SparkNotes: Hard Times: Quiz

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1. What is the name of Sissy’s father’s dog?

(A) Happylegs

(B) Bandylegs

(D) Mr. Snips

2. What is the main principle of Mr. Gradgrind’s philosophy?

(A) Fact

(B) Fancy

(D) Patriotism

3. Mrs. Pegler is the mother of which character?

(A) Gradgrind

(B) Sissy

(D) Bounderby

4. Who robs the bank?

(A) Stephen

(B) Tom

(D) Mrs. Sparsit

5. What is the common name for poor Coketown factory workers?

(A) Cogs

(B) Scum

(D) Proles

6. Sissy believes her father abandoned her for what reason?

(A) Her own best interest

(B) To elope with a Frenchwoman

(D) A desire to see the world

7. Which of the following characters dies during the course of the novel?

(A) Sleary

(B) Mrs. Gradgrind

(D) James Harthouse

8. Who is Kidderminster?

(A) A circus worker who dresses up as Cupid

(B) Mr. Gradgrind’s fellow Member of Parliament

(D) The Hand who organizes the workers’ union

9. What does Rachael find that leads her to believe Stephen has been murdered?

(A) A trail of bloody footprints

(B) A note from the killer

(D) An empty bottle of poison

10. How does Stephen die?

(A) He is crushed by factory machinery

(B) A fall into Old Hell Shaft

(D) Malnutrition as a result of poverty

11. Who runs the circus?

(A) Sleary

(B) Bitzer

(D) Sissy’s father

12. About how much money is stolen from the bank?

(A) 150 pounds

(B) 3,000 pounds

(D) 128,000 pounds

13. Which character is a Member of Parliament?

(A) Bounderby

(B) Mr. McChoakumchild

(D) Gradgrind

14. What is Bounderby’s son’s name?

(A) Bitzer

(B) Tom

(D) Bounderby has no son

15. In which city does most of the novel take place?

(A) Coketown

(B) Liverpool

(D) Evenly divided between Coketown and London

16. From what does Mrs. Sparsit imagine Louisa falling?

(A) A ladder

(B) A staircase

(D) The moon

17. Who is the first character to speak in the novel?

(A) Bounderby

(B) Sissy

(D) Gradgrind

18. Why is Stephen unable to marry Rachael?

(A) He is already married

(B) He is too old

(D) She is in love with another man

19. How do the poor of Coketown attempt to improve their conditions?

(A) By burning the factory

(B) By looting the bank

(D) By petitioning Parliament for assistance.

20. What is the name of Mrs. Sparsit’s aristocratic relative?

(A) Col. Reginald Powler

(B) Lady Scadgers

(D) Ephraim Gride

21. What does Gradgrind hope Tom will be able to do after Stephen’s death?

(A) Escape England

(B) Move up at the bank

(D) Inherit Stephen’s fortune

22. What is Bitzer’s defining characteristic?

(A) His pale skin

(B) His facial scar

(D) His red hair

23. Where does Louisa flee after Harthouse’s declaration of love?

(A) Her husband’s house

(B) Her father’s house

(D) The circus

24. What are Sissy’s father’s first words after he returns to his daughter?

(A) “Oh, Sissy, how I’ve missed you!”

(B) “At last . . . at long last . . . my daughter. . . .”

(D) He never returns

25. What motivates Harthouse to become one of Gradgrind’s political disciples?

(A) He believes in Gradgrind’s philosophy of fact

(B) Boredom

(D) Pride