Inspired Identities Trivia Quiz

Answer: Huckleberry Finn

Huckleberry "Huck" Finn narrates a story that tells of his own escape from his father's oppression only to meet Jim, a runaway slave, also trying to escape oppression.

The "Autobiography of Mark Twain" was published after his death from notes left by Twain. One of the notes says "In Huckleberry Finn, I have drawn Tom Blankenship exactly as he was. He was ignorant, unwashed, insufficiently fed; but he had as good a heart as any boy had. His liberties were totally unrestricted. He was the only really independent person-boy or man-in the community, and by consequence he was tranquilly and continuously happy and was envied by all the rest of us. We liked him; we enjoyed his society. And as his society was forbidden by our parents, the prohibition trebled and quadrupled its value, and therefore we sought and got more of his society than of any other boy's."

Tom, in a house with six sisters, was pretty free to come and go as he chose, and while this made the adults want their children to avoid him, it made him more popular with their children. Like Huckleberry Finn and his fictional friends, Tom and his friends would have swum the river, explored caves and the river banks, and fished.

Answer: Jean Valjean

Several sources state that Vidocq was Hugo's inspiration for both Jean Valjean and Javert.

Vidocq was born in 1775. He was arrested and escaped several times. It was Jean-Pierre Dubois of the Lyons police who offered him the opportunity to become an informant, and thus change his life.

He maintained that crime investigations would be more effective with plain clothes detectives, and was eventually put in charge of eight men, and the Brigade de la Surete. He introduced a card-index system for record keeping, used plaster-of-Paris to cast footprints, and was a master of disguise. Vidocq and the police would eventually come to odds over his methods and he resigned. He then undertook and, with the help of a ghostwriter, published "Memoirs of Vidocq: Master of Crime".

Answer: Jekyll & Hyde

Stevenson had written a play called "Deacon Brodie" as a teenager, but it was not a success. "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" was written when Stevenson was thirty-six and ill.

William Brodie was respected as a city Councillor, head of a trade guild and cabinet-maker. His profession and respectability gave him access to many homes and he used the opportunity to determine how best to rob those houses.

His double life continued for years until he felt the need to create a gang of thieves and attempt a robbery on an Excise office. One of the gang turned King's Evidence and though Brodie attempted to escape, he was captured and died on the gallows.

Answer: Daisy Buchanan

In "The Great Gatsby" the millionaire Jay Gatsby yearns for Daisy, whom he met years before.

Supposedly King's father told Fitzgerald that "Poor boys shouldn't think of marrying rich girls". In Fitgerald's daily journal he recorded, in 1915, "Met Ginevra". There are several notes, and in 1917 he noted "Final break with Ginevra". She wrote him in 1918 that she was engaged to be married.

Some sources cite Zelda Sayre as his inspiration for Daisy. Fitzgerald would meet Zelda Sayre in 1918. Ginevra would later meet Fitzgerald in Hollywood, and had the temerity to ask which of the characters from "The Beautiful and Damned" was based on her.

Answer: Dracula

Henry Irving, an actor at the Lyceum Theater, is also cited as an inspiration for the character. "Dracula" might have been named "The Dead Un-Dead" if Stoker had not found William Wilkiinson's book "Account of the Principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia with Political Observations Relative to Them".

Vlad Tepes' father became known as "Dracul" and "Dracula" is a diminutive meaning "son of" in the Romanian language. Dracula committed many atrocities such as impaling his enemies in the town square. However, in Romania he is remembered as a hero for reclaiming the country from the boyars.

Answer: Severus Snape

Severus Snape appears in all of the Harry Potter novels and bullies his students. J. K. Rowling has been quoted as saying that one of her favorite characters to write about was Snape.

Apparently, John Nettleship did not originally recognize the connection, until someone pointed out "You're Professor Snape aren't you?". He was a bit dismayed at first and asked his wife who said "Of course you are - but I didn't want to tell you". Nettleship succumbed to cancer in 2011, but not before he found out how the story ended.

Answer: Dorian Gray

In "The Picture of Dorian Gray" Basil Hallward produces his finest art, the picture of Dorian Gray. Dorian sells his soul to remain young while the picture ages and then sets out to experience many hedonistic pleasures.

It is believed that John Gray met Oscar Wilde in 1889. Though he later denied it, Gray signed at least one letter to Wilde as Dorian Gray. In 1892 an article in the "Star", where he was referenced as "the original Dorian of the same name", caused him to begin to distance himself, including steps to sue for libel.

In 1901 he was ordained as a Catholic priest and served at both Saint Patrick's and Saint Peter's until his death in 1934.

Answer: Sethe

In this story Sethe is haunted by a spirit that she believes is the child she murdered, whose tombstone says "Beloved".

Margaret Garner, her husband, Robert, and four children escaped with a group of other slaves, but the Garners were recaptured. Margaret tried to kill all of her children before they were pressed back into slavery, but was restrained after she had murdered her two-year old daughter. At the Garners' trial, the first issue was to determine whether they should be tried under the Fugitive Slave Law or Margaret should be tried for murder. Margaret was not tried for murder at that time, but returned to her owner.

Answer: Charles Baker "Dill" Harris

The character Dill comes every summer and stays with his Aunt Rachel. and plays with Jem and Scout. One of his chief objectives is to get Boo Radley out of the house.

Like Dill, Persons' parents often neglected him, causing him to feel very insecure. Persons' mother divorced when he was four, and he was sent to live with relatives in Monroeville, Alabama. It was there that Truman Persons and Nelle Harper Lee were childhood neighbors and great friends. She was a tomboy and he a writer from the age of 9. Together they would create and act out stories written on an old Underwood typewriter. He was adopted by his mother's second husband, Joseph Capote.

Answer: Sherlock Holmes

Doyle himself identified Dr. Bell as part of the inspiration for Sherlock Holmes and sent Bell a copy of each of the Sherlock Holmes mysteries.

Joseph Bell often entreated his students to be more observant. One story states that during a lecture he took out a bottle with unidentified contents, and then stuck a finger into the bottle and licked off the substance, instructing his students to do the same. When the students were all sniffing, he showed how he had put one finger into the bottle, and then licked off another.

Bell was also consulted by the police force and helped to investigate the Jack the Ripper case. After researching he put his conclusions to paper and named a suspect. No one today seems to know what became of his notes, and Jack the Ripper was never publicly identified.