The Turkey quiz

Questions and answers

1. 1

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

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

   Southern Gothic fits precisely: the rural Georgia setting, dark humor, a child's grotesque spiritual crisis, and the violent reversal at the end are all hallmarks of the genre O'Connor pioneered.

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2. 2

   Question 2. How is Ruller characterized at the start of the story?

   • Popular and confident, always the center of attention at school
   • Reckless and rebellious, eager to follow in his brother Hane's footsteps
   • Correct answer: Watchful and lonely, quietly anxious about his own worth and identity
   • Cheerful and carefree, with no serious worries about his place in the family

   Ruller is a watchful, solitary eleven-year-old who eavesdrops on his parents at night and worries about whether he, like his brother Hane, will "go bad." His loneliness and need for significance drive the entire story.

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3. 3

   Question 3. Who is Hane, and why does he matter to Ruller?

   • An admired older brother who has left home to seek his fortune out West
   • Correct answer: A troubled older brother whose bad behavior worries their parents and tempts Ruller
   • A sickly older brother whose illness makes Ruller feel guilty for being healthy
   • An absent older brother who has been sent away to boarding school as punishment

   Hane is Ruller's older brother who smokes, plays pool, and sneaks in at twelve-thirty — behavior their parents fear will lead him to the devil. Ruller envies Hane's swagger and imitates his profanities, but also desperately hopes to be the "chosen" son who doesn't go bad the way Hane has.

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4. 4

   Question 4. What improvised tools does Ruller try to use to catch the turkey?

   • Rope, rocks, and a hunting knife
   • A net, a stick, and a piece of bread
   • Correct answer: His hands, a forked stick, and a rock
   • His jacket, a belt, and a long pole

   Ruller attempts to capture the wounded bird with his bare hands, a forked stick, and a rock — none of which work. The turkey always stays just out of reach, deepening his frustration and eventual outburst.

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5. 5

   Question 5. Why does Ruller curse God after failing to catch the turkey?

   • He is possessed by an evil spirit that forces the words out of his mouth
   • He is testing whether his parents can hear him from a distance in the woods
   • He is repeating religious language he misheard in church and does not understand
   • Correct answer: He is imitating his brother Hane and experimenting with going bad

   Ruller's blasphemy is partly imitation — his brother Hane talks this way — and partly experiment. He wants to feel what it would be like to "go bad," and the comic outburst lets him try on that identity. O'Connor plays the scene for dark humor while setting up the false-grace reversal that immediately follows.

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6. 6

   Question 6. What does Ruller believe it means when he stumbles on the dead turkey?

   • Correct answer: A personal sign from God that he is an unusual, divinely chosen child
   • Proof that he has successfully gone bad and God no longer cares about him
   • A coincidence that Ruller dismisses, since he knows luck is not the same as grace
   • A warning that he should repent for his blasphemy before returning home

   The moment Ruller finds the dead turkey he flips from despair to certainty: God has arranged this personally as a sign of his chosenness. He becomes convinced he is an "unusual child" whom God is protecting from going bad like Hane. O'Connor uses this instant flip to expose the self-serving nature of his theology.

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7. 7

   Question 7. What does the turkey symbolize in the story?

   • The dangers of hunting wild animals without adult supervision in rural Georgia
   • Ruller's longing for a father figure who will affirm his worth and talent
   • Correct answer: The central symbol of divine grace — and of Ruller's misreading of it
   • The abundance of nature that contrasts with the family's modest circumstances

   The turkey is the story's central symbol of grace — and of Ruller's catastrophic misreading of it. He treats the dead bird as a personal trophy of God's favor. When the country boys strip it from him just as arbitrarily as he received it, the symbol collapses, and Ruller is left with the terrifying God he had tried to bargain away.

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8. 8

   Question 8. What does Ruller do as he parades the turkey through town?

   • He sells the turkey at the market so he can buy his parents a gift
   • Correct answer: He prays for a beggar to give his last dime to, then finds Hetty Gilman
   • He confesses his blasphemy to the local preacher and asks for absolution
   • He gives the turkey to a poor family and tells them it was God's gift

   Flush with his sense of divine chosenness, Ruller prays for a beggar to give his last dime to — and when he spots the old woman Hetty Gilman, he takes her presence as another confirmation of God's arrangement. He gives her his coin, deepening his certainty that he and God have a special deal.

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9. 9

   Question 9. What is the name of the old woman Ruller gives his last dime to?

   • Correct answer: Hetty Gilman
   • Mabel Cosgrove
   • Ida Mae Tanner
   • Ruth Selden

   The old woman is Hetty Gilman. Ruller spots her and interprets her presence as God's answer to his prayer for a beggar — another piece of "evidence" that God has personally arranged his afternoon.

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10. 10

    Question 10. How do the country boys steal the turkey?

    • Ruller gives the turkey away freely, realizing it was never really his to keep
    • His parents see him with the turkey and scold him for being out in the woods
    • He trips and drops the turkey, which the country boys grab before he can retrieve it
    • Correct answer: A country boy asks to see the turkey, then simply walks off with it on his shoulder

    With quiet efficiency, the leader of the country boys — whom O'Connor calls "the spitter" — asks Ruller to let him see the turkey. The moment Ruller hands it over, the boy slings it onto his own shoulder and walks off. There is no struggle, no drama. The theft is casual, which makes it all the more devastating.

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11. 11

    Question 11. What is the "Something Awful" that Ruller feels tearing behind him at the end?

    • The country boys chasing him down the road to take what is left in his pockets
    • His own guilty conscience because he knows he should not have been in the woods
    • Correct answer: A terrifying divine presence pursuing him — a God who no longer seems friendly
    • The turkey's ghost returning to haunt him for the afternoon he spent chasing it

    The "Something Awful" with arms rigid and fingers ready to clutch is O'Connor's image of a God Ruller can no longer manage. He spent the afternoon believing he had God on his side; now, stripped of the turkey and the identity it gave him, he runs in terror from the same divine presence — no longer a protector but a pursuer. It's the earliest version of the terrifying grace that runs through all of O'Connor's mature fiction.

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12. 12

    Question 12. What is the central theme of "The Turkey"?

    • Correct answer: Grace cannot be earned, bargained for, or possessed — it arrives on its own terms
    • Children are more spiritually sensitive than adults and should trust their instincts
    • Rural Georgia is indifferent to human suffering and spiritual longing
    • Poverty and social inequality are the true causes of Ruller's crisis and humiliation

    The story's dominant theme is the inscrutability of divine grace. Ruller tries to negotiate with God — first as a blasphemer testing limits, then as a chosen child hoarding a sign. Each attempt to possess grace fails. The turkey is given and taken arbitrarily, and the story ends with the terrifying implication that grace cannot be domesticated into a self-flattering story about being special.

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13. 13

    Question 13. How does pride distort Ruller's response to finding the turkey?

    • It makes him humble and grateful, prompting him to thank God sincerely
    • Correct answer: It inflates his pride until he turns grace into a story about his own chosenness
    • It frightens him because he realizes he does not deserve such good fortune
    • It motivates him to share his luck fairly with everyone he meets in town

    The instant Ruller finds the turkey, he converts a piece of dumb luck into proof that he is special, chosen, and unlike his bad brother. His pride transforms an ambiguous event into a personal divine endorsement. O'Connor shows that pride is the lens that distorts grace — Ruller can only interpret the turkey as a mirror reflecting his own importance.

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14. 14

    Question 14. O'Connor structures Ruller's afternoon as three spiritual phases. What are they?

    • Correct answer: A blasphemous outburst, a sense of chosenness, and a violent loss
    • A prayer, a peaceful sermon, and a harmonious resolution at the end
    • A fistfight, a theft, and a slow reconciliation with the country boys
    • A vivid dream, a long hunt, and a triumphant return home with the prize

    O'Connor stages Ruller's afternoon as a miniature passion play: the blasphemy (outlaw identity), the finding of the turkey (chosen-child identity), and the theft (violent stripping of the false identity). Each phase tests and demolishes a self-image Ruller has tried to inhabit.

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15. 15

    Question 15. Which literary device does O'Connor use most pointedly in the story?

    • Stream of consciousness — O'Connor narrates Ruller's raw, unedited mental impressions
    • Allegory — every character in the story stands for a fixed abstract moral quality
    • Flashback — the story cuts back to earlier events to explain Ruller's character
    • Correct answer: Situational irony — Ruller's blasphemy is "rewarded," and his piety is ultimately punished

    Situational irony drives the plot twice: first, Ruller's profane outburst is immediately followed by finding the dead turkey (blasphemy rewarded?), and then his pious parade through town ends in humiliation and terror. The gap between what Ruller expects and what happens is the engine of both the dark comedy and the theological insight.

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16. 16

    Question 16. What does "Chosen" mean in this story?

    • Elected by popular vote to lead a group or community
    • Selected at random by chance, with no special intention behind the selection
    • Correct answer: Singled out by God for a special purpose or divine favor
    • Picked by a parent or teacher for a reward based on good behavior

    Ruller decides he is an "unusual child" whom God has personally "chosen" — singled out for divine favor and protection. O'Connor uses this language deliberately: it echoes the theological concept of election while exposing how easily anyone can mistake vanity for vocation.

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17. 17

    Question 17. Is "The Turkey" a religious story? What does it say about grace?

    • No — it is a realistic coming-of-age story that happens to include religious language
    • Yes — O'Connor endorses Ruller's belief that God chose him and the theft is unjust
    • Correct answer: Yes — the story dramatizes grace as something that cannot be earned or possessed
    • No — O'Connor presents religion as a source of delusion and harm for children

    Yes — it is one of O'Connor's earliest theological stories. She dramatizes what she called "the action of grace in territory held largely by the devil." Ruller tries to earn, bargain for, and own grace; the story insists that grace operates on its own terms. The terror at the end is not punishment — it is the recognition that God cannot be managed, and that recognition is itself a form of grace.

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18. 18

    Question 18. Which of these events actually happened in the story?

    • Ruller is eleven years old.

      Happened

      Ruller is established as an eleven-year-old boy, which O'Connor uses to ground the story's spiritual drama in the reality of childhood consciousness.

    • Ruller succeeds in catching the wounded turkey while it is still alive.

      Didn't happen

      Ruller chases the wounded turkey for hours but never catches it alive. He only finds it after it has already died — a failure that precedes his outburst and the false revelation that follows.

    • Ruller curses God after falling during the chase.

      Happened

      After slamming into a tree and failing to catch the turkey, Ruller lets loose an escalating string of profanities — experimenting with his brother Hane's voice and testing whether going bad feels different.

    • Ruller's parents appear in the woods to scold him for his blasphemy.

      Didn't happen

      Ruller's parents do not appear in the woods. The story is focused entirely on Ruller's interior experience. His parents are present only in his imagination — as voices he has overheard at night.

    • Ruller gives his last dime to an old woman named Hetty Gilman.

      Happened

      As part of his self-appointed mission to act like a divinely chosen child, Ruller prays for a beggar and gives his last dime to Hetty Gilman, interpreting her presence as God's confirmation of his special status.

    • The country boys steal the turkey after a physical fight with Ruller.

      Didn't happen

      There is no fight. The theft is quiet and effortless — the leader simply asks to see the turkey, Ruller hands it over, and the boy walks away with it. The casualness of the theft makes it more devastating.

    • Ruller ends the story running home in terror.

      Happened

      After the turkey is taken, Ruller runs toward home "certain that Something Awful was tearing behind him with its arms rigid and its fingers ready to clutch" — O'Connor's image of a God who can no longer be managed or flattered.

    • Ruller's brother Hane appears in the story in person.

      Didn't happen

      Hane never appears directly. He exists as a presence Ruller has constructed from overheard conversations — a warning, a temptation, and a foil against which Ruller measures himself.

    • The story is set in rural Georgia.

      Happened

      The story is set in the Georgia woods and a small Georgia town — O'Connor's home territory and the landscape of her characteristic Southern Gothic vision.

    • Ruller keeps his faith intact and returns home feeling at peace with God.

      Didn't happen

      The story ends with Ruller running in terror from "Something Awful" — the opposite of peace. His comfortable, self-serving faith has been demolished, replaced by the frightening awareness that God is real and unpredictable.

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19. 19

    Question 19. How does "The Turkey" anticipate O'Connor's mature fiction?

    • Correct answer: A self-assured protagonist whose illusions are stripped away by a sudden, violent reversal
    • A quiet, humble character who is slowly elevated by God's unseen hand over many years
    • A villain who receives a just punishment in proportion to the harm they have caused
    • A realistic social portrait of a community without any spiritual or theological dimension

    Ruller is the prototype for the proud, self-satisfied characters in O'Connor's later work — people whose smug certainty is demolished by a moment of grace disguised as catastrophe. The closing image of Ruller fleeing "Something Awful" with arms rigid is an early version of the divine pursuit that defines O'Connor's entire body of work.

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