Elmer Gantry Trivia Quiz

Answer: Drunk

The first sentence of the novel is the terse statement "Elmer Gantry was drunk". The novel opens in a bar in Cato, Missouri, where Gantry and his roommate (and only real friend) Jim Lefferts are applying themselves to the bottle, though only Elmer is truly drunk.

Although Gantry probably could not be called an alcoholic, his fondness for alcohol, tobacco, and women is a recurring theme of the novel, even when his self-indulgence threatens his position and his livelihood. Gantry is a man perpetually dominated by his physical needs and desires, particularly his libido; his state of inebriation at the outset of the story is a fitting introduction.

Answer: Hell-cat

Gantry is known as a formidable hell raiser and fighter, particularly when he is in his cups. His specialty is flying into an inebriated rage at anyone who might insult his friend Jim or at the sight of any weak person being bullied; what Lewis refers to as "...that most blissful condition to which a powerful young man can attain- unrighteous violence in a righteous cause." It is in this ungodly state that Elmer makes his first act of faith, when he comes upon a group of skeptics heckling a young man preaching the Gospel. To his chagrin, the preacher turns out to be his despised classmate Eddie Fislinger; he ends up publicly acknowledging his religious "faith" purely to have a reason to start a fight.

Answer: Jim Lefferts

In the beginning, Gantry is something of a freethinker himself, though in his case it seems to have more to do with youthful rebellion than with any deeply held convictions, which he is probably incapable of. He admires Jim's resolute unbelief and independence of spirit.

Despite the almost universal admiration and awe in which he is held on campus, Gantry has no truly intimate friends apart from Jim, and never develops any in his subsequent life and career after college. Gantry becomes estranged from Jim after his "conversion"; during his career as an evangelist, he frequently relates cautionary and/or inspirational anecdotes about his unbelieving friend Jim (each of them a whopping lie) to his congregations. Gantry spots Jim in a crowd late in the novel. Jim's aged, downcast demeanor and remnant of a prairie accent leave Gantry with a feeling of smug superiority at his own glossy success; at the same time, he feels a pang of loss at the unbridgeable void that is now between him and his old friend and, subconsciously, still craves his approval and dreads his scorn.

Answer: Robert Ingersoll

While he is agonizing over the sermon he must deliver, Elmer's roommate Jim mockingly throws him a volume of Ingersoll's writings. Indignant at first, Elmer is struck by the following passage:
"Love is the only bow on life's dark cloud. It is the Morning and the Evening Star. It shines upon the cradle of the babe, and sheds its radiance upon the quiet tomb. It is the mother of Art, inspirer of poet, patriot, and philosopher. It is the air and light of every heart, builder of every home, kindler of every fire on every hearth. It was the first to dream of immortality. It fills the world with melody, for Music is the voice of love."
Calculating (rightly, as it turns out) that no one in the audience will have read Ingersoll, Gantry devises a mangled version of the atheistic philosopher's discourse on Love as the basis of his sermon. He repeats this sermon in different forms countless times throughout the novel.

Answer: Liquor

Elmer is mystified as to the exact nature of the mysterious "call" he is supposed to receive and is wandering about the campus in a forlorn state. He comes upon Jim, who notes that he doesn't look well and invites him to share a bottle of corn liquor he had obtained from a moonshiner.

In a state of slight intoxication, Elmer experiences a sense of elevation and goodwill which, he determines, can only mean that he has finally received "the Call". He bursts in ecstatically upon the dean and a group of faculty members who had been praying for him and announces the happy news.

The elders are overjoyed, though a few of them do notice that his breath smells strongly of peppermint.

Answer: A kitten

When she first appears, Lulu is described as "... a gray-and-white kitten with a pink bow." Gantry is consumed with desire for her and arranges, by various subterfuges, to be intimate with her on a number of occasions. When the subject of marriage comes up, however, Lulu undergoes an anthropomorphic change; Lewis writes that "...he [ Gantry] didn't want to marry this brainless little fluffy chick, who would be of no help in impressing rich parishioners." Gantry regards Lulu purely as a sexual object; at one point, he is forced into an engagement with her when their intimacies come to her father's attention.

However he cleverly slips out of this trap by treating Lulu badly and arranging for her to be alone with her erstwhile swain Floyd Naylor.

While Floyd is comforting the distraught Lulu, Gantry arranges for himself and her father to surprise the couple in a seemingly compromising position. Gantry is thus released from his obligation, and it is Floyd who ends up marrying Lulu at the point of a shotgun. Floyd, who is wild about Lulu, is actually quite pleased with this development; Gantry is able to extricate himself, not only from his engagement to Lulu, but from his appointment to Schoenheim, while adeptly playing the part of the injured lover. Only Lulu fares badly; when Gantry takes his leave of her, she is described as "...huddled, with shrunk shoulders, her face insane with fear."

Answer: Traveling salesman

Gantry spends two years as a traveling salesman for the Pequot company (his fall from grace occurred when he encountered a salesman on a train; the man took him for a fellow salesman while watching him dash off his sermon on a notepad). He finds his way out of this grind when he encounters the charismatic Sharon Falconer.

Answer: Joan of Arc

Sharon is an amazing woman, who alternates between states of extreme self-delusion and equally extreme self-effacement. It is in a state of the former that she tells Elmer that she is the incarnation of Joan of Arc and Catherine of Sienna. Considering her ultimate tragic and fiery end in a tabernacle fire, her identification with the former is highly prophetic.

Answer: Her hair is not her own

Sharon's hair is, presumably, her own. Almost everything else about her is revealed to be false. When Elmer confesses himself to be a phony, Sharon counters by revealing that the "family estate" that she has brought him to was, in fact, purchased about two years ago and the devoted servants who had greeted them upon their arrival had come with the property.

Moreover, her name is actually Katie Jonas; she hails from Utica, where she was the daughter of a bricklayer. During the night, Sharon invites Elmer into a room which contains an outlandish and enormous shrine comprising Catholic saints, such as the Virgin Mary, St. Anne, and St. Catherine along with pagan female deities such as Hera, Ishtar, Astarte, and Isis.

In an exotically bizarre scene, she intones a bizarre litany to the various deities and invites Gantry to read from the Song of Solomon, after which they make love.

Answer: "You can go to Hell!"

Elmer twice tries to pull Sharon from the stage, however a strange sense of exultation overtakes her and she clings to the white wooden cross and violently pushes him away both times. In a fury of frustration, he yells at her "You can go to Hell!" before abandoning her to her fate. Ironically, these are similar to the words he addressed to Jim Lefferts years earlier when he left their dormitory room to deliver his sermon to the student body. Apart from Jim and his mother, Sharon is the only person for whom Elmer ever feels genuine love.

Answer: None

Apart from his futile effort to rescue Sharon, Gantry's behavior during the fire is motivated by naked fear and pure self-preservation. He pushes several people away from a blocked doorway in order to save himself, striking down a young woman in the process. Upon swimming safely to shore (the tabernacle had been built on a pier), he drags about thirty people to shore who had already safely touched bottom.

He later tells the reporters that he had been in the process of saving Sharon and another member of the group when a falling beam crushed them. All of the members of Sharon's Gospel group, apart from Elmer and some members of the choir, are killed in the blaze. Elmer discovers Sharon's body the next morning, still clutching the charred cross.

Answer: Methodism

Gantry briefly tries his hand as a New Thought shaman; he finds New Thought to be easier to devote himself to because he unequivocally believes it to be total bunkum, unlike Christianity, which he suspects to be at least possibly, or partially true. His "conversion" to Methodism is motivated by pure pragmatism; he remains blissfully ignorant of the teachings of John Wesley, though he is vaguely aware that his new religion is less rigid than the Baptist faith. Gantry is appointed pastor at the obscure village of Banjo Crossing, where he meets the comely Cleo Benham, whom he later marries.

His ambition is to become a bishop.

Answer: Two

Gantry does not love Cleo, though he finds her attractive; he chooses her for his wife because she is the right "type", reasonably intelligent, loyal, and easily dominated. He subsequently makes life hell for the devoted and docile Cleo; the roughness and brutality of his passion on their honeymoon repulses her and her consequent frigidity infuriates him.

They have two children together, Nat and Bernice (nicknamed "Bunny"). After the birth of their second child, the Gantry's occupy separate bedrooms; Cleo gains weight and becomes physically unappealing to Gantry. Even Gantry's mother expresses her disapproval of his treatment of Cleo, and he has virtually no relationship with his children, who are mere props in his household.

Answer: George F. Babbitt

Gantry mobilizes a group of local clergyman to form a Committee on Public Morals to conduct raids on the Red Light districts in the area. The committee at one point assembles at the Zenith Athletic Club for a luncheon meeting. Lewis writes: "To one George Babbitt, a real estate man, Dr. Drew, the Presbyterian, clamored "Hey Georgie! Got a flask along? Lunching with a bunch of preachers, and I reckon they'll want a drink!"
Babbitt and Gantry share a number of traits; each steadfastly maintains a good opinion of himself while behaving, in fact, like a total scoundrel. Both treat their wives badly and largely ignore their children's needs. And both are completely motivated by pragmatism and public opinion, though Gantry courts public opinion out of sheer ambition, whereas Babbitt fears losing his comfortable place in society. In many ways, however, Gantry is far more despicable than Babbitt.
In addition to the cameo appearance by Babbitt, Lewis has Frank Shallard's wife Bess make some disparaging remarks on Lewis' earlier novel "Main Street": "Lord, how that book of Lewis', 'Main Street,' did bore me, as much of it as I read; it just rambled on forever, and all he could see was that some of the Gopher Prairie hicks didn't go to literary teas quite as often as he does!-that was all he could see among those splendid heroic pioneers!"

Answer: True

In Chapter 27, Elmer reflects on his ambition to become a bishop; he fantasizes that "...I'll be entertaining the bon ton senators and everybody...Cleo would look fine at a big dinner , with the right dress...if only she wasn't so darn priggish. Oh, maybe she'll die before then...I think I'll marry an Episcopalian...I wonder if I could get an Episcopal bishopric." Four chapters later, he receives a visit from his mother, who criticizes him for his insensitive treatment of Cleo. Stung by her remarks, he goes to his room and makes an abortive attempt at prayer, but is distracted by fantasies of his brilliant future, and of his secretary Hettie Dowler, with whom he is having an affair.

In frustration, he rages "O God, why can't Cleo die so I can marry Hettie!" (possibly the most fervent prayer he has ever uttered).

The utter casualness with which Gantry entertains these thoughts is truly chilling and vividly illustrates the sub-human status in which he holds his wife.

Answer: "Why don't you believe in God?"

Pengilly is a kindly man of simple, unquestioning faith; at one point, he offers some passing solace to the tormented Frank Shallard. He is much impressed with what he hears of Gantry's crusade against sin, though he himself does not feel that there is quite as much sin in the world as Gantry seems to.

He is honored to welcome Gantry as a guest in his humble abode and listens patiently as Gantry enumerates the work he has done among the congregation of the Wellspring Church in Zenith. After Gantry has regaled him with stories of his acheivements in building up the parish and increasing the flow of money into the collection plate, Pengilly pauses for a moment and suddenly asks "Mr Gantry, why don't you believe in God?" We are never told of Gantry's reaction to this astonishing question.

Answer: Frank Shallard

Frank Shallard was Gantry's partner in his first parish; his subsequent career forms a tragic parallel to Gantry's own. Both enter the Christian ministry largely at the urging of their parents (Gantry's mother and Frank's father), neither could really be called a devout believer; Gantry is far too cynical, while Frank's faith is continually beset by doubts. Both men marry rather motherly, devoted women whom they do not really love in the romantic sense (Frank's wife is a comfortable, homey woman named Bess who is more mother to him than wife, though he treats her far better than Gantry treats Cleo). Frank Shallard's fatal weakness (actually a virtue) is his sincerity; when his religious faith finally gives way, he feels that he cannot continue to preach the Gospel and begins to propogate a type of secular humanism in place of religion.

When Gantry receives word of Frank's open questioning of the faith, he denounces his erstwhile associate from the pulpit and succeeds in stirring up considerable public opinion against him.

While giving a speech at a meeting hall, Frank is attacked and kidnapped by a group of "Christian" thugs and beaten to within an inch of his life. He survives, but is left half-blind and a complete invalid, to be cared for and read to like a child by the devoted Bess. Gantry visits him and expresses righteous outrage at the beating, promising to bring the perpetrators to justice; he subsequently dismisses both Frank and the entire affair from his mind.

Answer: Hettie Dowler

Gantry hires the attractive Hettie as his secretary, replacing the inept Miss Bundle, and the two soon begin having an affair. Gantry believes Hettie to be unmarried until she and her husband, Oscar, trap Gantry in a "badger game" (Hettie arranges for Oscar to "discover" them in a passionate embrace) and try to blackmail him. Gantry at first doesn't realize that Hetty herself is in on it until he notices her grinning after her husband leaves.

He applies for help from the influential T.J. Rigg, who hires a private investigator to get the dirt on the Dowlers.

The blackmail scheme ultimately falls apart when Oscar's lawyer, Mannie Silverhorn, gets drunk and spills the whole plot to a reporter, who obtains from him a notarized admission of the plot.

Hettie is forced into signing a confession of her plot to extort money from Gantry; in this confession, she disavows any romantic relationship with Gantry, insisting "His relations to me were always those of a gentleman and a Christian pastor."

Answer: He notices a pretty woman in the choir.

Just as Elmer is pledging to lead his congregation to seek purity, prayerful life, and freedom from al temptations, he turns to include the choir: "...for the first time he saw that there was a new singer, a girl with charming ankles and lively eyes with whom he would certainly have to become well acquainted." Without skipping a beat, Gantry continues his sermon, vowing to lead a crusade to make the United States a moral and Christian nation (God help America!).

Answer: True

Lewis first got the idea for the novel from a preacher who wanted to discuss his portrayal of the preacher Dr. Drew in "Babbitt" and asked why he didn't write a novel using a preacher as the protagonist. Lewis interviewed and observed a number of preachers and was particularly impressed by one L.M. Birkhead, a Unitarian minister who revealed himself to be an agnostic.

After meeting Birkhead, Lewis declared "I've got my man!"; there are echoes of Birkhead's career in the details of Gantry's conversion to Methodism (Birkhead had converted from the Baptist faith to Methodism before settling on Unitarianism) and in the career and character development of Frank Shallard. In addition to observing various preachers, Lewis did a bit of preaching himself in order to get the proper feeling to convey in the novel.

This must have been rather interesting, as Lewis was himself an agnostic. On one widely publicized occasion, he candidly expressed his personal beliefs about religion to a congregation and invited the Almighty to strike him dead if he were wrong. Nothing happened.