"Daisy Fay And The Miracle Man" by Fannie Flagg Quiz

Answer: She was named after a vase of daisies in her mother's room

Daisy Fay's mother wanted to name her "Mignon" after her sister, but her father refused, saying that he "didn't want his only daughter named after a steak." Daisy Fay's Grandma Pettibone chose the name because there was a "vase of daisies in the room." According to Daisy Fay, some people called her "Little Fay", since her mother's name was Fay. (They called her mother "Big Fay").

Answer: 11

The book is written in diary form. Daisy Fay's first entry is dated April 1, 1952 and starts out: "Hello there...my name is Daisy Fay Harper and I was eleven years old yesterday."

There is also an opening before the first entry written by Daisy Fay that reads: "What you are about to read...Really did happen to me...Or maybe it didn't...I'm not sure...But it doesn't matter...Because it's true...Daisy Fay Harper".

Answer: Shell Beach

Shell Beach is right on the Gulf of Mexico. Daisy Fay's father went into partnership with his friend Jimmy Snow and opened "Harper's Malt Shop". Sadly, once the summer was over, they had no customers!

Answer: He burned down the building for the insurance money

Daisy Fay's father was an alcoholic. He insisted on having a liquor license to serve beer in the malt shop, and he ended up drinking away most of their profits. Also, according to Daisy Fay, they used ice cream in the malts instead of malt base, and he didn't use bread in the hamburgers to help stretch out the meat.

The only solution Mr. Harper could think of to meet the first payment was to burn down the malt shop! (Daisy Fay's parents sure weren't "Parents-Of-The-Year" material!)

Answer: Kay Bob Benson

Kay Bob Benson never liked Daisy Fay from the start. She constantly referred to her as a "river rat". I laughed so hard when Daisy Fay and Michael Romeo scared her so much at their house of horrors on Halloween. They called it "The Hall of Blood and Guts, Enter If You Dare". Daisy Fay was "Madame Bodini, the ugliest woman that ever lived" and Michael was her faithful assistant, "Grondo the Gruesome".

After having their blindfolded customers touch various "body parts", they were made to touch "A handful of worms and maggots just taken out of the stomach of a person who died of the Black Plague".

They used cut up pasta for everyone except Kay Bob. For her, they used the real thing!

Answer: Daisy Fay drowns and returns from the dead

Mr. Harper was in desperate need of money, since the insurance money was running low, so he and Billy Bundy cooked up the so-called "miracle". The idea was for Daisy Fay to row out in a boat with a movie projector. The projector had a piece of wood with a cross cut out so that a lit up cross would shine in the sky. Meanwhile, Mr. Harper would be running around the shore yelling that his little girl had drowned so that a crowd would form.

Then Daisy Fay would leave the boat, dog-paddle almost to the shore, then stand up and walk in saying: "I have been with my Father in heaven, and He let me come back from the dead to deliver a message to my daddy to quit drinking." But of course, everything went wrong!

Answer: Pickle's father

Pickle Watkins was Daisy Fay's best friend in high school. She came from a very religious family, but her father was extremely abusive. One day, he accused Pickle of having had sex with her boyfriend, Mustard Smoot. (Hey, Fannie Flagg made up these names, not me!) Her father beat her and then dragged her into the back room and raped her.

She told her mother what had happened, but her mother wouldn't believe her. When Pickle found out that she was pregnant, Mustard married her. So Pickle's son was also her own half-brother!

Answer: Mr. Cecil

By this time, it is 1958 and Daisy Fay is living in Hattiesburg. Daisy Fay got a job working the spotlights at the Azalea Street Playhouse, but after doing a comedy sketch at a cast party, the director, Professor Teasley offered Daisy Fay a role in his next play. Mr. Cecil is the costume designer and remains Daisy Fay's closest friend through the remainder of the book.

Answer: Mr. Cecil

It's now 1959. Daisy Fay had been engaged to be married, but her boyfriend dumped her and married his former girlfriend instead. Mr. Cecil told Daisy Fay that he was tired of her sitting around feeling sorry for herself. He entered her in the contest, hoping she could win the scholarship to study acting at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Manhattan, New York.

Answer: She wins the "Miss Mississippi" title

Daisy Fay didn't really want to win the title. But the contest was "fixed". A girl by the name of Margaret Poole was supposed to win, but Daisy Fay's grandfather (on her father's side), was president of the stagehand's union, and he put in the fix. The spotlights and microphone were sabotaged for the other finalists talent acts. (Including, of all people, Kay Bob Benson! Poor Daisy Fay could never get away from her!) The stagehands had both working for Daisy Fay's act. Also, the audience loved Daisy Fay, and the theater owner told the judges that if they didn't let Daisy Fay win, the crowd would destroy the theater! The last straw was when one of the other contestants slipped a note to the judges supposedly written by Margaret Poole saying that she was in an inter-racial marriage and was pregnant. That left the judges no choice but to declare Daisy Fay the winner! (I would loved to have seen Kay Bob Benson's face when Daisy Fay won-Kay Bob ended up as fourth runner-up!)