The Stepford Wives Trivia Quiz

Answer: What hobbies she had

Joanna was busy moving into her new house in Stepford with Walter when the Welcome Lady kept bothering her. When the woman asked about Joanna's hobbies, she nearly answered none just so the woman would leave. Instead, Joanna answered with her photography and activity in the women's liberation movement, to show she was not just another housewife.

Answer: Boxes

Joanna theorized that he could have been transporting alcohol to the Men's Association, and worried that he would get Walter drunk when he visited. We never actually find out what was in those boxes but, given the ending, it is not difficult speculate.

Answer: Kit never mentioned it when Joanna asked about her interests.

Joanna found an old newspaper article about the Stepford Women's Club, which was once run by Kit Sundersen and participated in by several of the women. When Joanna asked Kit later on why she never mentioned it, Kit replied simply that Joanna never asked about it. Kit also explained that she gave it up because she did not have enough time with all the housework that needed to be done. Joanna noted that that was a fair change of pace, considering she had once hosted famed feminist Betty Freidan.

Answer: False

Joanna was under the impression that the Men's Association was an old institute. However, she later found it only formed when other men's clubs merged together in the past six or seven years, right around the time the women stopped meeting.

Answer: Charmaine Wimperis

Joanna and Bobbie Markowe were already aware of the mindless, subservient behavior of the Stepford wives, and joked about it. However, when Charmaine Wimperis, an avid tennis player and the furthest thing from a hausfrau, suddenly fired her maid and started doing housework, the women began to suspect something.

Answer: They were being poisoned by something in the air or water that turned them into domestics.

Joanna believed something was up with the women, and that it had to do with the Men's Association, but believed Bobbie was being ridiculous with her suggestion. Nonetheless, Joanna went along with it, and the two wrote a letter to the Department of Health, who replied and said that there was nothing poisoning the water or air supply in Stepford. Bobbie then said the Men's Association, which had been receiving trucks from various electrical and utility companies, could have been poisoning the women without the government knowing or being able to detect it. Joanna recommended that she drink bottled water, if she is so concerned.

Answer: Move out of Stepford

Both women started immediately looking for houses in other towns outside of Stepford. Both their husbands also agreed to move if it would make their wives happy, but wanted to wait until the end of the school year, many months away, so the kids wouldn't experience a negative impact.

Answer: He used to work at Disneyland.

Joanna thought it was because he drank a lot and was dizzy, but then she stated he did not look dizzy. Dale Coba's career at Disneyland is frequently mentioned throughout the novel, even though he rarely appears.

Answer: He was sympathetic.

Walter even said he would be willing to move as long as Joanna was absolutely sure she wanted to, even if it were a great inconvenience. Walter also did not buy into Bobbie's theory about the poison, and thought she had a wild imagination.

Answer: Spent the weekend alone with her husband Dave

Joanna and Dave had dropped off their kids at different neighbor's houses and spent the weekend alone at home because of a blizzard. On Sunday, when the Markowes came to pick up their son from the Eberharts, Joanna noticed that Bobbie's attitude was different, and she didn't say the things she normally would. Later, Bobbie neglected to call or return Joanna's calls and Joanna noticed that Bobbie had larger breasts and was doing housework.

Answer: She was black.

Joanna explained to Ruthanne that all the women in town were unsociable and not to be offended. Joanna and Ruthanne struck up a friendship once Bobbie turned into a hausfrau and Joanna had no other friends left.

Answer: The Markowe house was a mess and needed to be cleaned.

After Joanna grew more hysterical, she told Walter about Bobbie. Walter claimed it was not unusual that Bobbie was cleaning the house, because it was a total disaster and needed to be cleaned. He also did not find it odd that Bobbie started looking prettier, and said it was about time she did something with her appearance.

Answer: Go see a psychiatrist

Walter's tone had changed. When he was once sympathetic, by this stage of the novel he grew slightly annoyed with Joanna. He no longer wanted to move, but still put a deposit on a new house out of Stepford, and said he would move if Joanna still wanted to. Joanna took her husband's advice and saw a psychiatrist, a female one.

Answer: She was torn between a traditional role for women and a modern one.

Dr. Fancher dismissed Joanna's theory, and stated that towns, especially newer ones like Stepford, gain an identity over time. Stepford's was just that of men in charge and women in the house, while other towns were for artists. She also explained to Joanna that, as a woman of the 1970s, she was torn between being a good mother and wife in the traditional sense and being a modern woman with interests outside the house, not wanting to give up either or disappoint her family. Dr. Fancher prescribed a tranquilizer for Joanna at the end of the session.

Answer: A body of a woman who looked like Bobby was found in the lake.

Dale Coba was president of the Men's Association before and after the merger. Joanna discovers that not only did he build the lifelike robots at Disneyland, but that the Men's Association consisted of members whose wives were all active in the feminist movement and most of whom worked for or owned electric or engineering companies.

Joanna found it peculiar that Mrs. Coba was once president of the League of Women Voters chapter in Stepford because her husband seemed adamantly against the feminist movement and she was now just another housebound Stepford wife. Joanna had earlier discovered that there were once other women's groups in Stepford but did not know what happened to them. She discovered in the archives that the League of Women Voters was experiencing low membership because the members simply weren't interested anymore and the organization was planning an intense membership drive that never came to fruition.

Answer: Walter sent them to a neighbors's house.

Walter told Joanna that since she had been out so late, he thought something happened to her and sent the kids away so he could deal with it. Joanna did not buy that and locked herself in her bedroom.

Answer: He was gaining weight.

Walter had gained a few pounds, something he even mentioned to her previously and she took no notice of. Joanna specifically noticed that his face looked heavier under the eyes. She also noticed that he had not been enjoying himself in the bedroom lately and wondered if he was having an affair.

Answer: Ruthanne Hendry's house

Since Ruthanne and her husband Royal moved to Stepford after the Eberharts, Joanna knew that it would be safe as Ruthanne would not be effected yet. She also wished to warn Ruthanne in time and save her. Because of the snow and darkness, Joanna never actually made it to Ruthanne's.

Answer: The agreed to cut Bobbie to see if she bled.

Various men in town caught up with Joanna as she tried to escape. She cornered herself in the woods and told the men she knew everything. They originally attempted to prove their innocence by taking her to the Men's Association, but she rejected that idea. One of the men suggested that they prick Bobbie to see if she bled. If she did, it would show that she was a human. Joanna agreed to this, but the men never cut Bobbie.

Answer: She became just like all the other Stepford Wives.

Ruthanne met Joanna in the grocery store and saw Joanna packing her shopping cart methodically just like all the other wives. Joanna also stated that she gave up photography and enjoyed doing housework.

What exactly happened to the wives was never explained. Presumably, (robot) Bobbie either killed Joanna with the knife and she was then replaced with a robot, or Joanna was only injured by Bobbie and her mind was wiped out and replaced with a more subservient one. It is also never explained whether the newer husbands in town (like Walter) did this to their wives of their own freewill, or if they were brainwashed themselves. The 1975 film adaptation makes it clear that the wives are robots. Evidence for this in the book is that Ike Mazzard draws all the wives and Claude Axhelm records their voices. But, again, the novel never explains, so we cannot know for sure.

The novel ended with Ruthanne talking to her husband about their upcoming weekend alone - which was when the wives were changed into hausfraus.