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Quiz about Literary Famous Last Words Part II
Quiz about Literary Famous Last Words Part II

Literary Famous Last Words Part II Quiz


This quiz is a follow-up to "Famous Last Words- Literary Edition". Literary characters unfortunately die, and their last words before death are often interesting and profound: how much do you know about them? Some spoilers in the interesting info.

A multiple-choice quiz by adams627. Estimated time: 6 mins.
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Author
adams627
Time
6 mins
Type
Multiple Choice
Quiz #
319,499
Updated
Dec 03 21
# Qns
10
Difficulty
Average
Avg Score
7 / 10
Plays
1700
Awards
Top 5% quiz!
Last 3 plays: Guest 174 (10/10), Guest 67 (5/10), Guest 82 (7/10).
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Question 1 of 10
1. "Fetch aft the rum, Darby". So ended the life of pirate Captain Flint, far before the events of the novel in which he appears take place. But Ben Gunn mimics those words to strike fear into the hearts of Long John Silver and his pirate friends, eventually helping Jim Hawkins escape. In which swashbuckling novel did these events occur?

Answer: (Two Words)
Question 2 of 10
2. The narrator of this novel ultimately kills the protagonist mercifully, after he had been lobotomized and unresponsive thanks to the evil policies of the Big Nurse. "I've took their best punch" were McMurphy's last words before turning into a vegetable, and ultimately before being smothered by a pillow from Chief Bromden. In what novel (which was probably inspired by drugs) did these sadly ironic last words come? Hint


Question 3 of 10
3. This character's last recorded words are, "Very well. I will be here at eleven. Good-night, Harry." Then he walks back to his home and has an irresistible urge to look at the title object, which he stabs with the same knife that he used to kill Basil Hallward. Who was this character who was granted eternal youth while his title "picture" grows old?

Answer: (Two Words (first and last) or One Word (first). The character, not the novel!)
Question 4 of 10
4. The introverted narrator Paul Baumer's last words are "The life that has borne me through these years is still in my hands and my eyes. Whether I have subdued it, I know not. But so long as it it there, it will seek its own way out, heedless of the will that is within me." From which war novel does Paul Baumer speak these last lines, after the death of his comrades in battle? Hint


Question 5 of 10
5. "Now when you kick off, boy, I want a seventy-yard bout, and get right down the field under the ball, and when you hit, hit low and hit hard, because it's important, boy. There's all kinds of important people in the stands, and the first thing you know...Ben! Ben, where do I...? Ben, how do I...?" These are the last lines of a character that personifies the American dream, a character who ultimately goes mad trying to better his standing in society after the social and economic failure of his children. Who is this protagonist of a twentieth-century American drama? Hint


Question 6 of 10
6. Meursault's last wish is "that there be a large crowd of spectators the day of my execution and that they greet me with cries of hate". He was going to be executed after shooting Raymond's mistress' brother for no apparent reason one day. In what existential novel do these events occur? Hint


Question 7 of 10
7. Robert Walton tells the story of which famous doctor in literature in a series of letters to his sister, and records his famous last words as: "Farewell, Walton! Seek happiness in tranquility and avoid ambition, even if it be only the apparent innocent one of distinguishing yourself in science and discoveries. Yet why do I say this? I have myself been blasted in these hopes, yet another may succeed"? Hint


Question 8 of 10
8. All Lennie wants is a farm to tend rabbits, but, unfortunately, he is a bit dumb, and he ends up getting into trouble even when it's not really his fault. When he starts stroking Curley's wife's hair, he accidentally breaks her neck and kills her. A lynch mob follows him into the forest, but not before Lennie's life is ended with the words "Le's do it now. Le's get that place now." George shoots Lennie at the end of what great American novella? Hint


Question 9 of 10
9. Half-delirious from consuming arsenic, her last comprehensible words are "The blind man". She had tried to commit suicide, but she hadn't realized that eating arsenic would be as painful to suffer as the sad relationships she had lost earlier in the novel with Leon and Rodolphe. Who was this literary character, whose adulterous relationships led to her death? Hint


Question 10 of 10
10. "Mistah Kurtz, he dead." That famous line of poetry, the epigraph to TS Eliot's "The Hollow Men", refers to the imperialistic, cruel character from Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness". Kurtz spends his life enslaving native Africans to make them fetch ivory, and his methods are barbaric. At the end of the novel, he passes away from a mysterious illness, but not before uttering what famous last line, which was repeated in "Apocalypse Now"? Hint



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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. "Fetch aft the rum, Darby". So ended the life of pirate Captain Flint, far before the events of the novel in which he appears take place. But Ben Gunn mimics those words to strike fear into the hearts of Long John Silver and his pirate friends, eventually helping Jim Hawkins escape. In which swashbuckling novel did these events occur?

Answer: Treasure Island

"Treasure Island", by Robert Louis Stevenson, is an adventure novel narrated by Jim Hawkins, who happens upon a treasure map after the death of the pirate Billy Bones. Jim brings the map to his friend Dr. Livesey and Squire Trelawney, and together, they form a voyage to recover the massive treasure. Things go awry, however, when the cook Long John Silver stages a mutiny on the vessel with more than half the crew, after the arrival on the island. Jim, Livesey, and the others ally with Ben Gunn, a half-crazed man who had been abandoned on the island by Captain Flint, the pirate whose treasure was buried on the island, and the old master of Silver and the other mutineers. Eventually, Jim and the others cleverly succeed in foiling the mutiny and return home much richer than they left it.
2. The narrator of this novel ultimately kills the protagonist mercifully, after he had been lobotomized and unresponsive thanks to the evil policies of the Big Nurse. "I've took their best punch" were McMurphy's last words before turning into a vegetable, and ultimately before being smothered by a pillow from Chief Bromden. In what novel (which was probably inspired by drugs) did these sadly ironic last words come?

Answer: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Ken Kesey, the American author of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest", is connected with both the Beat Generation of Jack Kerouac and Allan Ginsberg and also with the hippie movement. Narrated by the schizophrenic Chief Bromden (who pretends to be deaf and mute the entire novel long), the novel traces the arrival of Patrick McMurphy into a mental hospital and his effect on the patients inside. McMurphy feuds with Nurse Ratched (or Big Nurse) over freedom for the patients, who are treated like prisoners and are given very little liberty.

She warns him constantly about his actions, but it isn't until the end, when one character commits suicide and Ratched blames it on McMurphy, that he loses his temper. Once that happens, she takes him straight in for a lobotomy, and he loses all thoughts and emotions.

At the end of the novel, Bromden mercifully smothers McMurphy and escapes the hospital, having finally been rescued from his mental incapacitation.
3. This character's last recorded words are, "Very well. I will be here at eleven. Good-night, Harry." Then he walks back to his home and has an irresistible urge to look at the title object, which he stabs with the same knife that he used to kill Basil Hallward. Who was this character who was granted eternal youth while his title "picture" grows old?

Answer: Dorian Grey

"The Picture of Dorian Gray" begins when artist Basil Hallward paints a picture of the vain, handsome Dorian Gray. Seeing the picture's beauty, Dorian wishes that he could remain as handsome and youthful as the painting, which would never change, and his wish is suddenly granted.

As Dorian woos and rejects the actress Sybil Vane, he notices that the painting grows uglier and wears a sneer, while he himself remains unchanged through the woman's ultimate suicide. Dorian begins to seek solace in the sinful life of his friend, Lord Henry, and in a French novel that caused him to slowly lose all human emotions.

When Basil visits Dorian and asks to see the painting, Dorian shows it to him, a hideous depiction of Dorian's crimes, and he stabs the artist to death.

In guilt that night, Dorian stabs the painting, and the police find his body, a withered depiction of sin, next to the original, beautiful painting.
4. The introverted narrator Paul Baumer's last words are "The life that has borne me through these years is still in my hands and my eyes. Whether I have subdued it, I know not. But so long as it it there, it will seek its own way out, heedless of the will that is within me." From which war novel does Paul Baumer speak these last lines, after the death of his comrades in battle?

Answer: All Quiet on the Western Front

"All Quiet on the Western Front" is the most famous novel to come out of World War I, and it depicts the daily life of German soldiers and the effects war has on their thoughts and actions. Paul witnesses his friends slowly succumb to battle and disease, as he notes the gruesome details of war and the immense guilt that he finds in it.

He came into the war due to the patriotic encouragement of his schoolteacher, but he no longer sees any zeal in battle. He leaves the battle for a leave of rest and for being hurt, but he is unable to communicate his feelings with his mother and friends away from the front.

In battle one day, Paul kills a French soldier, but he feels strong remorse thinking about the man's wife and children. He eventually is killed in battle; it is unknown how.

The last journal entry of the novel consists of the lines "All Quiet on the Western Front."
5. "Now when you kick off, boy, I want a seventy-yard bout, and get right down the field under the ball, and when you hit, hit low and hit hard, because it's important, boy. There's all kinds of important people in the stands, and the first thing you know...Ben! Ben, where do I...? Ben, how do I...?" These are the last lines of a character that personifies the American dream, a character who ultimately goes mad trying to better his standing in society after the social and economic failure of his children. Who is this protagonist of a twentieth-century American drama?

Answer: Willy Loman

Willy Loman is the title character of Arthur Miller's Pulitzer Prize-winning drama "Death of a Salesman". He works as a travelling salesman until his old age, despite the protests of his wife Linda, because neither he nor his sons Biff and Happy succeeded in life. Willy turned down an opportunity for money by not going with his brother Ben to Alaska and Africa to become fabulously wealthy, and the lost chance still resonates within his mind. Daydreaming constantly about his past, and hallucinating his mistress, Willy eventually loses his mind.

He ultimately commits suicide in a car accident (it's unclear whether or not it was intentional or done in an insane fit), representing the ultimate death of the American Dream.
6. Meursault's last wish is "that there be a large crowd of spectators the day of my execution and that they greet me with cries of hate". He was going to be executed after shooting Raymond's mistress' brother for no apparent reason one day. In what existential novel do these events occur?

Answer: The Stranger

All of the other works cited as wrong are seminal works of exitentialism, but it is Albert Camus' "The Stranger" that contains the strange plot centered around Meursault. The Frenchman living in Algeria sleepwalks through life, showing no emotion at the death of his mother or the sexual advances of his girlfriend Marie. One day on the beach, he shoots his friend's mistress' brother "because it was hot".

The authorities were understandably perplexed, and condone Meursault to death after he shows no remorse, sense of religious faith, or even any human emotion at all. Meursault finally reaches acceptance before his trial by realizing the meaninglessness of human existence, the major precept in the work of 20th century existentialists; ironically, Albert Camus never considered the work existentialist.
7. Robert Walton tells the story of which famous doctor in literature in a series of letters to his sister, and records his famous last words as: "Farewell, Walton! Seek happiness in tranquility and avoid ambition, even if it be only the apparent innocent one of distinguishing yourself in science and discoveries. Yet why do I say this? I have myself been blasted in these hopes, yet another may succeed"?

Answer: Dr. Frankenstein

Dr. Victor Frankenstein created the monster (which is NOT named Frankenstein) immortalized in film after feverish studying of anatomical texts and various scientific methods. However, when his monster is created, Victor falls ill, and the creation escapes.

The monster is unsuccessful at finding friends or family, but he ultimately learns to read and write before beginning to strike back at Victor's loved ones: He kills Frankenstein's brother, and indirectly, his adopted sister. He asks Victor to create him a mate, an offer that is refused, so he kills Frankenstein's fiancee Elizabeth on their wedding night. Frankenstein tracks the monster into the Arctic, intending to kill his creation or die in the process, where he meets up with Robert Walton, an explorer, and tells him the entire tale.
8. All Lennie wants is a farm to tend rabbits, but, unfortunately, he is a bit dumb, and he ends up getting into trouble even when it's not really his fault. When he starts stroking Curley's wife's hair, he accidentally breaks her neck and kills her. A lynch mob follows him into the forest, but not before Lennie's life is ended with the words "Le's do it now. Le's get that place now." George shoots Lennie at the end of what great American novella?

Answer: Of Mice and Men

Lennie and George are best friends in John Steinbeck's great "Of Mice and Men", but Lennie's gotten them kicked out of dozens of work camps during the Great Depression because of his foolish, accidental mishaps. This time, however, Lennie kills a woman after her sexual advances frighten him, and his incredibly large body and strong muscles far exceed his mental capacity.

He flees into the forest, where George soon finds him and calms him down. They discuss the rabbit farm, which is their dream possession (Lennie likes to pet soft things), and Lennie says his last words in an attempt to arouse their spirits.

But George, who sees the mob led by a jealous and grieving Curley coming, shoots Lennie in mercy and while he is still happy, in one of the most tragic deaths in literature.
9. Half-delirious from consuming arsenic, her last comprehensible words are "The blind man". She had tried to commit suicide, but she hadn't realized that eating arsenic would be as painful to suffer as the sad relationships she had lost earlier in the novel with Leon and Rodolphe. Who was this literary character, whose adulterous relationships led to her death?

Answer: Emma Bovary

Emma Bovary (Flaubert's "Madame Bovary") starts off her married life with Charles, but his no-nonsense approach to life and boring job leads Emma to find solace in extramarital affairs. She catches the eye of Leon Dupuis, but her guilt of engaging him while married leads him to move away in frustration.

A new man, Rodolphe Boulanger, enters Emma's life as a wealthy and experienced man eager to seek a relationship. Although they don't hide the affair very well, Charles does not learn of their relationship. Soon, Rodolphe breaks the relationship, and Emma's heart, as he had done with so many women before her. Emma falls ill until she reunites with Leon, spending exorbitant amounts of money to have a passionate affair.

The moneylender in town eventually pressures Emma to give up her property and tell her husband about the affair to pay off her debts, but she refuses.

Instead, in agony, she kills herself by eating arsenic.
10. "Mistah Kurtz, he dead." That famous line of poetry, the epigraph to TS Eliot's "The Hollow Men", refers to the imperialistic, cruel character from Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness". Kurtz spends his life enslaving native Africans to make them fetch ivory, and his methods are barbaric. At the end of the novel, he passes away from a mysterious illness, but not before uttering what famous last line, which was repeated in "Apocalypse Now"?

Answer: "The horror! The horror!"

"Heart of Darkness" has been a controversial novel for years, because the extremely racist policies endorsed by Marlow and Kurtz seem to corroborate, rather than be satired by, Conrad's own ideas on colonization and imperialism. The novel begins as Marlow, the narrator, takes a job as a riverboat captain in the Belgian Congo.

He passes judgment on the things he sees in the "Heart of Darkness", the inner part of Africa where few Europeans had ever been. He eventually meets up with Kurtz, an established ivory trader who made a living by abusing the natives: in one of Kurtz's pamphlets, he literally writes, "Exterminate all the brutes!" Kurtz dies on Marlow's boat on the voyage back to the European Company's base, uttering his famous last lines. "Apocalypse Now", directed by Francis Ford Coppola, is based on "Heart of Darkness", although it takes place in Vietnam.
Source: Author adams627

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