Quiz Questions

1. Tom Joad spent four years in prison for committing what crime?

A) Fraud
B) Arson
C) Manslaughter
D) Theft

2. Steinbeck spends an entire chapter describing what animal’s attempt to cross a highway?

A) A chicken
B) A coyote
C) A snake
D) A turtle

3. Why did Jim Casy resign from the ministry?

A) He lost his faith in religion.
B) He felt guilty about sleeping with women in his congregation.
C) He was no longer speaking with conviction and honesty.
D) All of the above

4. Muley Graves stays in Oklahoma because

A) He feels a kinship with the land and cannot bear to leave it.
B) He needs some time away from his family.
C) Leaving the state would violate his parole.
D) He is in love with a local girl.

5. Why does Noah provoke feelings of guilt in Pa Joad?

A) Pa’s anger management issues cause him to physically abuse Noah.
B) Pa blames himself for Noah’s head being deformed.
C) Pa feels as if he has not taught Noah enough for him to get by.
D) Pa is jealous of the attention Noah receives from Ma.

6. What is the source of Uncle John’s drinking problem?

A) Emotional trauma from serving in World War I
B) The desire to have done more with his life
C) A bitter divorce
D) His wife’s death

7. Grampa Joad’s sudden death is brought on by

A) Malnutrition.
B) A fatal infection.
C) Heartbreak over leaving his Oklahoma land.
D) An automobile accident.

8. Why does Grampa not receive a proper burial?

A) The family does not have enough money to pay for a burial and still make it to California.
B) The family fears they will be accused of foul play if they take Grampa’s body to the police.
C) No minister is available to conduct the service.
D) Grampa was a curmudgeon and nobody liked him anyway.

9. Why is the gas station attendant rude to the Joads?

A) Winfield steals a piece of candy.
B) He is angry that people come to his station to beg and barter for fuel.
C) Tom tries to bully him into lowering his prices.
D) A carload of people swindled him before the Joads arrived.

10. What event occurs while the Joads are at the gas station?

A) Grampa dies in the back of the van.
B) Rose of Sharon gives birth.
C) A passing car kills the family dog.
D) Uncle John buys a bottle of liquor and gets drunk.

11. What is the original price of the candy Mae sells to the migrant children in the diner?

A) One cent
B) Three cents
C) Five cents
D) Ten cents

12. The mechanic that Tom and Casy meet at the junkyard has what kind of disability?

A) He’s deaf.
B) He only has one eye.
C) He’s missing an arm.
D) He’s paralyzed from the waist down.

13. Upon arriving in California, Noah

A) Runs off with a girl he just met.
B) Hitches a ride with a family on their way back to Oklahoma.
C) Gets into a fight with another migrant.
D) Decides to leave the family and live off the river.

14. What happens to Casy at the Hooverville camp?

A) He gets arrested after taking the blame for Tom during a fight.
B) He comes down with an illness and can’t travel.
C) An argument with Ma forces him to leave the Joads.
D) He has a religious epiphany and goes back to the church.

15. The old woman at the Weedpatch camp warns that Rose of Sharon’s sins will cause her to

A) Starve to death.
B) Have a miscarriage.
C) Lose her husband.
D) Go to hell.

16. What does Tom do to force the family to flee Hooper Ranch?

A) Insults the owners by calling them greedy
B) Takes fruit without paying for it
C) Clubs Jim Casy’s killer
D) Steals a car to go on a joyride

17. Which character accidentally reveals that Tom is in hiding?

A) Winfield
B) Ruthie
C) Rose of Sharon
D) Uncle John

18. At the end of the novel, Tom leaves his family so that he can

A) Avoid the shame that comes with not being able to provide for them.
B) Write a book about his experiences.
C) Find a woman to settle down with and have kids.
D) Become a leader and set an example for all the displaced migrants.

19. What does Uncle John do with Rose of Sharon’s stillborn baby?

A) Buries it in a field
B) Performs a cremation
C) Sends the coffin downstream
D) Leaves it in the flooding boxcar

20. What happens to the starving man whom the Joads meet in the final pages of the novel?

A) He dies.
B) Rose of Sharon breastfeeds him.
C) He robs the Joads of all their possessions.
D) An emergency relief team comes to rescue him.