Anatomy by Dana Schwartz: Book Quiz

Quiz Questions

Answer the following questions based on the novel Anatomy by Dana Schwartz. Questions combine multiple-choice and short-answer formats.

1. (Plot/Sequence) In the prologue, what happens when the three men add Davey’s blood to the purple vial?
A) It turns to ice.
B) It glows gold.
C) It turns to stone.
D) It evaporates.

2. (Plot/Sequence) Why does Hazel attend the anatomy demonstration in Chapter 5?
A) She wants to impress Bernard.
B) She is forced by her mother.
C) She secretly wants to learn surgery.
D) She hopes to meet Jack.

3. (Plot/Sequence) What is the name of the anesthetic Dr. Beecham uses during his painless amputation?
A) Etherium
B) Laudanum
C) Wortflower
D) Chloroform

4. (Plot/Sequence) After Dr. Straine dismisses her from the anatomy class, how does Hazel resume her studies?
A) She sneaks into the university library.
B) She makes a wager with Dr. Beecham to pass the Physician’s Exam without lectures.
C) She pays a tutor.
D) She asks Bernard for help.

5. (Plot/Sequence) What does Hazel discover when she dissects the first corpse Jack delivers?
A) The heart is missing.
B) The body has no buboes.
C) The eyes are sewn open.
D) The body is that of a child.

6. (Plot/Sequence) How does Jack Currer die?
A) He is stabbed in a fight.
B) He is hanged in the Grassmarket.
C) He dies of Roman fever.
D) He is killed in a theater accident.

7. (Plot/Sequence) What does the epilogue reveal about Jack?
A) He has become a famous surgeon.
B) He sends a letter from New York City.
C) He is alive and running a hospital.
D) He haunts Hawthornden Castle.

8. (Plot/Sequence) Who does Hazel discover is behind the kidnappings and organ transplant operations?
A) Dr. Straine
B) Baron Walford
C) Dr. Beecham
D) Bernard Almont

9. (Character Motivation) Why does Hazel disguise herself as a boy named George Hazelton?
A) To avoid her mother’s marriage plans.
B) To attend Dr. Beecham’s anatomy course.
C) To go grave-robbing with Jack.
D) To visit her father on Saint Helena.

10. (Character Motivation) Why does Jack agree to help Hazel steal bodies?
A) He is in love with her.
B) He needs money to buy a gift for Isabella.
C) He pities her and later forms a partnership.
D) He is blackmailed by Dr. Beecham.

11. (Character Motivation) Why does Dr. Beecham kidnap poor people and perform organ transplants?
A) To advance medical science.
B) To gain eternal life using a gold tonic.
C) To earn money from rich patients.
D) To teach students anatomy.

12. (Character Motivation) Why does Bernard propose to Hazel at the ball?
A) He genuinely loves her.
B) He suspects she has a secret suitor and wants to trap her.
C) His father forces him.
D) He wants to inherit her money.

13. (Character Motivation) Why does Hazel burn Bernard’s letters after confronting Beecham?
A) She is angry at Bernard for betraying Jack.
B) She decides to abandon her old life and rescue Jack.
C) She no longer needs his support for the exam.
D) She wants to forget her engagement.

14. (Theme/Symbol) The epigraph from Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein states: “To examine the causes of life, we must first have recourse to death.” What theme does this introduce?
A) The importance of family.
B) The relationship between death and medical knowledge.
C) The danger of ambition.
D) The value of resurrection.

15. (Theme/Symbol) The Ship of Theseus paradox is discussed at the engagement dinner. How does this relate to the novel?
A) It questions whether a person remains the same after body parts are replaced.
B) It symbolizes Hazel’s changing identity.
C) It foreshadows Jack’s hanging.
D) It highlights the class divide.

16. (Theme/Symbol) What does the music box that Jack gives Isabella represent?
A) His love and hope for normalcy.
B) The fragility of the theater.
C) The passage of time.
D) His connection to Hazel.

17. (Theme/Symbol) The glowing gold tonic Beecham uses grants immortality. What does this symbolize?
A) The corrupting pursuit of eternal life at others’ expense.
B) The power of modern science.
C) The value of traditional medicine.
D) The reward of hard work.

18. (Synthesis – short answer) How does the novel use the character of Dr. Beecham to critique the medical establishment of the 19th century?

19. (Synthesis – short answer) Compare Hazel’s path to becoming a surgeon with Jack’s path as a resurrection man. How do their social positions affect their choices?

20. (Synthesis – short answer) What does the final letter from Jack symbolize about the relationship between death and love in the novel?

Answer Key

1. B – It glows gold.
Explanation: In the prologue, the three strangers drop Davey’s blood into a purple vial, and the liquid immediately turns a glowing gold.

2. C – She secretly wants to learn surgery.
Explanation: Hazel is determined to pursue medicine despite social restrictions, so she sneaks into Beecham’s demonstration to observe surgery.

3. A – Etherium.
Explanation: Dr. Beecham demonstrates a painless amputation using his new compound called “ethereum” (ether).

4. B – She makes a wager with Dr. Beecham to pass the Physician’s Exam without lectures.
Explanation: After being dismissed, Hazel convinces Beecham to let her take the exam; if she passes, he will open his course to women and give her an apprenticeship.

5. A – The heart is missing.
Explanation: During her first dissection in the Hawthornden dungeon, Hazel finds that the corpse’s heart has been surgically removed.

6. B – He is hanged in the Grassmarket.
Explanation: Jack is convicted of murder and executed by public hanging in the Grassmarket before a large crowd.

7. B – He sends a letter from New York City.
Explanation: The epilogue shows a burnt, yellowed letter postmarked from New York, implying Jack survived or his spirit endures; Hazel recognizes his handwriting.

8. C – Dr. Beecham.
Explanation: Hazel discovers that Dr. Beecham is kidnapping people for organ transplants as part of his quest for eternal life.

9. B – To attend Dr. Beecham’s anatomy course.
Explanation: Hazel adopts her deceased brother’s identity so she can enroll in the all-male anatomy lectures.

10. C – He pities her and later forms a partnership.
Explanation: Initially Jack feels pity for Hazel’s vulnerability, but they soon agree to work together on grave-robbing expeditions for her studies.

11. B – To gain eternal life using a gold tonic.
Explanation: Beecham reveals he discovered a gold tonic that grants immortality; he transplants organs from the poor to sustain his own life.

12. B – He suspects she has a secret suitor and wants to trap her.
Explanation: Bernard accuses Hazel of having a secret lover (based on the boots he saw) and forces a proposal to secure her.

13. B – She decides to abandon her old life and rescue Jack.
Explanation: After obtaining the immortality tonic from Beecham, Hazel burns Bernard’s letters to show she is leaving her betrothal and will try to save Jack.

14. B – The relationship between death and medical knowledge.
Explanation: The epigraph sets up the novel’s core idea that studying death is essential to understanding life, a theme explored through anatomy and dissection.

15. A – It questions whether a person remains the same after body parts are replaced.
Explanation: Baron Walford’s eye transplant and Beecham’s stolen organs echo the Ship of Theseus paradox about identity and continuity.

16. A – His love and hope for normalcy.
Explanation: Jack buys the music box for Isabella, hoping for a normal romantic connection; when she rejects him, the broken ballerina signifies lost dreams.

17. A – The corrupting pursuit of eternal life at others’ expense.
Explanation: Beecham’s gold tonic represents the unethical sacrifice of poor people for his own immortality, critiquing scientific ambition without moral boundaries.

18. (Synthesis short answer)
Dr. Beecham embodies the corruption of the 19th-century medical elite: he uses his respected position to murder the vulnerable for his own eternal life, showing how the establishment allowed powerful physicians to operate without accountability.

19. (Synthesis short answer)
Hazel, as a wealthy young woman, can disguise herself, wager with Beecham, and have a chance at becoming a surgeon. Jack, born into poverty, can only survive by grave-robbing and is eventually executed for his crimes. Their social positions determine the risks they can take and the outcomes they face.

20. (Synthesis short answer)
The final letter suggests that love can survive even apparent death. Jack’s message—“my beating heart still belongs to her”—implies either that he escaped the noose or that his bond with Hazel transcends mortality, offering a hopeful conclusion to the story.