The Whistle quiz

Questions and answers

1. 1

   Question 1. Which form best describes "The Whistle"?

   • Correct answer: A personal letter and moral essay
   • A political pamphlet for the public
   • A dramatic monologue in blank verse
   • An allegorical dream vision

   Right. It is addressed 'To Madame Brillon', opens by answering her letters and closes 'Adieu, my dear friend', but its middle argues a moral point like an essay.

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2. 2

   Question 2. Franklin calls himself 'indolent' and 'averse to writing.' Why does he take up his pen anyway?

   • He wants to apologize for missing her party on Saturday
   • He has promised to write a story for her every Wednesday
   • Correct answer: He fears her letters will stop if he never replies
   • Mr. B. has asked him to send a reply along with him

   He writes that "the fear of having no more of your pleasing epistles, if I do not contribute to the correspondence, obliges me to take up my pen." Mr. B. is only the reason he cannot spend the evening with her.

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3. 3

   Question 3. Franklin's friend has written him a description of Paradise. Which of her conclusions does he say he approves?

   • That Paradise is reached only by giving up worldly goods
   • Correct answer: That meanwhile we should draw all the good we can from this world
   • That friends should write each other a letter every day
   • That a person who suffers on earth is rewarded in Paradise

   He approves "your conclusion, that, in the meantime, we should draw all the good we can from this world." He then adds that we could draw even more good if we took care not to give too much for whistles.

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4. 4

   Question 4. How old was Franklin when he bought the whistle?

   • Ten
   • Five
   • Twelve
   • Correct answer: Seven

   He begins the story: "When I was a child of seven years old, my friends, on a holiday, filled my pocket with coppers."

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5. 5

   Question 5. What made the young Franklin want the whistle in the first place?

   • The shopkeeper blew a tune on it the moment he walked in
   • His brothers and sisters each owned one and teased him
   • He saw it shining in the window of a toy shop
   • Correct answer: He heard another boy's whistle on the way to the shop

   He was "charmed with the sound of a whistle, that I met by the way in the hands of another boy," so he went to the toy shop and offered all his money for one.

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6. 6

   Question 6. Why did the boy end up crying after he came home with his whistle?

   • Correct answer: His family laughed at him for paying far too much for it
   • The shopkeeper refused to let him trade it back for his coins
   • His father took the whistle away for the noise
   • He broke the whistle and could not buy another

   His brothers, sisters and cousins told him he had paid four times its worth, reminded him what else he could have bought, and "laughed at me so much for my folly, that I cried with vexation."

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7. 7

   Question 7. In the line "the reflection gave me more chagrin than the whistle gave me pleasure", what does chagrin mean?

   • Childish fear of punishment
   • Calm acceptance of a loss
   • Correct answer: Embarrassed annoyance
   • Smug pride in a bargain

   Chagrin is the vexed, embarrassed disappointment that comes from being shown up. Being laughed at for his foolish bargain hurt the boy more than the whistle pleased him.

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8. 8

   Question 8. How many times the whistle's worth did the boy pay?

   • Three times
   • Correct answer: Four times
   • Five times
   • Two times

   His family "told me I had given four times as much for it as it was worth."

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9. 9

   Question 9. How did the memory of the whistle help Franklin as he grew older?

   • It taught him to bargain hard with every shopkeeper he met
   • It made him refuse to buy toys for his own children
   • It led him to give away his money to poorer boys
   • Correct answer: When tempted to buy something unneeded, he warned himself and saved

   He writes that often, "when I was tempted to buy some unnecessary thing, I said to myself, Don't give too much for the whistle; and I saved my money." The childish mistake became a lifelong rule.

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10. 10

    Question 10. What does the man 'too ambitious of court favor' sacrifice to win it?

    • His health, his fortune and the love of his wife
    • His savings, his house and his good standing in the church
    • Correct answer: His time, repose, liberty, virtue and perhaps his friends
    • His family's lands, titles and good name at home

    Franklin sees him "sacrificing his time in attendance on levees, his repose, his liberty, his virtue, and perhaps his friends, to attain it." Levees were formal morning receptions held by a king or great lord.

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11. 11

    Question 11. What becomes of the man 'fond of appearance' who buys fine clothes, houses and equipages above his fortune?

    • Correct answer: He runs into debt and ends in prison
    • He wins the court favor he was seeking
    • He loses his friends but keeps his fortune
    • He grows ill and dies of his indulgences

    He "contracts debts, and ends his career in a prison." Franklin's verdict: "he has paid dear, very dear, for his whistle."

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12. 12

    Question 12. In the line "sacrificing every laudable improvement of the mind, or of his fortune, to mere corporeal sensations", what does corporeal mean?

    • Fleeting and quickly forgotten
    • Correct answer: Of the body, as opposed to the mind
    • Of the spirit, not the flesh
    • Belonging to a group or company

    Corporeal means bodily, of the physical body. The man of pleasure gives up the mind's improvement for bodily sensations and ruins his health, so he is "providing pain for yourself, instead of pleasure."

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13. 13

    Question 13. In short, what does Franklin say brings a great part of the miseries of mankind upon them?

    • Laws that keep the poor from getting ahead
    • Bad luck and the cruelty of others
    • Correct answer: False estimates of the value of things
    • Envy of the neighbors who own finer goods

    He concludes that "great part of the miseries of mankind are brought upon them by the false estimates they have made of the value of things, and by their giving too much for their whistles."

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14. 14

    Question 14. By the end of the letter, what has the whistle come to stand for?

    • The innocent joy of a carefree childhood
    • Correct answer: Anything people pay too much to get
    • The money that people save by thrift
    • The music and art Franklin's friend loves

    The whistle becomes an extended metaphor for any desire people overpay for: court favor, popularity, wealth, pleasure, fine things, even a bad marriage. Each of them, Franklin says, gives too much for the whistle.

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15. 15

    Question 15. In the series of examples (the courtier, the miser, the man of pleasure and the rest), which device ties them together?

    • Correct answer: A repeated refrain about paying too much for a whistle
    • Rhyming couplets that close each of the examples
    • Dialogue in which each person answers Franklin
    • Footnotes that name the real people behind each example

    Each example is built the same way (When I saw... said I...) and ends on the same refrain, such as 'This man gives too much for his whistle' and 'you pay too much for your whistle.' The parallel structure makes the lesson hammer home.

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16. 16

    Question 16. Why does Franklin mention 'the apples of King John' near the end of the letter?

    • To ask his friend to send him a basket of fruit from her garden
    • To retell a famous English legend about a greedy king's punishment
    • To show that he is far too wise to be fooled by any bargain
    • Correct answer: To admit that even he might be tempted to give too much for a whistle

    Despite "all this wisdom of which I am boasting," he says some things are so tempting that, if sold at auction, "I might very easily be led to ruin myself in the purchase." The humble, playful turn is why he says he should have charity for others.

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17. 17

    Question 17. Which of these happen in the letter?

    • Franklin has received two letters from his friend, one for Wednesday and one for Saturday.

      Happened

      The letter opens: "I RECEIVED my dear friend's two letters, one for Wednesday and one for Saturday."

    • Franklin says he will spend this Wednesday evening visiting his friend in person.

      Didn't happen

      Mr. B. is the one going to see her; instead of her company, Franklin will spend the evening thinking of her, writing to her and rereading her letters.

    • His father gave the boy a pocketful of coppers as a reward for his hard work.

      Didn't happen

      The text says "my friends, on a holiday, filled my pocket with coppers." Nothing is said about his father or a reward.

    • The boy gave all of his money for a single whistle at a shop that sold toys.

      Happened

      "I voluntarily offered and gave all my money for one."

    • He bought both a whistle and a small drum with his coppers at the toy shop.

      Didn't happen

      He gave all his money for the whistle alone; that is why his family reminded him what else he might have bought.

    • He went whistling all over the house and disturbed the whole family with it.

      Happened

      He "went whistling all over the house, much pleased with my whistle, but disturbing all the family."

    • He took the whistle back to the shop the next day and got his money back.

      Didn't happen

      Nothing in the letter says he returned it. He kept the lesson instead: Don't give too much for the whistle.

    • Franklin says a miser gives up the joys of friendship to pile up his wealth.

      Happened

      The miser gives up comfort, doing good, esteem "and the joys of benevolent friendship, for the sake of accumulating wealth."

    • He says the man of pleasure gains good health along with his fine sensations.

      Didn't happen

      The opposite: he is "ruining his health in their pursuit," providing pain for himself instead of pleasure.

    • He pities a sweet-tempered girl who is married to an ill-natured husband.

      Happened

      "When I see a beautiful sweet-tempered girl married to an ill-natured brute of a husband, What a pity, say I, that she should pay so much for a whistle!"

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