Quiz Questions

Reading Comprehension
Quiz Questions

1. What did Lennie forget in Chapter One?

A) Why he and George had to run from their last job.
B) How to tie his shoes.
C) Not to clutch mice so tightly.
D) That George wasn't his cousin.

2. What would Aunt Clara always give to Lennie when he was little?

A) Chocolate
B) Spankings
C) Mice
D) Lemon Drops

3. Why did George tell Lennie not to drink the water?

A) Because they were trespassing on someone else's land.
B) Lennie got sick from drinking some water the other night.
C) There were dead fish in the water.
D) George wanted all of the water for himself.

4. In the beginning of the story, what kind of animal does Lennie keep accidentally killing?

A) Grasshoppers
B) Dogs
C) Mice
D) Fireflies

5. Where did Lennie and George work before they came to Soledad?

A) Weed, California
B) Colorado Springs, Colorado
C) Soledad, California
D) Los Angeles, California

6. What dream are George and Lennie working toward?

A) Making enough money to leave the country.
B) Both want to find wives and settle down.
C) Buying a piece of land all their own with rabbits.
D) Owning their own cattle ranch.

7. Why do George and Lennie feel so lucky to have one another?

A) Because the life of most ranch hands is a lonely one.
B) Neither has any family that is still alive.
C) Protection in numbers.
D) They can combine their money to buy nicer things.

8. What physical characteristic is unique about Candy?

A) He had a peg leg.
B) His face was scarred.
C) He was physically imposing.
D) He was missing a hand.

9. Why was the boss suspicious of Lennie?

A) Because Lennie was so big.
B) Because he had talked with Lennie's previous boss.
C) Because George did not let Lennie speak for himself.
D) Lennie seemed angry and hostile.

10. Why does Curley not like men who are bigger than him?

A) It makes him feel inferior.
B) He thinks that they are unintelligent.
C) It makes him want to fight.
D) He is afraid that his wife will run away with them.

11. Why does Curley wear a glove filled with Vaseline?

A) So that he does not get blisters during work.
B) For his wife.
C) So that when he fights, his hands are cushioned by the Vaseline.
D) Because he has a terrible hangnail.

12. What does it mean when the workers say that Curley's wife has "the eye"?

A) She had a glass eye.
B) She had the ability of foresight.
C) She was looking to men other than her husband for physical affirmation and satisfaction.
D) She had a turned eye.

13. Why did Slim drown four puppies from his dog's litter?

A) Because the mother would have been unable to care for all the puppies in the litter.
B) The four puppies that he drowned were runts.
C) They did not drown; they accidently fell into the horses' watering trough.
D) He was a vicious person.

14. What incident in their past made George stop playing jokes on Lennie?

A) Lennie told him how much it hurt his feelings.
B) Lennie almost drowned because of the joke.
C) George and Lennie's mutual friend drowned because of the joke.
D) Lennie almost accidentally killed George.

15. How does Steinbeck portray the life of a typical ranch hand?

A) Exciting
B) Difficult
C) Easy
D) Lonely

16. What did Candy's dog do before he got old?

A) He was a stray and Candy adopted him.
B) He was a show dog.
C) He was a sheepdog.
D) He was the boss's dog when he was young.

17. How does the death of Candy's dog foreshadow what will happen to Lennie?

A) Candy's dog is killed out of mercy, just like Lennie is.
B) Carlson kills Candy's dog and later on kills Lennie.
C) Candy's dog is killed cruelly, just as Lennie is at the end of the story.
D) Steinbeck shows that people who are not useful should be killed.

18. According to Whit, how did he know that George and Lennie were really there to work?

A) Because they had work slips.
B) Because out of all the men, they worked the hardest.
C) Because the boss said that they were there to work.
D) Because they came during the week, instead of on the weekend.

19. What kind of establishment does Old Susy run, from what the text implies?

A) A restaurant
B) A bar
C) A brothel
D) A hotel

20. Why does Curley get suspicious every time Slim is not with the other men?

A) He is afraid that his wife is having an affair with Slim.
B) He is afraid that Slim is trying to find another place to work.
C) He is afraid of Slim stealing the best horses on the ranch.
D) He is only curious, not really worried.

21. Why did Lennie resist fighting Curley at first?

A) Because he was afraid that Curley would hurt him.
B) Because George told him to avoid fighting Curley at all costs.
C) Because he did not have any boxing gloves.
D) He did not want to fight Curley because he thought Curley was a nice person.

22. What happened to Lennie's puppy?

A) It lived to be a useful sheepdog.
B) It died from being taken away from its mother too early.
C) It died because Lennie accidentally strangled it to death.
D) George killed the puppy after Lennie died because it reminded him of Lennie too much.

23. Who killed Curley's wife?

A) Curley
B) Lennie
C) George
D) Crooks

24. Who killed Lennie?

A) Lennie
B) Curley
C) George
D) Slim

25. Lennie's death was an act of:

A) Pity
B) Anger
C) Indifference
D) Mercy

26. Who stole Carlson's gun?

A) Curley
B) Lennie
C) George
D) Crooks

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