Literary Drop-a-Letter Trivia Quiz

Answer: Lord of the Lies

"Lord of the Flies" is a frightening work about the corruptibility of humanity and the inner primeval instinct. A planeload of young boys is stranded on a tropical deserted island. Ralph tries to instill order upon the boys, but their fear and need to kill leads them to abandon Ralph and join Jack, a violent hunter.

As time goes on, emotions run thin, and Jack's group begins hunting Ralph to the death. Rescue comes not a minute too soon, but boys had already been killed in the mayhem.

Answer: Geat Expectations

Beowulf was a Geat, a group of Scandinavians from southern Sweden. In his namesake poem, he defeats Grendel and his mother in battle.

"Great Expectations" is one of Dickens' most famous works. The protagonist, Pip, saves a convict from starvation while wandering across the moor. To his surprise a few years later, Pip receives a small fortune, intended to make him into a gentleman. He goes to London and lives an elegant life with friend Herbert Pocket. However, when the same convict, Abel Magwich, returns to London, having made his fortune in Australia, he finds Pip and tells him that he was the mysterious benefactor.

Answer: Madame Ovary

Madame Bovary, one of Flaubert's most well-known works, traces the story of Emma, a doctor's wife, who is unhappy with the restrictions of society and her boring husband. She engages in an affair with Rodolphe, who eventually spurns her and breaks her heart.

She then reunites with old friend Leon, with whom she has another passionate affair. She spends all of her money on the affair and ends up borrowing more at usurious rates. Eventually, she commits suicide by eating arsenic, unable to pay back her debts.

Answer: Rabbi, Run

Among John Updike's most famous works is the Rabbit series, of which "Rabbit, Run" is the first. The book centers around Harry Angstrom, who is unhappy with his life and engages in an affair with Ruth Leonard, a prostitute. When Harry's wife Janice goes into labor, he rushes to her side immediately; unfortunately, Janice accidentally drowns their daughter after getting quite drunk.

The novel ends with Harry returning to Ruth and finding out that she is pregnant, then running away.

Answer: Rime and Punishment

Traitors in the Ninth Circle of Hell are frozen in blocks of ice. Some are frozen up to their necks, some up onto their faces, and some are completely submerged in ice.

"Crime and Punishment" is one of the first and one of the most important crime stories of all time. Raskolnikov, a poor student, is driven to murder a pawnbroker and her sister, under the philosophy that some men are born above moral limitations. Soon, however, he grows desperately guilty, losing associations with his sister Dunia and his friend Razumikhin. Eventually, he cracks under the pressure of resisting the prying of investigator Porfiry, and he confesses to the murder.

Answer: Rave New World

"Brave New World", like "1984", "A Handmaid's Tale", and "Fahrenheit 451", are dystopian novels that portray the future as bleak and bad. Years in "Brave New World" are numbered AF, for years after Ford, the inventor of mass production. A drug called soma brings instant happiness to anyone who takes it without ill effect. Children are manufactured in centers that condition them to avoid books and flowers and follow State principle. Play-sex is encouraged, and movies are replaced by "feelies". Society is set up in a hierarchy, with Alphas as the highest caste and Epsilons, who do menial labor, the lowest level. Originality no longer exists.

The central conflict occurs when John, a Native American from a "Savage Reservation", is integrated into society and sees the evils of State domination.

Answer: Heat of Darkness

Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" centers around Marlow, an ivory trader on the Congo River. Marlow learns that he is supposed to retrieve a man named Kurtz from far upriver. Throughout danger, Marlow arrives at Kurtz's station and gets the man onto his steamer. Kurtz has managed to collect a tremendous amount of ivory by subjugating African natives. Marlow finds Kurtz one night near death as the man utters the famous last lines, "The horror! The horror!"

Answer: The Price

Perhaps the most famous political treatise of all time, Machiavelli's "The Prince" details ways that an aspiring prince can take over a throne and retain it for years. In it, Machiavelli justifies a variety of techniques used for the sole purpose of gaining and keeping power.

For example, he points to Carthaginian and Roman armies during the Second Punic War. Hannibal's army feared and respected him, so discipline was very tight. On the contrary, Scipio's Roman army was filled with dissenters and mutiny.

Answer: On the Rod

"On the Road" is far and away the most famous work of the Beat Generation, a group of American writers during the 50s and 60s inspired by jazz, poetry, and drugs. Other members of this group include William S. Burroughs and Allan Ginsberg.

"On the Road" is the story of Dean Moriarty and Sal Paradise's trips around America. Characters in the novel represented those in real life: Paradise is Kerouac; Dean Moriarty is Neal Cassady; and Carlo Marx is Allan Ginsberg. Originally written on a scroll, "On the Road" took nine years to write, and the original manuscript is displayed in the Indiana University.

Answer: The Gapes of Wrath

"The Grapes of Wrath," considered by some to be Steinbeck's crowning achievement, follows the Joad family, who lose their land to the bank and are forced to make a difficult trek west to California. Hardship and disaster await them there, as work is extremely difficult to find.

They lose several members of the family along the way, but they always keep moving forward, looking for work. The novel is set up in an interesting way: even-numbered chapters follow the plot, but odd-numbered chapters show an omniscient point-of-view, passing judgment on the hardships that the families moving westward faced.

Answer: King Ear

One of Shakespeare's greatest works, "King Lear" begins with the title character asking which of his daughters loves him most. Cordelia answers that honestly, which leads Lear to disinherit her; Regan and Goneril answer less candidly. The tragic consequences of the play increase, as many of the characters die violently or wander around the moor; in the end, Lear has been deposed and a new king is crowned.

Answer: Naive Son

A ritual at the Passover seder involves four children, each of whom has to be taught about the ceremony in a different way. These children are generally referred to as the Wise Son, the Wicked Son, the Naive/Simple Son, and the Immature Son.

"Native Son" is divided into three sections, "Fear", "Flight", and "Fate". The black protagonist Bigger Thomas earns a job at Mr. Dalton's house, a rich white man with a blind wife. Bigger spends an evening driving Mr. Dalton's daughter Mary around town with her boyfriend, and Mary eventually collapses, drunk. Bigger carries her up to the bedroom, but Mrs. Dalton comes by to check on Mary. In his panic, Bigger smothers Mary with a pillow, then decapitates her and places the body in the furnace.

Bigger attempts to earn money through a ransom note to the family, but the plan fails, and Bigger flees to his girlfriend. When he tells her the story, she is paralyzed by fear. Bigger rapes and kills her. He goes on the run, pleased to have an identity now. The police catch him after a rooftop chase through Chicago. He is eventually sentenced to the electric chair.

Answer: Far from the Adding Crowd

"Far From the Madding Crowd", Thomas Hardy's first successful novel, follows Bathsheba, a beautiful woman courted by three suitors: Gabriel Oak, William Boldwood, and Francis Troy. When Gabriel first proposes marriage, she refuses and moves far away, where she is courted by Boldwood. Bathsheba delays giving Boldwood a definitive answer, earning the enmity of Gabriel, who has left to work as a shepherd for Bathsheba. One night, Frank Troy comes to the farm and impresses Bathsheba to love.

They marry, but Troy tells Bathsheba that his heart belongs only to Fanny Robin, a servant of Bathsheba's who is pregnant with their child.

They divorce, and Boldwood continues his suit. Enraged, Troy returns, and Boldwood shoots him in a fit of madness. Troy dies, and Boldwood is confined to prison after an insanity plea. Bathsheba and Gabriel have a happy, quiet marriage.

Answer: Paradise Lot

John Milton's epic poem about the Fall of Man, "Paradise Lost", is one of the most important works of English poetry ever. Essentially, the story is a retelling of the Bible from Satan's perspective. Book I contains Satan's famous speech to rebel angels and demons: "Better to reign in hell, than serve in heav'n".

Answer: Little Omen

"Little Women", Louisa May Alcott's most famous novel, is the story of Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy March, who struggle to overcome flaws in character and find successful marriages during the Civil War. Meg, the oldest, is responsible for the family and often works to support the household.

She overcomes her vanity and marries Mr. Brooke. Amy, the youngest, is a selfish, beautiful girl, who eventually marries family friend Laurie. Beth, a taciturn young girl who is a talented pianist, struggles to overcome her shyness. Beth contracts scarlet fever and tragically dies near the end of the novel. Jo, the fiery-tempered protagonist, is a gifted writer.

She sells her hair to finance a trip for her mother to see her father in the war. Jo spurns Laurie's proposals and eventually moves to New York, marrying professor Fritz Bhaer.

Answer: The Magi Mountain

Thomas Mann's classic "The Magic Mountain" follows Hans Castorp, who is visiting tubercular cousin Joachim in a Swiss sanatorium. Once he enters, Hans stays in the sanatorium for seven years. He finally leaves after war breaks out and he enlists. The characters inside the sanatorium teach Hans philosophy: allegorically, the novel represents various human philosophies and beliefs through the ages.

Answer: White Fan

"White Fang" is often considered the polar opposite of London's other classic "The Call of the Wild". White Fang is the son of a wolf and a half-wolf, half-dog. He is taken up by an Indian tribe led by Gray Beaver, who domesticates him to a point. Gray Beaver meets a white man named Beauty Smith, who buys White Fang in exchange for bottles of whiskey. Smith forces White Fang to engage in violent dog fights, the last of which nearly kills him. Swift intervention by Weedon Scott saves White Fang, and the man claims the dog for his own. Scott finishes the taming of White Fang until he becomes doglike.

In the end, White Fang nearly dies after stopping a gun-wielding criminal from entering his master's home.

Answer: Vanity Air

Thackeray's "Vanity Fair" is appropriately subtitled "A Novel Without a Hero". Becky Sharp, the protagonist, is an amoral, insincere scoundrel with little conscience. The title is an allusion to Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress", in which Vanity Fair represents mankind's attachment to material possessions.

Answer: Fast

The Faust legend has been repeated by dramatists, poets, composers, and novelists through the ages, but Goethe's depiction is considered his crowning achievement and one of the greatest works of German literature ever. The well-known legend follows Heinrich Faust, a scholar who sells his soul to Mephistopheles, the devil, in return for schooling of the dark arts.

Answer: Animal Arm

George Orwell is probably best known for his two works against totalitarianism: "1984" and "Animal Farm". "Animal Farm" begins with a group of talking animals overthrowing human control of the Manor Farm and setting up a free society there. Pigs naturally become the leaders of the farm, and two pigs especially, Napoleon and Snowball, become the leaders. As time goes on, the pigs take more and more rights for themselves, abusing the other animals and breaking their initial laws. Napoleon ostracizes Snowball, then blames him for everything that goes wrong on the farm. One of the most famous quotations of modern literature, "All animals are equal, but some animals are equal than others" becomes the only commandment left on the totalitarian farm.
"Animal Farm" is often seen as an allegory to the Russian Revolution. Napoleon represents Stalin; Snowball, Trotsky; Old Major, Lenin; and Jones, the Tsar. Other characters have less specific parallels.

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