The Manchurian Candidate Trivia Quiz

Answer: Korean War

"The Manchurian Candidate" was published in 1959, six years before the Americans had soldiers in Vietnam.

Ray served in the U.S. Army during the Korean war, which lasted from 1950 to 1953. Ray returned from the war and left the Army in 1952, before the war was over.

Ray and his squad were captured and taken to Tonghua, a city in China close to the Korean border.

Answer: Solitaire

Ray had multiple "keys" that had to be used in a specific sequence to activate him. The first key was saying, "Why don't you play a little solitaire?" Ray would seek out a deck of playing cards, and prepare himself for the second key.

Answer: Strangled Ed and shot Bobby

The entire brainwashed squad was brought onto a stage in front of an audience of high-ranking Soviet and Chinese military officers. The squad thought they weathering a storm in New Jersey.

Dr. Yen Lo wanted Ray to use a bayonet, but a Soviet demanded Ray use his hands. They compromised by letting Ray use a scarf to strangle Ed Mavole to death. Ray was then ordered to shoot Bobby Lembeck in the head. The rest of the squad watched on unconcerned.

The rest of the squad was given a story about being able to repel an entire Chinese division, and Marco was ordered to recommend Ray for the Medal of Honor.

The novel opened with Ray returning home from the war and talking to Ed's parents about how their son had died.

Answer: Nailed a dog's paw to the floor after it would not obey a sit command

Ray's mother loved her father, despite the abusive relationship. She resented all other men for not being as strong. She was just as cold and demanding as her father, one time getting upset at a dog for not understanding a simple sit command. Her brother beat her with a hockey stick, and she vowed to destroy his life.

She was cold, but feigned warmth. As a teenager, she scouted out four men with influence, settled on one, deliberately became pregnant (with Ray), and then divorced him for his law partner (John Iselin), who had more political potential. She joined as many groups and societies as she could, ingratiating herself, and rising through the social strata, gaining her own political power.

Answer: Eleanor

There were all of four named women in "The Manchurian Candidate". Jocelyn was Ray's one and only true love. Eugénie Rose became Marco's fiancée. When Marco returned from the war, he stayed with Ray for ten days, bringing home at least three women with him each night. Winona Meighan was the one who managed to get Ray to open up and relax.

The last was Eleanor Iselin, Ray's mother. She was only named in dialogue by other characters, twice as "Elly", and once as "Eleanor". In the 1962 movie, released only three years after the novel, Eleanor was played by Angela Lansbury. In the 2004 film, she was played by Meryl Streep.

Answer: At a weather Station in Greenland

John Iselin's wife, Ray's mother, wanted him to be a war hero to help his political career. She had wanted him to start as an enlisted man and earn promotions (with her help), but he wanted to start as an officer so he could get into officers' lounges and drink.

He was stationed at a remote weather station in Greenland, where he could serve in relative safety. A lot of heroic stories came out of his time in Greenland, all technically true, and all very misleading.

Answer: Jocie nursed Ray back to health after he'd been bitten by a snake.

Ray was vacationing in New Mexico where he was bitten by a snake. Jocie happened upon him, sucked out the venom, and then cycled off to get her father and his car. Ray did not speak a single word until after he was patched up. His first were to ask Jocie's father for permission to marry her.

They were flattered, but declined. Jocie's father and Ray's step-father belonged to different factions of the same political party, and hated each other. It was never revealed which party they belonged to.

Answer: Joe McCarthy

Joe McCarthy was a U.S. senator (just like Iselin) from 1947 to 1957. He had served during the second world war (just like Iselin). He fueled fears of communist infiltration in U.S. government agencies (just like Iselin), claimed to have a list of known communists that would change length multiple times and never be released (just like Iselin), and used smear campaigns against his political rivals (just like Iselin).

In the real world, the term "McCarthyism" was coined for such behaviour, while in "The Manchurian Candidate", it was "Iselinism."

Answer: Holborn Gaines, Ray's boss

Ray had an excellent working relationship with Holborn Gaines. Both men were introverted, and had little patience for time-consuming social etiquette.

Ray's handlers wanted a test kill. They did not go for someone random, because if they were going to put themselves at risk, they wanted to get something out of it. Marco was deemed too dangerous a target for their plans. Ray's handlers had him kill his own boss so he could earn a promotion. When Ray found out about Mr. Gaines' murder, he personally posted a reward for any information on the murder.

Answer: Chunjin worked as Ray's butler.

Chunjin came to America and asked to be Ray's butler. Ray didn't want a butler, but Chunjin was insistent. Ray did hire on Chunjin to clean, cook, and occasionally chauffeur for him. Chunjin would later drive Ray to his assignments when activated, and provision him with weapons.

Answer: Marco punched Chunjin.

Marco had already been having nightmares about the real events during the war. Seeing Chunjin in Ray's apartment just added to his certainty that something was wrong. Marco punched Chunjin in the face, and then the two brawled in the apartment. Marco was winning the fight until he was knocked out by the police. To keep a low profile, Chunjin did not press charges.

Answer: Marco was promoted to colonel.

Ray didn't believe he was brainwashed, but wanted to help his friend Marco any way he could. Marco was convinced that the Medal of Honor was being used as a weapon, so Ray encouraged him to seek a court-martial and start an investigation.

The general was furious when Marco entered his office to formally request his own court-martial. As ordered, the general first attempted to intimidate Marco with solitary confinement. When that didn't work, the general offered Marco a bribe. That still didn't work. Marco signed the paper. After he left, the general committed suicide. Later, Marco's court-martial request would be ignored, and he was instead promoted from major to colonel.

Answer: Marco was engaged to Amjack's ex-fiancee.

Marco met Eugénie Rose on a train from Washington to New York when he was emotionally vulnerable and unstable. Her friends called her Jenny. She was not married, so Marco gave her his address.

After Marco's fight with Chunjin, he was released from police custody to her. Jenny had given her engagement ring back to her fiancé.

Marco explained his nightmares and his plans. Jenny offered to put him in contact with Lou Amjac, her now ex-fiancé, who worked for the FBI. Amjac was not happy with Marco, but was intrigued by the case. They ended up working together for the rest of the novel.

Answer: Important people mysteriously disappeared.

While Ray was in London and in Paris, important people disappeared. Later, they were discovered to have been murders. When Marco checked, Ray was the only suspect who was near both murders.

Ray's mother held a deep hatred for her brother, ever since she was a child, and one of her drives was to destroy his life. Her brother became the ambassador to Italy, and was ordered to offer to host his sister. When there, Ray's mother accused the embassy of being run by communists. Her brother tried to resign but was refused. Her revenge was finally taking form.

Answer: Vice President

Ray's mother didn't think her husband could get the presidency, and was not even going to have him put his name forward. Instead, she started trading favours to get her husband on as the vice presidential nominee. Once there, it would not be too difficult to engineer the final step to the highest office in the land.

Answer: Jumped in a lake

Ray was waiting at the bar and some other patrons were talking at a table. The man at the table said, "why don't you play some solitaire" as he told his story. Ray asked the barkeeper for a deck of cards, and was activated. Later in the story, the man said, "Why don't you take a cab quick to Central Park and jump inna a lake, I says."

Marco had arrived, and was able to see Ray play solitaire. He then saw Ray run to a cab, and speed away. Amjac was able to find Ray, and told Marco what had happened. Marco finally understood how Ray's conditioning worked. With his clothes sopping wet, and a gap in his memory, Ray had to finally admit to himself that maybe something was wrong.

Answer: Ray's own mother

Earlier, Ray had told Marco to request his own court-martial to start an investigation into Ray's Medal of Honor. When he met with his mother, he unwittingly told her that the brainwashing was slipping when he told her about Marco's nightmares and plans. This earlier passage between Ray and his mother, before the revelation, takes on new meaning.

"When he had finished explaining that Marco had decided to to demand his own court-martial to prove falsification and collusion in conjunction with the conferment of that Medal of Honor, savoring each word and each shocked look on his mother's face with great and deep satisfaction, she was the color of milk and her hand trembled."

Ray's mother had been in contact with the Soviets about the sleeper agent program, but became livid when she found out that they had selected her own son to be the agent.

Answer: The queen of diamonds

The second key in Ray's programming, after starting a game of solitaire, was to play until he saw the queen of diamonds (representing his mother). Once he viewed that card, he would stop playing, and wait for instructions.

Jocie was running late to the party. Ray's mother took him into a private room, and activated him. She was about to give him orders, but was called away to be a hostess. While she was gone, Jocie climbed in through the window to see Ray alone. She was dressed as the queen of diamonds, and accidentally hijacked Ray's programming. The two slipped away together, had a wild night at Ray's place, and then snuck away to the Caribbean under false names to elope.

Answer: Senator Jordan, Jocie's father

Senator Jordan was becoming dangerous to senator Iselin's political ambitions. He was going to try to block Iselin's bid to be the vice presidential candidate. Ray was ordered to execute Senator Jordan, and to leave no witnesses.

Ray got to Jordan's house. The senator didn't think it was too strange to see his son-in-law at that late hour. Ray followed Jordan to his bedroom. Just before Ray shot, Jocie came in. She had decided to visit her father after reading about Iselin's attacks in the paper. Ray killed the his father-in-law, and then his wife.

Answer: Ray shot his mother and step-father.

Iselin had secured the vice presidential nomination. Ray's final task was to shoot the presidential nominee during the speech at the convention, bumping Iselin up to the number one slot.

Marco had managed to intercept Ray before he could go to the convention, and used a force deck to activate him. Marco had Ray tell him about all his previous activations and his current orders. Marco then overrode Ray's current orders. Marco was hit by a car driven by Chunjin, and Ray got in. Marco stalled the FBI from reaching Ray, giving him enough time to complete his new mission.

Instead of shooting the presidential nominee, Ray turned his rifle on his mother and step-father. During the chaos, Marco stepped into the spotlight booth that Ray was hiding in, and gave him one last command. As he left, there was one final shot. "No electric chair for a Medal of Honor man."