SparkNotes: A Farewell to Arms: Quiz

1. At the beginning of the novel, Henry reports that seven thousand soldiers have died due to what?

(A) Venereal disease

(B) The most recent enemy attack

(C) Cholera

(D) Starvation

2. Immediately before Henry kisses Catherine for the first time, they make a pact to do what?

(A) Keep their affair a secret from Rinaldi and Miss Ferguson

(B) Drop all discussion about the war

(C) Love each other always

(D) Meet the coming battle bravely

3. Hemingway famously said that a writer can “omit things that he knows and that a reader, if the writer is writing truly enough, will have a feeling of those things as strongly as though the writer had stated them.” What term best describes this philosophy?

(A) The Iceberg Theory

(B) Unreliable Narration

(C) The Veil Theory

(D) The Objective Correlative

4. Before Henry heads off to the front at Pavla, what does Catherine give him?

(A) The toy riding crop once owned by her fiancé

(B) A bottle of grappa

(C) A love letter

(D) A St. Anthony medal

5. Before the trench mortar wounds him, why does Henry leave the dugout?

(A) To rescue one of his ambulance drivers who is stranded outside the dugout

(B) To get food for his drivers

(C) To prove to his men that he is brave

(D) He is about to abandon his troops but then changes his mind

6. How does Mrs. Walker greet Henry upon his arrival at the American hospital in Milan?

(A) She tells him that she resents American boys fighting for foreign armies

(B) She becomes frazzled because she cannot arrange a room for him without a doctor's orders

(C) She sympathizes with him over his difficult train ride

(D) She takes his temperature

7. Why does the barber who comes to shave Henry almost kill him?

(A) He desperately wants to end the war and believes that killing an officer will make that happen

(B) He mistakes Henry for an Austrian soldier

(C) He is crazy

(D) Henry resembles the man's son, who was killed earlier in the war

8. What is the name of the good-natured doctor who agrees to operate on Henry's leg?

(A) Dr. Gorizia

(B) Dr. Influenza

(C) Dr. Pavla

(D) Dr. Valentini

9. Why does Catherine decide to bet on a certain horse in a race that she believes has been fixed?

(A) The horse limps

(B) The horse has been dyed a different color

(C) The horse is obviously much younger than the other horses

(D) The horse has the best jockey

10. How does Catherine respond to the news that Henry has received three weeks of convalescent leave?

(A) She tells him that she is pregnant

(B) She screams that she never wants to see him again

(C) She sobs for fear that he will lose his life if he returns to war

(D) She seduces him and they make love

11. What characteristic makes Ettore Moretti a good contrast to Lieutenant Henry?

(A) Ettore can sing

(B) Ettore is an American

(C) Ettore is a braggart

(D) Ettore is an alcoholic

12. What does Henry do when the engineering sergeants in Aymo's car refuse to help rescue the vehicle from the mud?

(A) He shrugs and lets them go

(B) He orders Bonello and Aymo to beat them up

(C) He shoots at them

(D) He delivers a powerful speech about cowardice

13. Where does Catherine accompany Henry before he leaves for the front?

(A) To the opera

(B) To a gun shop

(C) To a cathedral

(D) To the place where they met

14. In what year was A Farewell to Arms published?

(A) 1929

(B) 1918

(D) 1953

15. Why do the battle police seize Henry?

(A) He is guilty of treason

(B) He is an officer

(C) He is suspected of killing Aymo

(D) He trespassed at a local farmhouse

16. How is Henry wounded after he crawls out of the river?

(A) The Italian rear guard shoots him

(B) While crossing the great fields at Campoformio, he snags himself on a barbed wire fence

(C) While attempting to hide on a train, he cuts his head

(D) He falls down a rocky embankment

17. In Milan, who lends Henry a suit of civilian clothing?

(A) A barkeep

(B) Ralph Simmons

(C) Rinaldi

(D) A farmer

18. What is Helen Ferguson's reaction upon seeing Henry in Stresa?

(A) She is overjoyed that he has kept his word and returned to Catherine

(B) She is jealous of Catherine because she has long been in love with Henry

(C) She is angry that he has complicated Catherine's life by seducing her and getting her pregnant

(D) She is too concerned with her own problems to care much for Henry's return

19. Why do the Swiss guards argue in front of Catherine and Henry?

(A) They disagree over what city offers the best winter sports

(B) They are brothers and fight all the time

(C) They do not agree on which procedure they should follow to process foreign visitors

(D) They cannot decide whether or not to send the couple back to Italy

20. Which destination do Catherine and Henry claim they have come to Switzerland to visit?

(A) Lucerne

(B) Murren

(C) Locarno

(D) Montreux

21. In later life, what nickname did Hemingway assume to convey a sense of strength, wisdom, and mastery?

(A) Sensei

(B) Top Cat

(C) Papa

(D) Big Kahuna

22. Why does Catherine suggest that Henry grow a beard?

(A) She fears that he is growing restless and needs a change

(B) After all these months, he has grown ugly to her

(C) It will help to disguise him in case the military police show up again

(D) Having a beard will enable Henry to belong to the right social circles

23. Before she dies, what does Catherine say that the world has done to her?

(A) That it has disappointed her

(B) That it makes her wish she had never been born

(C) That it has made her value true love

(D) That it has broken her

24. What place does Catherine dream of visiting after she officially marries Henry?

(A) Niagara Falls

(B) Paris

(C) Barcelona

(D) Los Angeles

25. What is Henry's reaction to his child's birth?

(A) He weeps with joy

(B) He passes out cigars to the hospital staff

(C) He shows no interest

(D) He goes out for a drink