All's Well: Endings That (Somehow) Satisfy Quiz

Answer: Sivilize me

Huckleberry's adventure begins when he runs away because the Widow Douglas "allowed she would sivilize me". On returning from his escapades, poor Huck becomes the object of another designing woman. "Aunt Sally she's going to adopt me and sivilize me, and I can't stand it." Huck laments.

Answer: They lived happily ever after.

"Happily ever after" isn't part of either ending, although it is what Goldman's father deceived the young William Goldman into thinking was the ending. Morgenstern's ending has Inigo's wound reopening, Fezzik taking a wrong turn and Buttercup's horse throwing a shoe while all the while Humperdinck is in hot pursuit. And who could ever forget the final words of Goldman's book (I did; I had to look it up): "But I also have to say, for the umpty-umpth time, that life isn't fair.

It's just fairer than death, that's all." To understand how this ending could satisfy, one would have to have read the book!

Answer: A dollar sign

In Ayn Rand's 1957 fantasy, the world is on the brink of succumbing to a vast conspiracy that will result in the collapse of civilization worldwide. A single man has recognized both the threat and the only way it can be averted. Carefully, John Galt spreads his message to the few heroic individuals able to understand it, saving them so that together they can ultimately save the world.

His command of advanced technology is an important factor in his ultimate victory. His principal discovery, a method for generating energy from static electricity, is certainly pure science fiction.

Answer: Sam

Many authors leave us with nagging doubts as to the ultimate fates of the characters to whom we have become attached. Those who wished more information regarding the fates the many beloved characters that J. R. Tolkein created for his widely read series of books that comprised "The Lord of the Rings" eventually got it; for our magnificent author had as much difficulty ending his remarkable tale as he had in ending his remarkable sentences, which (much as this one has) could run endlessly on before finding their way, at last, to a full stop.

Not content with the six chapters of loose end tying that followed the destruction of the ring, our bard saw fit to provide six appendices that included, among many other interesting items, still further information as to the futures of the main characters of the trilogy. And I could only wish there was more!

Answer: False

"All's Well That Ends Well" chronicles the commoner Helen's cunning, some might even say conniving, pursuit of the noble Bertram. Once in Act iv and once in Act v, Helena says, "All's well that ends well..." In the first instance, in Act iv, Helena states what might be considered her philosophy, "All's well that ends well; still the fine's the crown whate'er the course, the end is the renown." The play does indeed end well for Helena who, in the end, captures the affection of the man she has been pursuing.

Answer: St. John Rivers

Although Jane does not accept St. John's marriage proposal, St. John Rivers' impending death is the last event treated in "Jane Eyre". The book ends with Jane quoting St. John Rivers quoting St. John the Apostle: "My Master," he says, "has forewarned me. Daily he announces more distinctly - 'Surely I come quickly!' and hourly I more eagerly respond - 'Amen; even so come, Lord Jesus!'"

Answer: Natley's whore

I have a talent for suspending disbelief and becoming entirely engrossed in the novel I am reading. Thus, I can remember that, having stayed up until the early hours of the morning reading "Catch-22", on hearing (reading) the news that Orr was in Sweden, I leapt out of my chair, exhilarated, and read the short remainder of the book pacing from family room to hallway, hallway to living room and back again, over and over.

Catch-22 was invoked throughout the book to justify an increasing number of insane regulations and immoral activities on the part of authorities. Not until three chapters before the end of the book is scope of Catch-22 explained to the reader. An old woman tells Yossarian that MPs informed her, "Catch-22 says they have a right to do anything we can't stop them from doing."

Answer: He hears the village's bell.

A "war" book, written during the war in which it was set, "A Bell For Adano" won a Pulitzer Prize for author John Hersey in 1945. As I read it, I became increasingly convinced that had my own father, who fought in Germany in 1944, been given charge of Adano, my father would have performed in exactly the same fashion as the book's protagonist.

The book somehow captures the essence of the best aspects of the ethics and conscience of that generation of Americans.

Answer: All of these

A short passage about an Englishman becoming a samurai that author James Clavell read in his daughter's schoolbook became the inspiration for this 1975 novel. By 1990, it had sold 15 million copies worldwide. Clavell wrote screenplays as well as novels including "The Fly", "To Sir With Love" and "The Great Escape".

Answer: Nougat

Its not every relationship that begins with the boy in the girl's "killer death grip". Nor have I read any other novels where chocolate candies are used to wreak havoc on one's supernatural enemies. In fact, this quiz nearly went unfinished because I started to read the book again. If you haven't read this one, don't hesitate. I really haven't told you anything important about the ending... and it's very satisfying.