The Butler – Quiz |

The Butler – 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

A Jury of Her Peers
Novelette by Susan Glaspell. Men investigating a farmer’s murder bring their wives to his farmhouse to collect clothing for the suspect (the farmer’s wife) while in jail. The women face a moral dilemma. They find evidence that would convict the wife, but also proof of the farmer’s cruelty towards her.
The Fall of Edward Barnard
Novelette by W. Somerset Maugham. Although ostensibly themed around a clash of cultures (East vs. West), this story is equally about competing lifestyles (materialistic vs. minimalist). Through extensive use of irony, the story contrasts the worldly ambition of American industrialists and socialites with the relaxed way of life in Tahiti.
Melvin in the Sixth Grade
Grade 7-8 Story by Dona Johnson. An African-American sixth grader is ostracized and made fun of because of her race. Her only friend is Melvin, a strange-looking boy she describes as “my beautiful alien from Planet Cowboy”. Sadly, in a desperate effort to be accepted, she betrays him.
The Rockpile
Short Story by James Baldwin. Set in an African-American neighborhood in Depression-era Harlem, the story contrasts religious zeal with violence and division in community. In addition to the violence associated with children’s “gang” skirmishes on a natural rockpile, a climate of fear and intimidation exists in the protagonist’s household.
The War of the Wall
Grade 7-8 Story by Toni Cade Bambara. A wall is special to an inner city community. Two boys plan sabotage when a rude woman from New York begins to paint some kind of mural on it, but change their mind when they see the finished product..
Idyll
Short Story by Guy de Maupassant. A man and woman share a train carriage. She is in great pain. A wet-nurse, she has not had a baby to her breast in the last two days. The man offers to help, which in turn solves a problem of his own.
The Wreath
Short Story by Luigi Pirandello. A middle-aged doctor is disturbed to learn that his much younger wife, who still has feelings for a former lover who died before they married, has gone behind his back and secretly ordered a wreath for the anniversary of his death.
Drifting House
Short Story by Krys Lee. Two starving, malnourished North Korean boys abandoned by their mother struggle across a snow-covered mountain to try to join her in China. The older boy carries their dying infant sister. Unable to carry her any further, he humanely ends her suffering.
Caroline’s Wedding
Novelette by Edwidge Danticat. A Haitian-American woman helps bridge differences between her widowed mother, who still embraces their original culture, and younger Americanized sister (Caroline). The mother is uneasy about Caroline’s coming marriage to a non-Haitian, and has been using her traditional magic to try to separate them.
The Guest
Short Story by Albert Camus. A policeman orders a teacher from a remote Algerian school to escort an alleged murderer to the nearest city. The teacher knows that whatever decision he makes (to follow the order or set the man free) will have unpleasant, and possibly deadly, consequences.
Hearts and Hands
Quick Read by O. Henry. An attractive, refined-looking young woman is returning East by train after spending time in the “Wild West”. She greets a handsome, well-dressed young man she knows, and is surprised to see that he is handcuffed to a roughly dressed, glum-faced companion.
Sweet Porridge
German Folktale. A kind old woman gives a magic pot to a poor girl looking for something to eat. When someone says special words, the pot cooks sweet porridge. Her mother and their village’s only problem is that you need to remember the special words that make it stop cooking.
Dharma
Novelette by Vikram Chandra. In a twist on the ghost story genre, most of the action here occurs in a house haunted not by a dead inhabitant, but the “lost” spirit of a distinguished army officer’s youth. Confronting this personal ghost brings self-awareness and a new-found sense of freedom.
Blacksoil Country
Short Story by David Malouf. An early Australian settler shoots an innocent Aborigine bearing a gift from a neighbor. Shortly afterwards, his twelve-year-old son is brutally murdered. This triggers a racially driven killing spree, which elevates the man from a surly loner nobody wanted to associate with to hero status.