The Way Up to Heaven – Quiz

The Way Up to Heaven – General Understanding Quiz

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Approximate Reading Times

Quick Read: under 5 minutes
Short Story: 5 to 30 minutes
Novelette: 30 to 90 minutes
Novella: 1.5 to 2.5 hours

Flowers for Algernon
Novelette by Daniel Keyes. A touching short story about a mentally handicapped man who undergoes experimental surgery to enhance his intelligence. The operation’s initial success highlights an interesting aspect of intelligence: the very gifted can be as out of touch with reality and friendless as the intellectually challenged.
Gooseberries
Short Story by Anton Chekhov. A hiker taking shelter from a storm relates a tale about his younger brother, once a junior public servant, who dreamed of owning a farm and went to great lengths to get one. Unfortunately, becoming a landowner changed him for the worse.
The Minister’s Black Veil
Short Story by Nathaniel Hawthorne. A church minister frightens and intrigues his parishioners by spending most of his life hiding his face behind a black veil. Readers are left to decide what the veil symbolizes: a heinous sin committed by the minister, the sinful nature of mankind, or both.

Wakefield
Short Story by Nathaniel Hawthorne. A narrator provides a possible backstory for a newspaper account of a man who ‘disappeared’ after telling his wife he was going on a week’s holiday, stalked her for twenty years, and then returned home as if nothing had happened.
The Shadow in the Rose Garden
Short Story by D. H. Lawrence. Upon being told that her ex-lover had died overseas, a woman marries “below her station”. Trapped in a loveless marriage, she convinces her husband to holiday in the village where she met the lover. While visiting a rose garden, she finds him still alive.
Man from the South
Short Story by Roald Dahl. A tale about gambling, greed, appearances and ‘face’. A young sailor trying to impress a girl accepts what appears to be an easy bet. If he is successful, he will win an expensive car. If he loses, he must give up a small body part.
A Pilgrim Yankee’s Progress
Novelette by Nick Joaquin. Thanks to a series of misunderstandings arising from different cultural perspectives, an uneasy relationship develops between a Filipino family recovering from the trauma of World War 2 and an American soldier visiting the grave of an uncle who died during the Spanish-American War.

The Fat Girl
Short Story by Andre Dubus. A mother’s efforts to control her daughter’s diet by shaming her about becoming overweight result in a serious eating disorder. Fortunately, the birth of a child brings about an epiphany through which the daughter is able to be comfortable with who she is.
The Challenge
Short Story by Mario Vargas Llosa. A street thug challenges a man from a rival group to a knife fight. The other accepts, knowing he has little chance. The thug offers clemency as he begins to dominate the fight but the other refuses, preferring to die rather than admit defeat.
Roselily
Short Story by Alice Walker. A woman daydreams through her wedding ceremony about how her life will change. She is from the rural South, he is from Chicago; she is Christian, he is Muslim. She reconciles herself to a life of "ropes, chains and handcuffs" away from family and friends.