator use for Katy's place in John's life?
- She was like a clock that ruled every hour of his day
- Correct answer: She was like the air he breathed: needed but unnoticed
- She was like a lamp that lit the dark little flat
- She was like a song he could never get out of his head
The narrator says Katy was "like the air he breathed--necessary but scarcely noticed." The simile captures the story's theme: John takes her for granted until she is gone.
Read the passage
10
Question 10. With Katy away and the whole night free, what does John do?
- He writes a long letter to Katy's sick mother
- He goes to McCloskey's and plays pool until dawn
- He rushes to the depot to catch a train after Katy
- Correct answer: He stays home, too remorseful to go out
He is free to "play pool at McCloskey's" until dawn, but "no primrose way nor clicking cue could woo the remorseful soul of Perkins the bereft." He stays home and broods.
Read the passage
11
Question 11. John knows his wife "would deliver this speech in a querulous tone." What does querulous mean?
- Shy, quiet and barely heard
- Curious and full of questions
- Correct answer: Whining and complaining
- Cheerful and playfully teasing
Querulous means complaining in a peevish, whining way. Katy is fed up with John's nightly trips to McCloskey's. The word looks like 'query,' but it means grumbling, not asking out of curiosity.
Read the passage
12
Question 12. The narrator says John could trace his descent back to Adam, "whom the cherubim bounced from the orchard." What does this allusion suggest?
- Correct answer: Like Adam, he valued what he had only after losing it
- Like Adam, he was led into wrongdoing by his wife
- Like Adam, he was punished for working too hard
- Like Adam, he was the first in his family to marry
Just before the allusion, the narrator says "The thing that was his, lightly held and half scorned, had been taken away from him, and he wanted it." Like Adam cast out of Eden, John prizes his paradise only after losing it.
Read the passage
13
Question 13. What is Katy's favorite candy?
- Correct answer: Butter-scotch
- Peppermint sticks
- Licorice drops
- Lemon drops
Katy's kiss is "flavored with cold cream and butter-scotch," and after she leaves John finds "A little paper bag of her favorite butter-scotch" still tied with string.
Read the passage
14
Question 14. When Katy returns, the narrator describes "the click and rattle of the cog-wheels" as the flat buzzes back into "the Order of Things." What does this image suggest?
- John has taken a job repairing factory machines
- Correct answer: The household snaps back into its old, fixed routine
- The elevated train is rattling past the window
- The janitor has fixed the broken dumbwaiter
The gears and "wheels revolve in their old orbit": the moment Katy is back, the household returns to its machine-like routine, and so does John.
Read the passage
15
Question 15. What time is it when John reaches for his hat at the end?
- 9.00
- 8.00
- Correct answer: 8.15
- 7.30
"John Perkins looked at the clock. It was 8.15." It is the same quarter past eight at which he always reaches for his hat to go to McCloskey's.
Read the passage
16
Question 16. Which best explains the irony of the story's ending?
- Katy secretly knew all along that he played pool
- Katy's mother turns out to be much sicker than she said
- John stays home now, but Katy goes out for the evening
- Correct answer: John's vow to change collapses the moment she returns
This is situational irony. John swore to "cut out the McCloskey gang right from this minute," yet once Katy is home he reaches for his hat and repeats his old line, word for word.
Read the passage
17
Question 17. Why is the story called "The Pendulum"?
- A loud clock in the parlor ticks through his lonely night
- The neighbor's flute music swings back and forth all night
- The story swings between John's flat and McCloskey's hall
- Correct answer: John swings to remorse when Katy leaves, then swings back
Like a pendulum, John swings from bored neglect to tearful remorse while Katy is gone, then right back to neglect when she returns. The title also fits the clock-like routine of the household.
Read the passage
18
Question 18. Which of these happen in the story?
- Katy leaves a note hanging from the gas jet by a string.
  
  Happened
  
  "Hanging conspicuously to the gas jet by a string was a folded paper." It is her note.
- Katy has left John because of his nights at the pool hall.
  
  Didn't happen
  
  She left because a telegram said her mother was very sick, not because of a quarrel.
- John eats cold mutton and coffee alone at the table.
  
  Happened
  
  He "dragged the cold mutton from the ice-box, made coffee and sat down to a lonely meal."
- John spends the free evening playing pool at McCloskey's.
  
  Didn't happen
  
  He could have, but "no primrose way nor clicking cue could woo" him. He stays home.
- John calls himself a 'double-dyed dub' for neglecting Katy.
  
  Happened
  
  "I'm a double-dyed dub," mused John Perkins, "the way I've been treating Katy."
- John sends Katy a telegram begging her to come home soon.
  
  Didn't happen
  
  John sends nothing. Katy comes back on her own because her mother was not really sick.
- Tears come into John's eyes as he holds Katy's shirtwaist.
  
  Happened
  
  Holding her blue shirtwaist, "tears--came into John Perkins's eyes."
- Katy's mother dies before Katy can reach the depot.
  
  Didn't happen
  
  Her mother "wasn't sick to amount to anything" and got better soon after they telegraphed.
- Katy returns that same evening, saying her mother is fine.
  
  Happened
  
  She walks in with her satchel: "So I took the next train back."
- John takes Katy out for an evening of amusement at last.
  
  Didn't happen
  
  He promised to, but when she returns he reaches for his hat and heads for McCloskey's alone.
Read the passage

Play it live with your class.

Put the code on the screen and students join on whatever they have.

Questions and answers

Question 1. Which literary movement best describes "The Pendulum"?

Question 2. How does John Perkins get to his neighborhood at the start of the story?

Question 3. Where does John go most evenings at a quarter past eight?

Question 4. How many years have John and Katy been married?

Question 5. What does John find when he reaches his door on this particular night?

Question 6. In the line "The three rooms seemed in portentous disorder," what does portentous mean?

Question 7. According to her note, why has Katy left?

Question 8. Besides explaining her trip, which practical reminder does Katy's note give John?

Question 9. Which comparison does the narrator use for Katy's place in John's life?

Question 10. With Katy away and the whole night free, what does John do?

Question 11. John knows his wife "would deliver this speech in a querulous tone." What does querulous mean?

Question 12. The narrator says John could trace his descent back to Adam, "whom the cherubim bounced from the orchard." What does this allusion suggest?

Question 13. What is Katy's favorite candy?

Question 14. When Katy returns, the narrator describes "the click and rattle of the cog-wheels" as the flat buzzes back into "the Order of Things." What does this image suggest?

Question 15. What time is it when John reaches for his hat at the end?

Question 16. Which best explains the irony of the story's ending?

Question 17. Why is the story called "The Pendulum"?

Question 18. Which of these happen in the story?