Big Swiss Quiz: Test Your Understanding
About This Quiz
This 20‑question quiz covers the full arc of Jen Beagin’s novel Big Swiss. Questions are divided into four categories: plot/sequence, character motivation, theme/symbol, and synthesis. Use the answer key at the bottom to check your responses. For deeper discussion, see the comprehensive guide and the questions and answers page.
Part 1: Plot and Sequence (8 questions)
1. What event directly leads Greta to transcribe therapy sessions for Om?
- A. She answers a classified ad for a medical transcriptionist
- B. She lies about her typing speed during an interview
- C. She is recruited by a client she meets at a dog park
- D. Sabine recommends her for the job
2. Where does Greta first meet Big Swiss in person?
- A. At Om’s office
- B. In a coffee shop
- C. At a dog park after a pit bull attacks Piñon
- D. At Sabine’s weed shop
3. Under what alias does Greta introduce herself to Big Swiss?
- A. Rebekah
- B. Rebecca
- C. Rob
- D. Sabine
4. Which character is stabbed seven times by Keith?
- A. Greta
- B. Om
- C. Luke
- D. Sabine
5. What happens to Piñon in Chapter 16?
- A. He is lost in the woods
- B. He is shot
- C. He runs away with Silas
- D. He is attacked by a coyote
6. What does Greta do with the thank‑you note her mother left before her suicide?
- A. She keeps it in a box
- B. She flushes it down the toilet
- C. She gives it to Om
- D. She burns it in the wood stove
7. At the end of the novel, what is the bee situation in Greta’s kitchen?
- A. The bees have all died
- B. The kitchen is overwhelmed by bees robbing the hive
- C. The bees have built a new hive inside the wall
- D. Sabine removes the hive herself
8. What does Greta bury deep in the trash in the final chapter?
- A. A letter to her mother
- B. Sabine’s remaining cocaine stash
- C. Big Swiss’s karambit knife
- D. A jar of honey
Part 2: Character Motivation (5 questions)
9. Why does Greta initially become fixated on Big Swiss?
- A. Big Swiss reminds her of her mother
- B. Big Swiss has a commanding voice and an unusual life story
- C. Big Swiss is the only client who does not use therapy language
- D. Om asks Greta to monitor Big Swiss closely
10. What is Big Swiss’s primary reason for quitting therapy?
- A. She discovers Greta is the transcriber
- B. She is leaving for Ecuador and is tired of talking about herself
- C. Om betrays her confidentiality
- D. She decides to take a break from all self‑reflection
11. Why does Greta lie about her identity for so long?
- A. She is ashamed of her transcription work
- B. She enjoys the power and control that secrecy gives her
- C. She fears Big Swiss will end the relationship if she learns the truth
- D. She wants to protect Sabine’s privacy
12. What drives Big Swiss to ask Greta to spank her?
- A. She wants to experience a new form of intimacy
- B. She is seeking catharsis after the confrontation with Greta
- C. She is angry at Greta and wants to punish her
- D. She is following advice from her therapist
13. Why does Greta finally agree to attend therapy with Om?
- A. Om offers to pay her for transcribing her own sessions
- B. She wants to repair her relationship with Big Swiss
- C. Sabine forces her to go
- D. She feels she has no other options after losing her job
Part 3: Theme and Symbol (4 questions)
14. What do the dying bees in Sabine’s farmhouse most likely represent?
- A. The collapse of Greta’s emotional detachment
- B. The fragility of the natural order in Hudson
- C. Sabine’s neglect of her property
- D. The decay of Greta’s former life and her inability to connect
15. What does the “spider matriphagy” episode (the mother spider being eaten by her young) symbolize in the context of Greta’s relationship with her mother?
- A. Greta’s guilt over giving her mother permission to die
- B. The destructive nature of codependency
- C. Greta’s fear of becoming like her mother
- D. The cycle of trauma passed between generations
16. What does the karambit knife, which Big Swiss carries during a walk, represent?
- A. Her past trauma and her need for self‑protection
- B. Her Swiss cultural heritage
- C. Her hidden aggression toward Greta
- D. Her desire to control every situation
17. The “vultures on the roof” that Sabine points out are best interpreted as:
- A. A sign of impending death or change
- B. A literal pest problem
- C. A metaphor for Greta’s scavenging of other people’s lives
- D. Both A and C
Part 4: Synthesis Questions (3 questions)
18. How does Greta’s habit of eavesdropping (both on therapy sessions and on private conversations) mirror her childhood coping mechanism?
- A. As a child, she listened at doors to learn about her mother’s illness
- B. She used quietly observing others to feel safe and in control
- C. She always distrusted people and prepared for betrayal
- D. Listening helped her avoid her own painful feelings
19. In what way does the book’s ending suggest Greta may be breaking her pattern of passivity?
- A. She confronts Keith directly and accuses him of shooting Piñon
- B. She chooses to dispose of Sabine’s cocaine instead of using it
- C. She stops transcribing and begins to speak her own truth in therapy
- D. All of the above
20. Compare the way Greta and Big Swiss each use trauma as “currency” in their relationship. Which statement best captures this dynamic?
- A. Both compete to have the most tragic story
- B. Greta hides her trauma while Big Swiss performs hers; the imbalance ultimately leads to their breakdown
- C. They share all details equally and bond over mutual pain
- D. Big Swiss uses her trauma to manipulate Greta, while Greta uses her transcript knowledge to keep power
Answer Key
1. B – In the interview with Om (Chapter 1), Greta lies about her typing speed, which lands her the transcriptionist job and sets the plot in motion.
2. C – Chapter 6: Greta is at the dog park when a pit bull attacks Piñon; Big Swiss lifts the dog, and they speak for the first time.
3. A – Greta introduces herself as “Rebekah” (Chapter 6) and later tells Big Swiss her last name is “Graves” (Chapter 8).
4. C – Chapter 19: Luke is stabbed seven times by Keith after Keith confronts him in a bar; Big Swiss reveals this to Greta by phone.
5. B – Chapter 16: Greta finds Piñon shot; the vet treats him and Big Swiss pays the bill.
6. B – Chapter 20: Greta reveals that she flushed her mother’s thank‑you note down the toilet.
7. B – Chapter 21: Greta wakes to find the kitchen overwhelmed by bees that are robbing the hive for honey; beekeeper Gideon removes them.
8. B – Chapter 21: Sabine gives Greta a pouch of her remaining cocaine stash and asks her to dispose of it; Greta buries it deep in the trash.
9. B – From Chapter 1, Greta is captivated by Big Swiss’s “commanding voice” and the raw, unusual details of her life (never had an orgasm, is a gynecologist, was beaten).
10. B – Chapter 17: Big Swiss tells Greta she quit therapy because she is leaving for Ecuador and is “sick of talking about myself.”
11. C – Throughout the novel, Greta fears that if Big Swiss learns she is the transcriber, the relationship will end. This is confirmed in Chapter 15 when Om warns Greta, and in Chapter 16 when the confrontation occurs.
12. B – After their explosive argument and Piñon’s shooting, Big Swiss seeks a physical release; in Chapter 17 she asks Greta to spank her, and both experience a kind of catharsis.
13. A – Chapter 15: After firing Greta, Om offers her therapy in exchange for transcribing her own sessions; Greta agrees.
14. D – The bees appear in the first and last chapters, framing Greta’s arc. Their decline mirrors Greta’s emotional numbness and isolation, and the eventual infestation suggests her dormant feelings are flooding back.
15. A – In Chapter 13, Greta watches the mother spider being devoured by her offspring; this parallels her own guilt over giving her mother permission to die (revealed in Chapter 20).
16. A – Chapter 11: Big Swiss explains the knife was originally used by Indonesian women for self‑defense; she carries it as a tool for protection, reflecting her trauma from Keith’s attack.
17. D – Sabine’s vultures (Chapter 6, Chapter 11) function both as a literal omen of death/change and as a metaphor for Greta’s voyeuristic “scavenging” of others’ lives.
18. B – Greta’s childhood need for isolation and her habit of watching others to feel safe (Chapter 5) directly evolve into her adult eavesdropping; she uses listening to avoid confronting her own feelings.
19. D – In the final chapters, Greta confronts Keith (Chapter 17), disposes of the cocaine rather than using it (Chapter 21), and chooses to speak her truth in therapy (Chapter 20). All three actions represent a break from passivity.
20. B – Greta hides her trauma (mother’s suicide, attempted suicide) while Big Swiss repeatedly recounts her assault in therapy; the inequality in disclosure and power leads to the fracture in Chapter 16.
Ready for more? Explore the full analysis of Big Swiss, read common reader questions, or check out our ending explainer.