The Curious Characters of "Benjamin Button" Quiz

Answer: The Great War (World War I) ended

The Great War ended on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month with the signing of the armistice treaty between Germany and the Allies. The movie depicted the people of New Orleans celebrating in the streets with revelry and fireworks.
In contrast to this and despite the propitious timing of his birth, Benjamin came into the world under unusual circumstances - he was born with the physical infirmities of an 80-year-old man, and aged backwards as he grew up. The movie was based on a short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald, who was in turn inspired by the following quote from Mark Twain: "Life would be infinitely happier if we could only be born at the age of 80 and gradually approach 18."

The other answers: The Red Sox won the World Series on September 11, 1918; Woodrow Wilson was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1919; and the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918 lasted until June 1920.

Answer: He hoped that in doing so, all the boys who had died in the war (including his son) would stand up and come home again.

Monsieur Gateau's son had died in the war, which left him heartbroken. He explained his intention in having the clock run backwards to the crowd which had gathered at the train station. As he spoke, the movie depicted fallen soldiers on a battlefield getting up and moving again, only in reverse, and his son jumping backwards off a train and back into his parents' arms. Monsieur Gateau apologized for offending anyone, and said he hoped that people enjoyed his clock.

After the unveiling, Monsieur Gateau was never seen again.

His clock remained in the train station until 2002, when it was taken down and replaced with a digital clock.

Answer: Lake Pontchartrain

Thomas had previously told Benjamin about his summer house on Lake Pontchartrain, and how when he was a boy, he loved to wake up before anybody else and run down to the lake to watch the day begin. Despite the hurt that he must have felt for being abandoned by his father, Benjamin brought Thomas to the lake as his way of forgiving his father for past transgressions. Benjamin had learned that when it came to the end, you just had to let go of your anger and regrets.

Answer: "You never know what's comin' for you."

Queenie's philosophy on life was aptly illustrated by these words of wisdom, which Queenie imparted on Benjamin throughout his life. "Remember what I told you?" asked Queenie after Benjamin came home in the spring of 1945. "You never know what's comin' for you." Benjamin replied. It was through Queenie that Benjamin learned to embrace the unpredictable nature of life, a trait which Queenie herself displayed the night Benjamin was born. As the caretaker of Nolan House's aging inhabitants, Queenie was no stranger to death and loss, yet she found it in herself to care for the aged baby Benjamin, even after she was told by the doctor that he didn't have long to live.

The other answers were all lines said by, or attributed to, Mrs. Gump (played by Sally Field) in "Forrest Gump". The two films have several parallels - both films chronicled the intimate journey of one man's life set against the background of the epic events of the times, and both films featured strong maternal characters in the form of Queenie and Mrs. Gump. It's no coincidence that both films were written by the same screenwriter - the talented Eric Roth.

Answer: John Wilkes Booth

Tizzy's grandfather worked for John Wilkes Booth, the stage actor who assassinated Abraham Lincoln in 1865. The soliloquy delivered by Tizzy in the movie was from Shakespeare's "Henry VI, Part 1", a play that was probably performed by Booth since he was an accomplished Shakespearian actor.

The other choices were also well-known stage actors of the nineteenth century. At some point in each of their careers, they had worked with Edwin Booth, the older brother of John Wilkes Booth.

Answer: A hummingbird

Benjamin had never seen a hummingbird that far out to sea before. Hummingbirds appeared several times throughout the film, and were likely symbolic for a departed spirit. Captain Mike had a hummingbird tattooed above his heart, and he regaled the Russian sailors in the bar of the Winter Palace hotel with stories about hummingbirds.

A hummingbird also appeared outside Daisy's hospital window at the end of the movie, just before she passed away.

Answer: Caviar and vodka

Elizabeth Abbott was the first woman who kissed Benjamin, and the first woman he ever loved. She taught Benjamin to savor the caviar and not eat it all at once, so that there was something left to enjoy, and to chase it down with a shot of vodka. Perhaps Benjamin owed part of his contemplative nature to Elizabeth. He would later share a meal of caviar and vodka with another woman in his life - Daisy.

The other choices: Strawberries and champagne were from "Pretty Woman"; roast beef and syrup were eaten together in "To Kill A Mockingbird"; and tea with honey was what Benjamin offered to Elizabeth the first night he met her, but neither of them had any honey in their tea because there were flies in the jar.

Answer: That he'd been struck by lightning seven times

Mr. Daws had been struck by lightning seven times - once while repairing a leak on a roof, once while crossing the road to get his mail, once in a field while tending to his cows, once while sitting in his truck just minding his own business, once while walking his dog down the road, and on two other occasions. Although the running "lightning" gag was primarily utilized for comedic effect in the film, it was also the source of an important life lesson to Benjamin. Despite all the travails of old age that Mr. Daws was burdened with, he had come to regard being struck by lightning in a positive light. As he explained to Benjamin in the film, "God keeps reminding me I'm lucky to be alive".

The other answers were references to other characters in the movie. Elizabeth Abbott, the woman Benjamin met in Murmansk, was the oldest woman to swim the English Channel. Ngunda Oti, the pygmy who befriended Benjamin, had been married five times and had previously lived in a monkey house in Philadelphia.

Answer: The piano

"It's not about how well you play, it's about how you feel when you're playing," Mrs. Maple explained to Benjamin during his lesson. She must have taught him well, because even when Benjamin was exhibiting signs of senile dementia towards the end of his life, he could still remember how to play the piano.

As Benjamin put it in the film, Mrs. Maple was an example of "how sometimes the people we remember the least make the greatest impression on us".

Answer: When she was one, after her first birthday party.

Benjamin left Caroline to be raised by Daisy because he was "growing" younger and younger, and he knew that his daughter needed a father and not a playmate. He also didn't want Daisy to have to raise the both of them. After Caroline's first birthday party, a friend commented to Benjamin, "Before you turn around they'll be in high school", which only seemed to stiffen his resolve to leave her. He put all his money into an account for Daisy and Caroline, and left with only the clothes on his back, before Caroline could ever remember him.

The other answers were references to the postcards that Benjamin sent to Caroline every year for her birthday - the activities described were what Benjamin wished he could have done with his daughter.