Brothers and Sisters in Literature Part 2 Quiz

Answer: Gavroche

Eponine and Gavroche are two of the five unfortunate children of the terrifying Thenadiers.

Hugo was a lifelong advocate for the poor and the oppressed. When "Les Miserables" was published, the poor recognized it as a cry for justice on their behalf, and workers pooled their money to get a copy. Upon Hugo's death, more than two million people, mostly poor, marched in his funeral procession. His work had a profound effect on the writings of Dickens, Dostoyevsky, and Tolstoy, all of whom wrote passionately against inequality and injustice in their own societies.

Answer: Phoebe

Holden is not fond of many people, but he'd do just about anything for "old Phoebe."

Ackley lives in the dorm near Holden; Rudolf is a pseudonym Holden invents for himself; and Jane is a girl he'd like to know better.

While "Catcher in the Rye" is Salinger's best-known work, he also produced many short stories for "The New Yorker", including those that comprise his book "Nine Stories." His novels "Franny and Zooey", "Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters", and "Seymour: An Introduction", like many of his stories, are about the fictional Glass family, vaudeville performers and child prodigies.

Answer: Laertes

Laertes blames Hamlet for his sister Ophelia's death, and, really, you can see his point.

Polonius is the father of Ophelia and Laertes; Claudius is Hamlet's murderous uncle; and Horatio is Hamlet's faithful, but rather helpless, friend.

Most people agree that "Hamlet" is one of the greatest plays ever written. In addition to its unforgettable language and its deep meditations on life and death, it provides actors with an endlessly variable role upon which to put their own stamp. Notable performances of "Hamlet" in the last 75 years or so have included those of Laurence Olivier, John Gielgud, Richard Burton, Kenneth Branagh, David Tennant, and many more -- each giving it an utterly unique spin. Staging varies, too: Ethan Hawke's "Hamlet" in the year 2000 presents "To be or not to be" in a Blockbuster store!

Answer: Michael

Jane and Michael also have siblings John, Barbara, and Annabelle. In the books, very different from the Disney movie versions, Mary Poppins is vain, curt, and strict, and always denies that the fantastic adventures the children have with her happened at all. Nevertheless, you can't help but love her.

P.L. Travers was born in Australia, and was an actress for a time, performing Shakespeare in Australia and New Zealand. Among the literature that inspired her was J.M. Barrie's "Peter Pan". She wrote eight "Mary Poppins" books, including "Mary Poppins Opens the Door", "Mary Poppins Comes Back", and "Mary Poppins in the Kitchen". She is also the author of "About the Sleeping Beauty", five different versions of the fairy tale. The first one begins, "Once upon a time, a time that never was and is always..."

Answer: Tom

Maggie and Tom have a troubled relationship, but they end up very much together.

Early in her career, George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) was an editor and contributor to the "Westminster Review", a London political journal. Her last essay for the "Review" was entitled "Silly Novels by Lady Novelists", ridiculing the trivial writing that was being produced by women at the time. Soon thereafter, she set out to correct the situation, producing such classics as "Middlemarch", "Adam Bede", and "Silas Marner", as well as "The Mill on the Floss" -- not a silly novel among them.

Answer: Andrew

Peter and Andrew were fishing in the Sea of Galilee when Jesus found and called them. Likewise, brothers James and John were mending their nets when they got the call.

The Gospels of Matthew and Mark describe this moment in a similar way. Luke tells us that Jesus came aboard Peter's boat and that, after a night without a fish in sight, Peter took Jesus' suggestion, put out his nets, and caught so many fish the nets were breaking. John gives us the detail that, on first meeting, Jesus bestowed the name Peter on Simon -- that is, "Rock". According to the Ignatius Catholic Study Bible, this was not ordinarily a personal name; one might speculate that it was a comment on Peter's personality, which has been called both strong and stubborn.

Answer: Miriam

Miriam's song in Exodus is thought by some to be the oldest passage in the Bible, based on the very ancient form of Hebrew in which it is written. It celebrates the deliverance of the Israelite people through the Red Sea, escaping Pharaoh and his chariots and men. Presumably Miriam is also the sister who watched while baby Moses was discovered in his basket by Pharaoh's daughter, and who made sure their mother was brought along to take care of Moses in Pharaoh's household.

Answer: Germanicus

Germanicus is Claudius' kind, successful, and beloved brother.

As for the incorrect answers, Livia is the murderous mother of Tiberius and the very unpleasant grandmother of Claudius. Tiberius is the second emperor of Rome. Caligula is Emperor after Tiberius and quite unpleasant in his own right.

Graves wrote "I, Claudius" in the form of an autobiography, perhaps inspired by the fact that the actual Emperor Claudius did write an autobiography which is now lost. Graves' fictional Claudius tells us that his first autobiography, for political reasons, was dull, but in this one he is "hiding nothing... My hope is that you, my eventual readers of a hundred generations ahead, or more, will feel yourselves directly spoken to, as if by a contemporary."

Answer: Cal

The relationship between Aron and Cal is complicated, based as it is on the relationship of Cain and Abel in the Bible.

As for the incorrect answers: Cal and Aron's father, Adam, has a similarly complex relationship with his own brother Charles -- also based on that of Cain and Abel. Lee is the wise family retainer who tries to bring some normalcy to a troubled home. Samuel is a great guy, not without flaws, based on Steinbeck's own grandfather.

"East of Eden" is set in California's Salinas Valley, where Steinbeck grew up. The principal family in the book, the Trasks, are fictitious, but their neighbors, the Hamiltons, are Steinbeck's own family. Steinbeck claimed that everything he wrote about the Hamiltons was true.

Answer: Dimitri

Ivan, Dimitri, and Alyosha are brothers. Fyodor is their father, Zosima is a local mystic, and Liza is Alyosha's girlfriend. Smerdyakov (spoiler alert!) turns out to be another brother -- an underhanded but unfortunate one.

Dostoyevsky spent four years in a prison camp in Siberia for his membership in a literary group that celebrated books banned by the czar. During that time, he was subjected to a mock execution: he and his fellow prisoners were arranged before a firing squad, and only told at the last moment that their death sentences had been commuted. This horrible experience is mentioned in one form or another in many of his novels.

And on that note, we end this quiz.