The Story of an Hour – 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

Holiday
Novelette by Katherine Porter. A young woman holidaying on the farm of wealthy German immigrants is concerned to learn that the parent’s older daughter, who suffers mental and physical disabilities, lives a life of drudgery as a servant girl and is largely ignored by the otherwise loving family.
Double Birthday
Novelette by Willa Cather. The protagonist and his aging uncle have the same birthday. They share a house, living in the past among sentimental relics and resisting cultural aspects of “modern” (1920s) America. An unexpected visitor on their mutual birthday signals that things may soon change for the better.
The Mezzotint
Short Story by M. R. James. A university don is shocked when the image on a mezzotint depicting an early 1800s manor house changes several times over a day, finally revealing a heinous crime. Intrigued, he feels duty-bound to find the location of the house and discover its secret.

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.
The Bound Man
Short Story by Ilse Aichinger. A man wakes to find himself bleeding and bound from head to toe. The ropes allow some movement, but cannot be untied. With difficulty, he manages to stand and “walk” to a nearby village where a circus owner hires him as a performer.
The Water of Life
Grade 5-6 Story by Howard Pyle. A princess vows to marry whoever brings her water from the “Fountain of Life”. A king sends a servant to get some, and falsely claims the prize. The doubtful princess sets him two more tasks, one of which requires cutting off the servant’s hand.
The Celebrated Jumping Frog
Short Story by Mark Twain. A man who loves gambling so much that he will bet on almost anything finds a frog he thinks can leap further than any other frog in Calaveras County. One day a passing stranger bets against the frog and teaches him an expensive lesson.

Secretary
Short Story by Mary Gaitskill. A young woman who begins her first ever job as a secretary in a lawyer’s office learns that her employer is a sadistic sexual predator. She is both repulsed and sexually stimulated by his attentions and, after quitting, is left psychologically devastated.
A Christmas Memory
Short Story by Truman Capote. A seven-year-old-boy, and his aged but child-like female cousin are best friends. It is telling that their Christmas fruitcakes are not for their pious carers or neighbors, but strangers who either “strike their fancy” or have shown kindness towards them over the years
The Wendigo
Novella by Algernon Blackwood. A hunting party encounters a malevolent being said by Native Indian folklore to haunt the wilds of Eastern Canada. One of their guides is taken and returned as a misshapen shadow of himself. He is taken again, and reappears “bereft of mind, memory and soul”.