Hard Times Quizzes

Hard Times Quiz 1

1 What is Sissy's real name?

Sleary

Cecilia

Josephine

Meredith
2 Who offers the "correct" definition of a horse?

Mr. Thomas Gradgrind

Bitzer

Mr. Sleary

Louisa
3 What is the model for Mr. Gradgrind's school?

The panopticon

Stone Lodge

Parliament

The factory
4 Where does Mr. Gradgrind live?

Westminster

In his school

Stone Lodge

In "a banker's room"
5 Who is not one of the Gradgrind's children?

Jane

Adam Smith

Charles

Louisa
6 At the beginning of Hard Times who is Sissy's "legal guardian"?

Mr. M'Choakumchild

Her mother

Her father

Mr. Sleary
7 What is Signor Jupe's true profession?

Circus Performer

Veterinary Surgeon

Drunkard

Banker
8 What is the name of the Public House where Sissy lives?

The Pegasus

Pegasus's Wings

Pegasus's Arms

Pegasus's Legs
9 Coketown is a literary representation of which major British city?

Liverpool

Manchester

London

Birmingham
10 What does Mr. Bounderby think that the poor want?

Public welfare

Venison and a golden egg

An endless supply of gin

Turtle soup and a golden spoon
11 What killed Mrs. Sparsit's husband?

A burglar

A train

French liquor

The fits
12 Why does the "mysterious old woman" come to Coketown each year?

To cheer up Stephen Blackpool

To see the fine city gentlemen

To lodge at Mr. Bounderby's house

To smell the city air
13 Dickens compares Mr. Gradgrind to which character of children's fairy tales?

Ali Baba

The giant from "Jack and the Beanstalk"

King Arthur

Bluebeard
14 Where does Mr. Bounderby say that he lived as a young man?

London

Overseas

In the gutter

In a small country town
15 Who pays Stephen an unwelcome visit in the middle of the night?

Slackbridge

His drunk wife

The "mysterious old woman"

Tom Gradgrind
16 Who arranges the marriage between Louisa and Mr. Bounderby?

Tom Gradgrind and Mr. Bounderby

Louisa and Mr. Gradgrind

Mr. Gradgrind and Mr. Bounderby

Mr. and Mrs. Gradgrind
17 Who does Louisa love more than anyone else?

Herself

Her mother, Mrs. Gradgrind

Her new husband, Mr. Bounderby

Her brother, Tom Gradgrind
18 Coketown is likened to what fallen city of the Bible?

Albion

Babel

Babylon

Jerusalem
19 What name is used to describe Tom in the second half of the novel?

"Whelp"

"Icarus"

"Malthus"

"Kid"
20 Who is not an employee of Mr. Bounderby at some point in the novel?

Mr. Harthouse

Bitzer

Stephen Blackpool

Tom Gradgrind
21 What is the name of Slackbridge's labor movement?

Coketown Hands United

United Aggregate Tribunal

United Tribunal of Hands

United Coketown Hands
22 Why does Stephen Blackpool refuse to join the labor movement?

Out of loyalty to Mr. Bounderby

Because he does not trust Mr. Slackbridge

Because he is afraid of losing his job

Because of a promise to Rachael
23 When does Mrs. Sparsit move into Bounderby's bank?

After Bounderby sells his country house

After the theft

After Bounderby is married

After she retires
24 What is Harthouse's nickname?

Jem

Hart

Great Pyramid

Kid
25 What is Louisa's "curious reserve"?

Her spite for Mrs. Sparsit

Her insistence on attending lectures

Her resistance to Mr. Harthouse's advances.

Her hidden stash of bank-notes