Q 01/05

In the Brute Neighbors chapter of Walden, which creatures fight a woodpile battle that Thoreau compares to Austerlitz?

A) Wasps

B) Ants

C) Beetles

D) Spiders

Answer · why

B) Ants

Ants of two kinds, small red ones and larger black ones, covered the chips in his yard with their dead and dying. Thoreau carried three fighters indoo...

Q 02/05

In The Village chapter of Walden, why does Thoreau say he was seized and put into jail one afternoon?

A) Refusing a militia summons

B) Hunting on private land

C) Not paying a tax

D) Sheltering a runaway

Answer · why

C) Not paying a tax

Not paying a tax got him locked up, because he would not recognize a state that bought and sold people. He was released the next day and was back in t...

Q 03/05

Which friend and mentor owned the woodland beside Walden Pond where Thoreau built his cabin and ran his experiment?

A) Nathaniel Hawthorne

B) Bronson Alcott

C) Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

D) Ralph Waldo Emerson

Answer · why

D) Ralph Waldo Emerson

Ralph Waldo Emerson let his younger friend build there in return for clearing part of the woodlot and doing other chores. He was 14 years older and ha...

Q 04/05

In the Higher Laws chapter of Walden, which animal crossing his path was Thoreau strongly tempted to seize and eat raw?

A) A woodchuck

B) A muskrat

C) A snapping turtle

D) A partridge

Answer · why

A) A woodchuck

A woodchuck stealing across the dark trail gave Thoreau what he called a strange thrill of savage delight. He was not hungry, he wrote, except for the...

Q 05/05

On which American holiday in 1845 did Thoreau, by his own account in Walden, first sleep in his unfinished cabin?

A) Thanksgiving Day

B) Washington's Birthday

C) Independence Day

D) New Year's Day

Answer · why

C) Independence Day

Independence Day was the date by accident, he says. The house was then only a defence against rain, with no plaster and with wide chinks between its r...