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Quiz about The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester

"The Stars My Destination" by Alfred Bester Quiz

Alfred Bester wrote several good sci-fi books. This novel not only stands out, it also orbits, burns, crawls, flies, and continually amazes. The protagonist is Gully Foyle, an anti-hero who brings us on startling adventures. What do you know about him?

A multiple-choice quiz by strike3. Estimated time: 3 mins.

Author
strike3

Time
3 mins

Type
Multiple Choice

Quiz #
420,526

Updated
Aug 09 25

# Qns
10

Difficulty
Tough

Avg Score
6 / 10

Plays
25

Last 3 plays: ranjanbest (4/10), Guest 90 (0/10), Triviaballer (7/10).

Single Page - Timed Game

Question 1 of 10

1. Foyle is first seen marooned aboard a wrecked spaceship called Nomad. What does Gully Foyle's official record say about his former attitude on that ship? Hint

He wants to return home to his wife.

He is prone to great achievements.

He has no ambition or education.

He is energetic and engaged.

NEXT>

Question 2 of 10

2. When the spaceship Nomad is nearly obliterated by interplanetary warfare, what is Gully Foyle's reaction as the sole survivor? Hint

He studies diagrams of ship computers.

He trudges through the wreck seeking oxygen.

He writes long last letters to his wife.

He wants to die as soon as possible.

NEXT>

Question 3 of 10

3. Foyle's struggle in space lasts months, then he sees a spaceship nearly halt by the wreck he is on, a sister ship. What does Foyle do? Hint

He signals on a captain-to-captain radio.

He uses a jetpack to reach the new ship.

He does nothing, he can only watch.

He uses flares, shouts, dances with joy.

NEXT>

Question 4 of 10

4. When he sees the spaceship Vorga pass by, what change happens to Gully Foyle? Hint

He writes his last will and testament.

He retreats to his safe room.

He rages and swears homicidal revenge.

He drifts away from the wreck, hopeless.

5. Alfred Bester, in a forward, describes "jaunts" as a way people on Earth can appear from one place to another through visualization. It changes Earth's society. Gully Foyle cannot jaunt. What new ability does his solitary hardship suddenly give him? Hint

He can accept thoughtful responsibility.

He can build super-jetpack propulsion.

He can space-jaunt.

He can use telepathy.

NEXT>

Question 6 of 10

6. What is done by priest-like men to Foyle when Foyle appears, unexpected and disoriented, inside a cargo cult of pseudo-scientists? Hint

He is taught scientific formulas.

He has a tiger-mask tattooed on his face.

They eject him as an abhorrent being.

He is made a helpless slave.

NEXT>

Question 7 of 10

7. What two-word phrase is yelled to indicate joy within the scientific cargo cult Foyle encounters? Hint

Complex sum!

Quant suff!

Big dipper!

Oxygen oxymoron!

NEXT>

Question 8 of 10

8. Gully Foyle's first act as a stranger on Earth is his arrival, via jaunts, inside a heavily guarded port for Vorga spaceships. What does he yell there? Hint

Vorga, I kill you filthy!

Vorga, where is your leader?

Vorga, you must hire me now!

Vorga, give me a new spaceship!

NEXT>

Question 9 of 10

9. In approximately 200 pages, depending on the edition, Alfred Bester creates many memorable characters who get involved with Gully Foyle. What is it that corporations and governments seek from Foyle? Hint

Control of space-jaunting

The burning man

The lost secret of tattoo art

PryE, a kinetic substance

NEXT>

Question 10 of 10

10. There is a singular gift that Foyle ultimately offers while shouting what three words as he jaunts to many places? Hint

You choose, you!

Kill me filthy!

You lose, too!

Say you're sorry!

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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. Foyle is first seen marooned aboard a wrecked spaceship called Nomad. What does Gully Foyle's official record say about his former attitude on that ship?

Answer: He has no ambition or education.

Foyle's tests show he is not only uneducated but also unwilling to learn. He is a big man who is too lazy to even fight others who taunt him. He scores zero in every category on his official record, and his menial jobs are all he is ever expected to complete.

2. When the spaceship Nomad is nearly obliterated by interplanetary warfare, what is Gully Foyle's reaction as the sole survivor?

Answer: He trudges through the wreck seeking oxygen.

Foyle, wearing the ship's only salvageable spacesuit, knows he has to find oxygen to refill the suit. He mutters simple gutter-speak and curses while he risks death every day, a dulled man forced into action by extreme circumstances.

3. Foyle's struggle in space lasts months, then he sees a spaceship nearly halt by the wreck he is on, a sister ship. What does Foyle do?

Answer: He uses flares, shouts, dances with joy.

Foyle, full of hope, capers on the jagged edge of the wrecked ship and uses flares to signal he is alive in there. He sees both the name and lights on the other spaceship, a ship called Vorga.

4. When he sees the spaceship Vorga pass by, what change happens to Gully Foyle?

Answer: He rages and swears homicidal revenge.

For the first time, Foyle feels intense anger with a laser-like focus on one target, Vorga. He yells after the disappearing spaceship, "You pass me by, Vorga? You pass me by? I kill you, Vorga! I kill you filthy!"

(quote is a paraphrase)

Answer: He can space-jaunt.

Bester's description of jaunts as a mode of travel on Earth, learned through ruthless tests, alters architecture and societies in cultures everywhere. However, despite the presence of off-Earth colonies and ensuing wars, nobody can jaunt from one planet, moon, or asteroid to another.

Gully Foyle is the only one who can space-jaunt.

6. What is done by priest-like men to Foyle when Foyle appears, unexpected and disoriented, inside a cargo cult of pseudo-scientists?

Answer: He has a tiger-mask tattooed on his face.

A group called a cargo cult, at least in books, is going to have unusual items and customs around, and these pseudo-scientists are absolutely no exception. Complex tattoos like they do are not generally seen on Earth; it's a lost art. It's used on Foyle as a way to include him.

7. What two-word phrase is yelled to indicate joy within the scientific cargo cult Foyle encounters?

Answer: Quant suff!

After reading this novel, considered by many critics to be Alfred Bester's best novel and a 1957 precursor to cyberpunk literature, some readers occasionally say "quant suff" when pleased. Etymology shows the phrase is a short form of a Latin phrase meaning "as much as is required".

8. Gully Foyle's first act as a stranger on Earth is his arrival, via jaunts, inside a heavily guarded port for Vorga spaceships. What does he yell there?

Answer: Vorga, I kill you filthy!

Infiltration into the labyrinthian guardianship of crucially secret ports and places causes lots of tension in the new jaunt-society on Earth. The appearance of a disfigured and inarticulately angry man disturbs many political and old-money Earth groups. Gully Foyle is soon put in a jaunt-proof prison.

Answer: PryE, a kinetic substance

Even tiny traces of a near-powder substance called PryE can change the balance of power between people on Earth, and also change delicate negotiations between the inner-planetary and outer-planetary colonies. Foyle is considered extremely needed and volatile because of his unwitting association with it.

10. There is a singular gift that Foyle ultimately offers while shouting what three words as he jaunts to many places?

Answer: You choose, you!

The bit of fiction mentioned in this quiz is impressively expanded into a 24th/25th century adult world imagined by Alfred Bester in "The Stars My Destination", a world full of action, deep emotions and an eternal sky full of marvelous stars.

Source: Author strike3

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