Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. What physical state is Gantry in when the novel begins?
2. Gantry is a student at Terwillinger College, a Baptist university in Gritzmacher Springs, Kansas. By what nickname is he known on campus?
3. Which of these characters is Gantry's irreligious, freethinking roommate, who is also his one real friend?
4. After his reluctant "profession of faith" during a bout of drunkenness, Elmer is invited by the president of the college to deliver a sermon to the student body. At a complete loss over what to say, he ends up using a passage by an atheistic philosopher and author as the basis of his sermon. This becomes the prototype of a stock sermon, which he uses again and again throughout his career as an evangelist. What writer's words provide Gantry's "inspiration"?
5. Ultimately, Elmer determines to become a minister of the Gospel; however, there is one hurdle to be overcome. He has been told that he is not truly fit to become a Baptist minister unless he receives "the Call". Which of these ultimately causes Elmer to experience "the Call"?
6. Elmer is sent to his first ministry at a church in Schoenheim, where he encounters the lovely Lulu Baines, the daughter of the church's deacon. What furry animal is Lulu compared to upon her first appearance (and several times thereafter)?
7. At one point, Gantry disgraces himself and is blackballed from active ministry (though he remains an ordained minister) when he becomes drunk on a train and ends up in bed with a strange woman on Easter Sunday. What occupation does he (temporarily) take up?
8. Out of curiosity, Gantry goes to see the female evangelist Sharon Falconer and is utterly entranced. He at once determines to meet her and become both her business and romantic partner. In a conversation with Elmer, which of these does Sharon compare herself to?
9. During a getaway with Elmer at her "family home" in Virginia, Sharon reveals herself to be quite as big a con-artist as Gantry himself. Which of the following surprising revelations does Sharon NOT reveal during their stay in Virginia?
10. Sharon tragically dies when a fire destroys the newly built Waters of Jordan Tabernacle on the night of its first revival meeting. Despite Elmer's desperate attempts to drag her with him out of the building, Sharon clings to the wooden cross on the stage and pushes him away. What are his last words to her before fleeing from the inferno?
11. How many lives (apart from his own) does Gantry save on the night of the fire?
12. Gantry finds it rough going making it as a preacher on his own after Sharon's death. Eventually, he decides to convert to one of the more mainstream religions in order to obtain a comfortable position as pastor of his own church. What religion does he convert to?
13. How many children do Elmer and Cleo have?
14. Eventually, Gantry is appointed to the Wellspring Church in Zenith (a fictional city where a number of Lewis' novels take place). What other fictional denizen of Zenith, himself the title character of a previous Lewis novel, makes a brief appearance in the story?
15. On two seperate occasions, Gantry reflects that it would be better if his wife Cleo were dead.
16. Gantry is welcomed as the guest of the saintly Andrew Pengilly at the height of his career as a crusader for Christian virtue. After listening to Gantry describe his work in Zenith, Pengilly asks him a startling and quite penetrating question; what is it?
17. Gantry borrows $100 from this character, who was a fellow student with him at the seminary, at the outset of his career as a Methodist preacher. Later in the novel, he turns viciously on him and brings about his downfall. Which of these is it?
18. Which of these women traps Gantry in a compromising situation and very nearly succeeds in ruining him?
19. Gantry sucessfully weathers the scandal and, at the end of the novel, is rapturously greeted by his devoted and forgiving flock. The last paragraph of the novel is a stirring address to his congregation; what minor, but significant, thing happens in the penultimate paragraph?
20. In researching and preparing this novel, Sinclair Lewis did a bit of preaching himself.
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