Sisters and Brothers in Literature Quiz

Answer: Jem

Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird" is narrated by 9-year-old Scout. She and her brother Jem are the children of Atticus Finch. Boo Radley is one of nnovel's memorable characters.

The setting and circumstances of the novel resemble those of Lee's childhood in the American South of the 1930s.

Answer: Goneril

In Shakespeare's "King Lear", Cordelia is Lear's faithful and loving daughter. Goneril and Regan are the bad ones. Imogen is from Shakespeare's "Cymbeline", Desdemona from his "Othello", and Octavia from his "Antony and Cleopatra".

Shakespeare's 1605 play is so tragic that later writers tried to soften the pain. In 1681, a version with a happy ending was produced which remained more popular than the original until late in the 19th century.

Answer: William

In Mary Shelley's novel (1818), William Frankenstein meets a harsh end at the hands of the monster. Victor is the creative doctor himself. Henry is his friend and Alphonse is his father. Mary Shelley completed "Frankenstein" at the age of 19.

Answer: Paris

Paris causes all the trouble in Homer's epic by abducting Helen of Troy. He and Hector are the sons of Priam and Hecuba. Agamemnon, King of Mycenae, and Menelaus, King of Sparta (in addition to being Helen's husband), are also brothers.

Scholars believe that "The Iliad" originates in a much older oral tradition than the composition we know, which dates from 750-650 B.C. The story is set sometime around 1300 B.C.

Answer: Lucy

Lucy and Susan Pevensie and their brothers Peter and Edmund become queens and kings in this C.S. Lewis' series. Jill, Polly, and Bree also appear in the "Chronicles", in "The Silver Chair," "The Magician's Nephew," and "The Horse and His Boy," respectively. Bree is the eponymous horse.

Along with other literary friends, Lewis and J.R.R.Tolkien, author of "The Lord of the Rings," often read their works in progress to one another. Their group, the Inklings, met twice weekly in Oxford for many years.

Answer: Suellen

In Margaret Mitchell's "Gone With the Wind," Suellen is one of Scarlett's two younger sisters. Melanie is the wife of Scarlett's heartthrob Ashley Wilkes, and Honey is his sister. Belle is a lady of the night with a heart of gold.

Margaret Mitchell was descended from Civil War-era plantation owners in Georgia. She won the Pulitzer Prize for "Gone With the Wind" in 1937.

Answer: Eric

In William Golding's novel, twins Sam and Eric are so closely bonded that they are often referred to by the single name "Samneric." Ralph, Jack and Simon are other schoolboys marooned on the island. Golding won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1983.

Answer: Kate

All four girls are characters in Dickens' novels. Nicholas Nickleby's mother, who is consistently and stubbornly wrong about everything, is based on Dickens' own mother.

Answer: Stepan Oblonsky

In the novel by Count Leo Tolstoy, Karenin is Anna's husband and Vronsky is her lover. Levin is another major character, whose life mirrors of Tolstoy's own in many respects, including such details as the way he proposes to his wife and the way he works alongside his serfs.

Answer: Sir Gareth

Sir Bors, Sir Percival, and Sir Galahad were the three knights who succeeded in the search for the Holy Grail.

Many of the stories in Sir Thomas Malory's late 15th century work are based on older traditions about the court of King Arthur, but the "Tale of Sir Gareth of Orkney" - Gawaine's brother - is believed to be Malory's original invention.