The Tripods: The City of Gold and Lead Quiz

Answer: Henry--fencing

Henry is training in long-distance running in comparison to the sprinting in which Fritz is training. Beanpole is training in both the high and long jump. All four teenagers are hoping to win at the Games and be chosen to sent to one of the cities from which the Tripods come. Julius, the man who leads the rebellion, plans to send a few rebels to the competition. At a public meeting, Julius announces Will, Beanpole, and Fritz will be the three sent. Henry is understandably disappointed not to be chosen.

When Julius announces Will has been chosen, he publicly states there was some concern about Will's impulsiveness and behavior. Many readers point out Will's flaws as a character, including said impulsiveness. I think it is also fair to criticize Julius at this point since it is not the hallmark of a great leader to publicly chastise subordinates.

A trio leaves the White Mountains with Fritz Eger taking the place of Henry. The German Fritz is described as rather solemn and uncommunicative. Will does not seem too fond of him. However, Will has been shown to unfairly judge others before.

Answer: Riding on a river barge

Ulf is the captain of a river barge named the "Erlkonig" and has a mate named Moritz. The barge is powered by donkies walking on a treadmill when it is traveling upstream. Since the barges usually only have a crew of two plus perhaps an apprentice at any time, two of the three teenagers will need to stay below deck. For the initial shift, Will and Beanpole volunteer to go below deck together (so they are not stuck with the gloomy Fritz). The early part of their journey is uneventful.

At one stop, Ulf goes into town to see a friend. When he does not return after several hours, Moritz begins to worry that Ulf, who has been known to drink too much, has done so again. Beanpole and Will convince Moritz to let them go look for Ulf. Will goes into a tavern to look for Ulf and orders a beer while he is there. Realizing Ulf is not there, Will plans to leave with his beer mostly unfinished. Thinking he is from a town they dislike, several of the people attack him, setting off Will's temper. I would say that Will's mistake was not the fight (I would also be upset if I were attacked), but not realizing that leaving a half-finished drink would draw unwanted attention.

Will is arrested and thrown into a pit. Beanpole rescues him at night. They return to the barge to find that Ulf, disgusted with the two of them, has had the barge leave. The river on which the barge travelled (a five-hundred mile river in Western Germany) is probably the Rhine. The Shmand-Fair was a horse-drawn train that Will, Henry, and Beanpole had ridden in France.

Answer: They are shot at by soldiers

At first, Will and Beanpole try walking to the Games. They find after two days that they are traveling about one-quarter as fast as the barge had been. They then construct a crude raft from the wood of a rickety shack. With limited control over the raft, they move more quickly downstream, but are unable to return to shore without damaging the boat. Before riding the raft, they only find limited food in farmers' fields and have no success asking people for food. Once on the raft, they are unable to stop at villages along the river.

They have a chance encounter with a Tripod who smashes (perhaps accidentally) their raft with one of its feet shortly after they jump off into the water. Although they encounter several hostile people, none shoot at them. Will and Beanpole eventually find themselves washed up on the shore of a small island in the middle of the river.

Answer: The hermit has no Cap.

Will describes the appearance of Hans, the hermit, with hair on the back of his head but none on the top, showing the lack of a Cap. He had moved to the island with his father when he was young. Since his father died the year Hans would have been Capped, Hans said he just never bothered. Though he does not have a Cap, he is largely indifferent to the Tripods and, indeed, most of the outside world. He grows vegetables on a few acres of cleared ground and rows to a nearby village on the mainland about twice a year (perhaps to trade for what he cannot grow).

He has Will and Beanpole work on his farm in return for food and board. Though he had suggested he would row them to the mainland, the amount of work there is for the boys to do suggests that it may be a long time, and certainly after the games. Beanpole convinces Will that they need to take Hans's rowboat to escape. Will describes a look of despair on the face of Hans when they do so. Being well into middle age and with a bad shoulder, Hans might not be able to build a new rowboat.

Answer: Will and Fritz

At the Games, Will describes the excitement that surrounds him with the vending of food, and drink, and souvenirs. They meet up with Fritz, who seems mainly happy that the rebels will have additional chances to get someone into the City rather than personal concern for Will or Beanpole. Moritz, first mate of the Erlkonig, is happy to see them, but tells them to stay out of site of Ulf, who will not be happy.

Beanpole fails at both the high jump and long jump. Beanpole is critical of himself, citing that he has jumped farther and/or longer in many jumps in practice. When Will attempts to lift his spirits Beanpole "bitterly" says he wants to be alone. Fritz makes it to the finals for the 100 meter race, but fails at that level. He is, however, the winner for the 200 meter race.

Will goes into the most detail about his own events, as might be expected, since he saw/was involved in those. After a preliminary bout, he goes through a series of matches culminating in one where he scores a knockout on an opponent who will not arise in a count of 50, let alone 10. It seems more challenging for Will and Fritz to keep blank expressions on their faces when metal arms grab them and the other winners to move them in the Tripods for the trip back to the City.

Answer: The light is brighter.

The first characteristic Will notes about the interior of the City is the heaviness of the gravity that pulls on him and the other humans like a lead weight (hence the title of this book). The gravity is approximately twice what is typical for earth. He later learns that there are machines inside the city that create this artificial gravity.

Once he moves further into the City, he notices other changes in the environment. The temperature is much hotter (roughly 100 degrees Fahrenheit), in areas meant for the Masters, and it spills into the areas designated for humans. There is also a greenish tint to the atmosphere that actually blocks some of the sunlight and makes things somewhat dimmer for the humans. In addition, the humidity level in the City is very high. He describes many of the Masters as bathing in large tubs multiple times a day. He also states that the clothing the humans wear in the City is never truly dry.

Answer: One is relatively kind, one is cruel.

We do not learn the name of any of the Masters in this book. Will's master is described by him and Fritz as relatively kind, viewing Will as more like a pet. He has modifications made to Will's room in his home and from time to time asks Will about his life before coming to the city. Fritz's master is very cruel and frequently beats him. After trying to determine the mistakes that he is making, Fritz concludes that his master simply like to hurt him.

Both Masters, however, as all the other Masters are, appear very alien by human standards. Standing nearly twice the height of a human, much about their physiology seems based on triangles and/or the number three. Their heads and torsos are roughly pyramid shaped, narrowing from about four or five feet at the base to about one foot at the top of the head. Their bodies sit on three squat legs. Their upper limbs are three tentacles. Their three eyes are arranged in a triangular shape near the tops of their heads. Of the two lower openings on their heads, the higher one is used for speaking and breathing while the lower one consumes food and drink.

The architecture of the City is also odd, with many pyramid shaped buildings. Though there are thousands of Masters in the City, they lead fairly solitary lives. Will never meets a Master who shares an apartment with another. They appear to visit each other fairly infrequently during their private hours. Will mentions that they seem to have a way of communicating without speaking (telepathy perhaps), so perhaps they are not quite as isolated as he thinks.

Answer: Eloise

Will's Master, in an attempt to be kind to him, takes him to different locations inside the city. Most of these Will finds either confusing or horrendous. He describes what may be a concert with different sounds playing while the Masters lounge in tubs. Another activity that he says almost all of the Masters enjoy viewing is the Sphere Chase. In this activity Masters in smaller Tripods toss a golden sphere to each other in an arena and try to pass it through one of several hoops. Will and other humans believe that it is a form of game although the rules are not exactly clear.

On one trip, Will's Master takes him to the Pyramid of Beauty. In the building, enclosed areas are set up with human-friendly air. Each area contains a scene with plants and/or animals. All of the plants and animals, however, are dead, although preserved. This is a taxidermy exhibit. In one exhibit are the dead, though preserved bodies, of many young girls, including Eloise (with whose family Will lived for several weeks while he was travelling to the White Mountains). Will's Master speaks of the appreciation that some of the Masters have for beauty, saving the best of each species.

During this conversation, Will's Master mentions that their ship will be returning to earth in about four years. He expresses the hope that Will will be able to see it. (In his way, the Master is actually offering a kind thought, as four years would be a very long lifespan for a human slave in the environment of the City.) Once the ship has returned, the Masters will construct machines that will convert the earth's atmosphere to the gases that they breathe and are poisonous to humans. The best humans will be able to hope for is that small areas will be set up with a human-friendly atmosphere where a few people will be able to live as if in a zoo. Will realizes that he and/or Fritz need to get out as soon as possible in order to warn the rebellion.

Answer: He is struck forcefully in a sensitive area.

Earlier, Will had been attempting to help his ill Master and accidentally touched in the area between the speaking/breathing opening and the eating/drinking opening on his face. Reflexively, the much stronger Master hit Will, knocking him to the ground and injured him. He later explained to Will that that part of the face is a very vulnerable area and a hard blow there could seriously injure or even kill a Master. At this time, the Master sees Will's Cap and assumes that he is under the Master's mind control.

One day, Will's master sends Will on an errand. While Will was gone, the Master donned a full body suit and went into Will's room to set up a surprise for him. While in the room, the Master saw the notes that Will wrote down about the things he had seen in the city. As the Master says later, the mental control caused by the Cap should have prevented Will from doing that. Will admits later that he was foolish for writing the notes. He knew the Masters had full body suits that they could wear when they need to be in a human atmosphere. Since these suits are so much more cumbersome than the head masks that humans wear in the Masters' atmosphere, Will had just assumed that the Master would not go into his room.

At this point, Will's Master notices that something seems odd about Will's Cap. Saying that he can explain, Will asks the Master to pull him closer. When the Master does, Will strikes in the sensitive area as hard as he can. The Master cries out once and falls to the ground. After a few moments, Will worries that Master in merely injured or unconscious. He checks for a pulse in the Master's tentacle but finds none. The Master is actually dead. Will has been able to kill a creature that is much larger and much stronger than him. Will also realizes that the element of surprise aided him greatly.

Answer: Will

Will finds Fritz and informs him about the death of his Master. Fritz says that they must act to make the death of the Master look like an accident. They drag the body to the private bath and place so it looks like he tripped. They then scatter about the body several "gas bubbles" (which act on the Masters like an intoxicant). At this point, if Will was a mind-controlled slave, he would be expected to report himself to the Place of Happy Release where he would be killed since if he were mind-controlled he would no longer want to live. Fritz says that he will spread his story so that no one will notice that Will escaped.

Will thinks Fritz should escape, since his Master's beatings have made him weaker than Will. Fritz responds that if he leaves at the same time the Masters may grow suspicious. He will announce in three days that he is too weak to serve his Master and is going to the Place of Happy Release. Will and Fritz find the exit point for the river that flows through the City. Fritz uses a quick-drying adhesive to close off the filters of his mask. This allows Will to swim underwater in the river to exit the City.

Once outside, Will has difficulty removing his mask. Fortunately he encounters Beanpole, who has been waiting outside the City. Beanpole has travelled there by foot and at first tried to find a way to sneak into the City. When that proved fruitless, he determined that Will and/or Fritz would eventually try to sneak out. Will and Beanpole wait outside the City for twelve days for Fritz, but when the weather turns wintery and he still has not appeared, they give up hope and turn back towards the White Mountains.