Literary Dregs Trivia Quiz

Answer: Gone with the Wind

This last line illustrates the sheer doggedness that enabled Scarlett O'Hara to survive during the Civil War and Reconstruction. Margaret Mitchell's only novel published in her lifetime, "Gone with the Wind" (1936) was an enormous best-seller. It spawned a movie (1939) that starred Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O'Hara and which earned eight Oscars including Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, Best Cinematography (Color), Best Director, Best Film Editing, and Best Picture. Mitchell also won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1937 for this historical novel.

A couple of novellas and another novel were discovered after her death; one, "Lost Laysen" was published in 1996.

Answer: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Mark Twain's sequel to "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" became controversial for its rough language and its unflinching scrutiny of racism and other entrenched attitudes of the American South. Consequently, many people have tried to ban or at least soften the work.

In the 1955 CBS telemovie, the slave character named Jim, rather central to the novel, is omitted entirely! In 2011, NewSouth Books published an edition replacing the word "nigger" with "slave" throughout. But not just about racism, "Huckleberry Finn" celebrates the American frontier/wilderness spirit and its conflict with civilization, which Twain neatly summarized with the last lines of the novel. Yet it was an example of civilization's progress as well, in that it was the first typewritten manuscript ever delivered to a printing-house.

Answer: Sydney Carton

Sydney Carton is a brilliant but self-indulgent London attorney, who finally grows a conscience and discovers what sacrifice means when he offers himself in place of Parisian Charles Darnay, sentenced to die for being a nobleman. These are the words that he says to himself (or at least what the narrator suggests he may say to himself) as he reconciles himself to his sacrifice, with the knowledge that this act is the noblest act he has ever undertaken, and it gives his wasted life meaning. Dickens first published "A Tale of Two Cities" in serial format in "All The Year Round" magazine. Dickens based the historical novel on Thomas Carlyle's authoritative work "The French Revolution: A History" (1837).

Answer: The Great Gatsby

Nick Carraway reflects that just as money corrupted Jay Gatsby's dreams of a life with Daisy, so has greed caused the American dream to degenerate from the pursuit of happiness to the mere pursuit of wealth. "The Observer" described this last line like so: "resonant, memorable and profound.

It is the magnificent chord, in a minor key, which brings this 20th-century masterpiece to a close." It's a difficult novel to summarize in a sentence or two, but a good one to read.

Answer: Heart of Darkness

This grim ending caps off Charles Marlow's confession to participating in horrible acts in "Heart of Darkness", an exploration of the conflict between the wild and the civilized, and the racist and sexist attitudes that permit the atrocities of colonialism and imperialism.

Some critics, however, such as the Nigerian author Chinua Achebe, have argued that Conrad perpetuated these problems and dehumanized the African characters. Nonetheless, in 1998, the Modern Library ranked "Heart of Darkness" as the 67th top novel of twentieth century (even though it was published in 1899). Francis Ford Coppola's "Apocalypse Now" (1978), about the Vietnam War, is actually an adaptation of "Heart of Darkness".

Answer: Catch-22

Joseph Heller began writing the satirical, darkly humorous "Catch-22" in 1953, but it wasn't published until 1961. In this last line, Captain John Yossarian finally breaks from the Catch-22, a rule which may not even exist and which prevents a person from being relieved from duty due to insanity (because only a sane person would seek such relief).

The novel takes place in World War II, but the only enemies Yossarian faces are not German officers but his own comrades.

Answer: Wuthering Heights

Emily Brontė described the stormy lives and loves of Catherine, Edgar, and Heathcliff in "Wuthering Heights" (1847). The ending is far from happy, but the last line does offer some serenity and tenderness. Published under the pseudonym Ellis Bell, "Wuthering Heights" was Emily Brontė's only published work.

Her sister Charlotte, author of "Jane Eyre" (1847), edited the manuscript. Now regarded as a classic, the book was not enormously successful when first printed, but it has inspired several operatic and film adaptations, including the 1939 movie with Laurence Olivier and Merle Oberon.

Answer: Frankenstein

Mary Shelley wrote what is considered the first modern science fiction novel with "Frankenstein; or The Modern Prometheus" (1818), a work she claimed was inspired by a dream. At first published anonymously, her name eventually appeared on the 1823 French edition.

Her publishers forced her to make substantial changes to make the moral lesson stronger in a version printed in 1831, which became the version most widely read and taught in the anglophone world. The use of the word "Prometheus" reflects a warning for human beings not to go too far with science and the pursuit of knowledge or else face consequences, as Prometheus did in Greek mythology when he brought fire to humanity.

Answer: Emma

Emma Woodhouse has a higher estimation of her matchmaking abilities than reality reveals, and sometimes her efforts do more harm than good, though her heart is in the right place. Unlike other heroines created by Jane Austen, Emma seems indifferent to romance herself even as she seeks it for other people. Eventually, however, she finds her own "perfect happiness".

In this last line of "Emma", Jane Austen gives a little dig at social expectations of her day (the "deficiencies" have to do with the quantity of lace and other trivial things at the ceremony) while not detracting from a sweet, happy ending.

Answer: Winston Smith

With this statement, the reader is left with no doubts about the protagonist's capitulation to a system that no man can stop and that leaves nothing untouched, not even a person's heart of hearts. Winston Smith had hoped that he would continue loving Julia, but the torture that he endured from O'Brien took even that from him, and the only love he had left, the only love permissible in Orwell's totalitarian society, was for Big Brother, the ruling Party personified.