FREE! Click here to Join FunTrivia. Thousands of games, quizzes, and lots more!
Lewis Sinclair Quizzes, Trivia and Puzzles
Lewis Sinclair Quizzes, Trivia

Sinclair Lewis Trivia

Sinclair Lewis Trivia Quizzes

  1. Home
  2. »
  3. Quizzes
  4. »
  5. Literature Trivia
  6. »
  7. Authors L-P

Fun Trivia
6 Sinclair Lewis quizzes and 80 Sinclair Lewis trivia questions.
1.
  Elmer Gantry   popular trivia quiz  
Multiple Choice
 20 Qns
Sinclair Lewis' chilling portrayal of the rise of an utterly unscrupulous and egocentric "man of God" in early 20th century America exposed the hypocrisy of much of the country's religious mania.
Average, 20 Qns, jouen58, May 02 05
Average
jouen58
269 plays
2.
  Babbitt    
Multiple Choice
 20 Qns
Sinclair Lewis' 1922 novel featuring an archetypical self-satisfied mediocrity and conformist in middle-class America, remains as pointed today as it was 82 years ago. Good luck!
Average, 20 Qns, jouen58, May 02 05
Average
jouen58
240 plays
3.
  Works of Sinclair Lewis   great trivia quiz  
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
Sinclair Lewis was a giant of American Literature for the first part of the twentieth century, yet few people remember his life or his works. This quiz is designed to capture the flavor of his greatest novels. I hope you enjoy!
Average, 10 Qns, abbotas, Jun 21 06
Average
abbotas
236 plays
4.
  "Babbitt" by Sinclair Lewis    
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
A classic American novel which helped Lewis obtain the first Nobel Prize given to an American author based on Literature in 1930.
Average, 10 Qns, itsfun4u2c, Feb 08 08
Average
itsfun4u2c
186 plays
5.
  "Dodsworth" by Sinclair Lewis    
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
After the central character relinquishes control of his automobile company, he and his wife venture through Europe. Here you are asked about that journey.
Average, 10 Qns, itsfun4u2c, Oct 25 07
Average
itsfun4u2c
129 plays
6.
  "Main Street" by Sinclair Lewis    
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
Try and answer these questions about a novel where one character's desire to improve a town's culture may prove to be too much for her and the townspeople.
Average, 10 Qns, itsfun4u2c, May 02 05
Average
itsfun4u2c
216 plays
trivia question Quick Question
This person was the town's handyman and the only Democrat in the town. Who was this atheist?

From Quiz ""Main Street" by Sinclair Lewis"





Sinclair Lewis Trivia Questions

1. This story takes place mainly in which city?

From Quiz
"Babbitt" by Sinclair Lewis

Answer: Zenith.

Zenith was also the city Lewis featured in his novel, "Dodsworth." Cato was mentioned in "Elmer Gantry" while Gopher Prairie was from "Main Street." The story spends a short time in Chicago.

2. What is the name of Sam Dodsworth's automobile company?

From Quiz "Dodsworth" by Sinclair Lewis

Answer: Revelation

He is bought out by the Unit Automotive Company (U.A.C.) once he realizes that they can make a car very similar and for less money.

3. What Sinclair Lewis novel tells the story of the wealthy owner of a motor company who is forced to take a lengthy vacation in Europe that ends with a divorce from his wife?

From Quiz Works of Sinclair Lewis

Answer: Dodsworth

This novel was published in 1929 and became an Academy Award winning movie staring Walter Huston, Ruth Chatterton and David Niven in 1936.

4. The "Main Street" that is the focus of the story is in which town?

From Quiz "Main Street" by Sinclair Lewis

Answer: Gopher Prairie, Minnesota

In the foreword of this novel, it is explained that although this story is set in Gopher Prairie, it is a continuation of main streets everywhere. Holcomb, Kansas was the town where Truman Capote's "In Cold Blood" took place and based on after actual events. Maycomb, Alabama is from Harper Lee's famous "To Kill A Mockingbird" novel. Ridgway, Colorado is the very small town where I grew up. It is located 35 miles from Telluride and 90 miles south of Grand Junction.

5. What physical state is Gantry in when the novel begins?

From Quiz Elmer Gantry

Answer: Drunk

The first sentence of the novel is the terse statement "Elmer Gantry was drunk". The novel opens in a bar in Cato, Missouri, where Gantry and his roommate (and only real friend) Jim Lefferts are applying themselves to the bottle, though only Elmer is truly drunk. Although Gantry probably could not be called an alcoholic, his fondness for alcohol, tobacco, and women is a recurring theme of the novel, even when his self-indulgence threatens his position and his livelihood. Gantry is a man perpetually dominated by his physical needs and desires, particularly his libido; his state of inebriation at the outset of the story is a fitting introduction.

6. To which prominent American female novelist was "Babbitt" dedicated?

From Quiz Babbitt

Answer: Edith Wharton

Lewis had admired Wharton's work since his days at Yale in the early 1900s, and Wharton herself held Lewis' early novel "Main Street" in great esteem. When he rather timidly asked if he might dedicate "Babbitt" to her, she was delightedly surprised and admitted "I'm a little dizzy!" When the novel appeared, she wrote Lewis a long letter of appreciation, beginning: "There's so much to say about "Babbitt" that I don't know where to begin...If I've waited as long as this to have a book dedicated to me, Providence was evidently waiting to find just the Right Book. All my thanks for it."

7. Which person was married to George Babbitt?

From Quiz "Babbitt" by Sinclair Lewis

Answer: Myra.

George loses lust for Myra which sets in motion Sinclair's use of indiscretions by the main character to produce many articles for the story.

8. In which town is Sam Dodsworth's permanent home located? The home he restlessly tries to return his wife and himself to, from Europe, through much of the novel.

From Quiz "Dodsworth" by Sinclair Lewis

Answer: Zenith

Gopher Prairie is the focus point in another novel by Lewis, "Main Street" It is said to be created in reference to his small hometown as a boy.

9. What did the main character in Sinclair Lewis' novel 'Arrowsmith' work as?

From Quiz Works of Sinclair Lewis

Answer: Doctor

The novel follows Martin Arrowsmith through medical school into his practice, as he struggles to decide between continuing to earn good money as a doctor or striving for a nobler life as a researcher trying to cure disease and suffering.

10. Can you name the central character of this book who wishes to improve her new town with events similar to those she experienced in Chicago, Minneapolis and St. Paul? Give her name before she marries.

From Quiz "Main Street" by Sinclair Lewis

Answer: Carol Milford

She becomes Carol Kennicott after her marriage to Dr. Will Kennicott.

11. Gantry is a student at Terwillinger College, a Baptist university in Gritzmacher Springs, Kansas. By what nickname is he known on campus?

From Quiz Elmer Gantry

Answer: Hell-cat

Gantry is known as a formidable hell raiser and fighter, particularly when he is in his cups. His specialty is flying into an inebriated rage at anyone who might insult his friend Jim or at the sight of any weak person being bullied; what Lewis refers to as "...that most blissful condition to which a powerful young man can attain- unrighteous violence in a righteous cause." It is in this ungodly state that Elmer makes his first act of faith, when he comes upon a group of skeptics heckling a young man preaching the Gospel. To his chagrin, the preacher turns out to be his despised classmate Eddie Fislinger; he ends up publicly acknowledging his religious "faith" purely to have a reason to start a fight.

12. George F. Babbitt, the title character, is asleep when the novel begins; how does Lewis describe his appearance in slumber?

From Quiz Babbitt

Answer: Babyish

Babbitt is forty-six and a successful realtor (a profession which Lewis describes as "... the calling of selling houses for more than people could afford to pay."). Despite his years, Babbitt is a man of no character or individuality; Lewis describes his physical appearance in slumber thus: "His large head was pink, his brown hair thin and dry. His face was babyish in slumber, despite his wrinkles and the red spectacle-dents on the slope of his nose." Babbitt's name is rich in symbolic allusion; his surname suggests the word "baby", also the word "babble" (it also rhymes with "habit", probably not coincidentally). His quite dignified Christian name, George, is usually corrupted into the far less distinguished "Georgie" (reminiscent of Georgie-Porgie?) in the novel. His middle name is Follansbee; very late in the novel, one of his cronies at the Booster club makes a play on this by creating the legend (inscribed on a blackboard) "George Follansbee Babbitt- oh you Folly!", which has far more significance than anyone in the club realizes.

13. What was the name of the real estate office George Babbitt worked at?

From Quiz "Babbitt" by Sinclair Lewis

Answer: Babbitt-Thompson Realty Co.

Littlefield was Babbitt's neighbor. Harcourt Brace and Co. was a publisher for the novel.

14. Which country is it that the Dodsworths first sail to?

From Quiz "Dodsworth" by Sinclair Lewis

Answer: England

They arrive on board the S. S. Ultima.

15. In what 1947 Sinclair Lewis novel is the main character, a wounded war veteran and junior banker named Neil, shocked to find that his ancestory is not what it seems?

From Quiz Works of Sinclair Lewis

Answer: Kingsblood Royal

In a twist on most books written on the subject (black passing for white, which the other three titles are about) "Kingsblood Royal" was about a white man who is trying to pass for black.

16. Who was the featured husband in this story?

From Quiz "Main Street" by Sinclair Lewis

Answer: Dr. Will Kennicott

Mayor Wellington Webb, Governor Bill Ovens and Senator Ken Salazar are all Colorado public officials. Carol was employed as a librarian in St. Paul at the time when she met Dr. Kennicott through her friends, the Marburys.

17. Babbitt's profession is real estate development and sales. Despite the fact that designing and selling homes is his livelihood, there is one aspect of housing about which he is supremely (and rather shamefully) ignorant; what is it?

From Quiz Babbitt

Answer: Sanitation

Babbitt, writes Lewis, "...did not know a malaria-bearing mosquito from a bat; he knew nothing about tests of drinking water; and in the matters of plumbing and sewage he was as unlearned as he was voluble." Because of an unreasonable prejudice about the supposed unhealthiness of cesspools, he has outfitted his Glen Oriole acreage development with a complete sewage system, scorning the cesspool system used by the rival Avonlea development. The problem is that "...the Glen Oriole sewers had insufficient outlet, so that waste remained in them, not very agreeably, while the Avonlea cesspool was a Waring septic tank."

18. Fran Dodsworth is made obvious in her attempt to find a European counterpart. Who is the first man that she romanticizes with?

From Quiz "Dodsworth" by Sinclair Lewis

Answer: Major Clyde Lockhart

She has an affair with each listed except for Tub who is Sam's best friend.

19. In 1930 Sinclair Lewis became the first American writer to do what?

From Quiz Works of Sinclair Lewis

Answer: Win the Nobel Prize for Literature

Lewis was awarded the Nobel for "vigorous and graphic art of description and his ability to create, with wit and humour, new types of characters."

20. This person was the town's handyman and the only Democrat in the town. Who was this atheist?

From Quiz "Main Street" by Sinclair Lewis

Answer: Mile Bjornstam

He was known as the "The Red Swede" and a general store arguer.

21. Which character shoots his wife?

From Quiz "Babbitt" by Sinclair Lewis

Answer: Paul Riesling.

Zilla survives and Paul is set to serve three years in prison.

22. Sam envisions a return to the United States to do what?

From Quiz "Dodsworth" by Sinclair Lewis

Answer: He wants to build suburban homes.

It's an undertaking where he figures Fran could be involved, making her happy and fulfilled to be settled in America once more.

23. During the height of the depression, Sinclair Lewis imagined the United States taken over by a facist government in this work. What was the title?

From Quiz Works of Sinclair Lewis

Answer: It Can't Happen Here

'It Can't Happen Here' was a very chilling book when one considers it was written in 1936, long before the true terror of the Nazis was fully known. One of the most powerful quotes from the book: "When fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in a flag and carrying a cross..."

24. Who is Guy Pollock?

From Quiz "Main Street" by Sinclair Lewis

Answer: A love affair temptation

Carol is impressed by his artistic views and tastes as well as his education.

25. In this book we read the story of George, a successful real estate agent who is very unhappy with his life. What was the name of this Sinclair Lewis book, often considered one of the best satires of the American middle class?

From Quiz Works of Sinclair Lewis

Answer: Babbitt

This Lewis work showed us the life of George Babbitt in the large town of Zenith Ohio, a town where class is strictly enforced and being part of the 'right' group is extremely important.

26. What was the first play voted by the drama committee?

From Quiz "Main Street" by Sinclair Lewis

Answer: The Girl from Kankakee

Carol would be the only one to vote against this selection.

27. Elmer is sent to his first ministry at a church in Schoenheim, where he encounters the lovely Lulu Baines, the daughter of the church's deacon. What furry animal is Lulu compared to upon her first appearance (and several times thereafter)?

From Quiz Elmer Gantry

Answer: A kitten

When she first appears, Lulu is described as "... a gray-and-white kitten with a pink bow." Gantry is consumed with desire for her and arranges, by various subterfuges, to be intimate with her on a number of occasions. When the subject of marriage comes up, however, Lulu undergoes an anthropomorphic change; Lewis writes that "...he [ Gantry] didn't want to marry this brainless little fluffy chick, who would be of no help in impressing rich parishioners." Gantry regards Lulu purely as a sexual object; at one point, he is forced into an engagement with her when their intimacies come to her father's attention. However he cleverly slips out of this trap by treating Lulu badly and arranging for her to be alone with her erstwhile swain Floyd Naylor. While Floyd is comforting the distraught Lulu, Gantry arranges for himself and her father to surprise the couple in a seemingly compromising position. Gantry is thus released from his obligation, and it is Floyd who ends up marrying Lulu at the point of a shotgun. Floyd, who is wild about Lulu, is actually quite pleased with this development; Gantry is able to extricate himself, not only from his engagement to Lulu, but from his appointment to Schoenheim, while adeptly playing the part of the injured lover. Only Lulu fares badly; when Gantry takes his leave of her, she is described as "...huddled, with shrunk shoulders, her face insane with fear."

28. Which profession had Babbitt initially intended to pursue?

From Quiz Babbitt

Answer: Law

Babbitt had begun working as a realtor while studying law. He had intended to be a crusading defense attorney, defending the distressed poor against the Unjust Rich. He had also dreamed of a political career, but had difficulty sustaining his lofty ideals and, thus, "fell back" on the comfortable routine of real estate.

29. Who was Ida Putiak?

From Quiz "Babbitt" by Sinclair Lewis

Answer: A manicurist that Babbitt attempts an affair with.

She basically plays Babbitt for a fool and receives a free dinner at his expense.

30. Fed up with Fran and her affairs, who does Sam take refuge with in Venice?

From Quiz "Dodsworth" by Sinclair Lewis

Answer: Edith Cortright

During this time, it's clear that these two have a lot in common and that a long lasting relationship might be forthcoming.

This is category 13404
play trivia = Top 5% Rated Quiz, take trivia quiz Top 10% Rated Quiz, test trivia quiz Top 20% Rated Quiz, popular trivia A Well Rated Quiz
new quizzes = added recently, editor pick = Editor's Pick editor = FunTrivia Editor gold = Gold Member

Teachers / educators: FunTrivia welcomes the use of our website and quizzes in the classroom as a teaching aid or for preparing and testing students. See our education section. Our quizzes are printable and may be used as question sheets by k-12 teachers, parents, and home schoolers.

 ·  All questions, answers, and quiz content on this website is copyright FunTrivia, Inc and may not be reproduced without permission. Any images from TV shows and movies are copyright their studios, and are being used under "fair use" for commentary and education.