Robert Cormier Trivia

1. In "In The Middle Of The Night", how did Mr. Colbert get into trouble, as a teenager, that still follows him years later?

From Quiz Dead Author Tribute- Robert Cormier

Answer: he went to inspect a noise on the balcony with a box of matches, as order by his boss

John-Paul Colbert was working at a theater on the night of a show for underprivileged children. There was a strange sound up on the balcony, which his boss used as a storage area. He sent John-Paul up there, with a box of matches, to check it out. He lit a match so that he could see, but he accidentally set the box on fire. Then the balcony collapsed because the sound was cracking. After the fire, many of the children were dead. Then his boss committed suicide. A lot of people blamed him, even though it wasn't his fault. Years later, when his sixteen-year old son asks him why he lets people blame him, he says that it is because it makes them feel better to have someone to blame.

From Quiz "Tenderness" by: Robert Cormier

Answer: a teenage serial killer

Eric killed three innocent girls, who he got tender with before he buried them. They all had one thing in common: they looked very similar to his mother.

From Quiz A Cheesy Quiz Part Two

Answer: Adam and Brint

This transcript is the first indication that the book is different in its construct. As the story unfolds and more of these transcripts appear, the reader begins to see there is a clear connection between the bike trip narrative and this second part--the taped transcripts. It is later that the reader discovers that "T" stands for Brint.

From Quiz A Cheesy Quiz Part One

Answer: Adam

The novel opens with a first person narrative of a teen boy named Adam who has decided to visit his father.

From Quiz "After the First Death"

Answer: she had a weak bladder

She wet herself several times during the terrible ordeal of her bus being hijacked. It was incredibly embarrassing for her.

From Quiz The Chocolate War and Beyond

Answer: the school chocolate sale

Brother Leon is the vice principal, who is in charge while the head principal is away. He decides to raise the prices of chocolate for the school's fundraiser and raise the amount of chocolate he wants each student to sell. To help him with this task he asks Archie, the leader of the Vigils, to help him because he knows that Archie has power over the student body.

From Quiz "Tenderness" by: Robert Cormier

Answer: kittens (and his aunt's bird)

He began with small animals, until he graduated to people. Then he could kill his special victims.

From Quiz A Cheesy Quiz Part Two

Answer: first person

The book starts out with a first person narrative of a teen boy who goes by the name of Adam. However, as the story unfolds there is more than just Adam's point of view of the story to process. There is a three-way narrative that moves the plot along--an unusual writing device when the book came out.

From Quiz A Cheesy Quiz Part One

Answer: To visit his father

Adam wants to visit his father who is staying in a hospital, a couple of towns away. He rides his father's old bike, wearing his father's old hat and coat.

From Quiz "After the First Death"

Answer: Nettie

He fell in love with Nettie Halversham, but when he asked her out she calmly refused him and broke his heart.

From Quiz The Chocolate War and Beyond

Answer: refuse to sell chocolates for ten days

In order to annoy Brother Leon, Archie and Obie decide to assign someone to not sell any chocolates for ten days and they end up picking Jerry. He obeys and doesn't sell chocolates, but after ten days he still doesn't sell any. He is not completely sure why he decides to do this, but maybe he just wants to disturb the universe.

From Quiz Dead Author Tribute- Robert Cormier

Answer: he is a rapist

Larry LaSalle used to run the rec center, and then he went off to war and came back with a medal. He goes to the rec center that night with Francis and Nicole. Then he asks Francis to leave early so that he can dance with Nicole alone. Francis doesn't leave, he just goes out into the other room. He hears her get raped, but he is too afraid to go and save her. "I had my bully, and it was excruciating. Not only the bully, but the intimidation I felt." -Robert Cormier

From Quiz "Tenderness" by: Robert Cormier

Answer: murdering his mom and step father

He prepared himself by doing some practice murders. That gave him the strength and confidence to kill the people he had wanted to kill in the first place.

From Quiz A Cheesy Quiz Part One

Answer: his favorite stuffed animal

Adam brings along his childhood stuffed animal, Pokey, as a gift for his father.

From Quiz "After the First Death"

Answer: chocolate

They fed the children chocolate so they would be calm and not scream while Artkin and Miro hijacked the bus.

From Quiz The Chocolate War and Beyond

Answer: loosen the screws on furniture

He is asked to loosen the screws on everything in one of the classrooms so that, when the students sit at their desks they all fall apart. He doesn't want to, but he ends up doing it anyway, out of fear. The teacher has a mental break down and has to be taken away. Goober feels very guilty, but this isn't the first time that he will feel guilty in this book.

From Quiz Dead Author Tribute- Robert Cormier

Answer: Lori was walking through the woods soon after Eric had killed a girl

They met a few years before the book takes place. Lori had just turned twelve and was walking through the woods. Then she ran into Eric, who is a serial killer and had just murdered a girl. She started talking to him and made up some stuff about her birthday, which her mother had forgotten about, but Eric realized that she is lying. Then a gang came by and started hitting on Lori and Eric got them to leave.

From Quiz "Tenderness" by: Robert Cormier

Answer: a crazy, runaway, stalker

She sees Eric Poole, a boy she once met years ago, on TV. She develops a fixation on him and then runs away to go and find him.

From Quiz A Cheesy Quiz Part Two

Answer: search for identity

While aspects of the other choices do occur in the story, Adam's bike journey primarily signifies Adam's search for his growing need to go from trusting child to savvy adolescent. His bike journey represents the teenager's need to pull away from the nurturing of the parent to the independence of becoming an adult.

From Quiz A Cheesy Quiz Part One

Answer: clam chowder

Adam decides upon a bowl of clam chowder, and dislikes that the counter guy has placed a pat of butter into his soup. Adam is too polite to say anything about the butter.

From Quiz Dead Author Tribute- Robert Cormier

Answer: from uncle to nephew

Paul's uncle taught him how to use the fade and how to control the evil that tries to take over you when you're in it. When Paul grows up, he watches his nephews closely, but none of them have the fade. Then he discovers that one of his sisters had a son who nobody knew about, who was adopted. His name is Ozzie. He figured out how to use the fade himself, but not how to control the evil that is taking over him. Paul tracks him down and tries to help him.

From Quiz "Tenderness" by: Robert Cormier

Answer: his aunt's house

He goes to stay with his aunt for awhile. She is very nice to him, although he suspects that there is a hidden fear.

From Quiz A Cheesy Quiz Part Two

Answer: A man states there is no Amy that lives at the number dialed

At first Adam cannot reach Amy, and then as the story continues he does get someone on the line, but it seems like Adam has reached a wrong number. Finally, the man who answers gets annoyed saying he has had the number for three years and states no Amy has ever lived there that he knows of.

From Quiz A Cheesy Quiz Part One

Answer: Whipper

Whipper is one of those bullies who is bored and finds targeting Adam to be a source of entertainment. He and his friends later run Adam off the road and although he is shaken, Adam is not seriously hurt.

From Quiz "After the First Death"

Answer: her shoe

She found an extra key in her pocket and hid it in her shoe, hoping she would be able to use it to start the bus and drive away.

From Quiz Dead Author Tribute- Robert Cormier

Answer: an airplane in somebody's backyard

Eugene sees an airplane in someone's small backyard, and doesn't understand how it could possibly land and take off. He comes back later and it's gone. He tells his siblings and cousins, but they don't believe him. Then his dad gets home and tells everybody about the airplane he saw in somebody's backyard, and that Eugene saw it too.

From Quiz "Tenderness" by: Robert Cormier

Answer: hitchhiking

While she was hitchhiking there, she stole the wallet of a nervous man who picked her up and, even though he didn't want to, paid to touch her.

From Quiz A Cheesy Quiz Part Two

Answer: elderly couple

Adam is run into the ditch by a group of unruly teens looking for kicks. A cheerful old man and his ailing grumpy wife help Adam out by loading his bike into their car and giving him a lift to the next town. The elderly couple might represent the wisdom and security that older people can offer teens as they are looking for answers on their journey through life.

From Quiz "After the First Death"

Answer: Mark

Ben's father was a general, working for a special organization called Inner Delta.

From Quiz The Chocolate War and Beyond

Answer: magic

Raymond, a new student at Trinity, is a magician. He meets Obie when he is going to be assigned a task, but The Vigils decide not to do it. Obie takes an interest in Raymond's magic and they become friends, but their friendship doesn't last. Raymond shows him a project the he's been working on. It's a guillotine. He puts a cabbage in and breaks it, to show that it's real. Then he flips the safety switch so a person can stick their head in and be ok.

This is category 18844

= Top 5% Rated Quiz, Top 10% Rated Quiz, Top 20% Rated Quiz, A Well Rated Quiz
= added recently, = Editor's Pick = FunTrivia Editor = Gold Member
Teachers / educators: FunTrivia welcomes the use of our website and quizzes in the classroom as a teaching aid or for preparing and testing students. See our education section. Our quizzes are printable and may be used as question sheets by k-12 teachers, parents, and home schoolers.

 ·  All questions, answers, and quiz content on this website is copyright FunTrivia, Inc and may not be reproduced without permission. Any images from TV shows and movies are copyright their studios, and are being used under "fair use" for commentary and education.