Bring Your Baggage and Don’t Pack Light Quiz

How Well Do You Know Helen Ellis’s Essay Collection?

This quiz covers the full arc of Bring Your Baggage and Don’t Pack Light—from the order of the essays to the deeper themes of friendship, aging, and self-acceptance. Mix of multiple-choice and short-answer. Use the link to the book overview if you need a quick refresher before starting.

Section 1: Plot and Sequence (8 questions)

In which chapter does Helen Ellis introduce the concept of “grown-ass ladies” choosing a mild lifestyle?
- A) Grown-Ass Ladies Gone Mild
- B) She’s a Character
- C) Happy Birthday, You’re Still Fuckable!
- D) Are You There, Menopause? It’s Me, Helen
What is the title of Chapter 2?
- A) She’s a Character
- B) The Backup Plan
- C) Call Me
- D) My Kind of People
Which essay features a friend’s eccentric behavior described through a series of short vignettes?
- A) She’s a Character
- B) The Last Garage Sale
- C) I Go Greyhound!
- D) There’s a Lady at the Poker Table
In which chapter does Helen Ellis parallel menopause with adolescence by alluding to a Judy Blume novel?
- A) Are You There, Menopause? It’s Me, Helen
- B) She’s Young
- C) Happy Birthday, You’re Still Fuckable!
- D) Call Me
Which essay focuses on the act of making phone calls and the intimacy of voice-to-voice conversation?
- A) Call Me
- B) I’m a Believer!
- C) The Backup Plan
- D) A Note About the Author
Helen reflects on her skill as a poker player in which essay?
- A) There’s a Lady at the Poker Table
- B) Grown-Ass Ladies Gone Mild
- C) I Go Greyhound!
- D) My Kind of People
Which chapter is essentially a back-matter page listing Helen’s previous books and biographical details?
- A) A Note About the Author
- B) Reading Group Guide
- C) I Feel Better About My Neck
- D) The Last Garage Sale
In which essay does Helen describe the garage sale that reveals her family history?
- A) The Last Garage Sale
- B) My Kind of People
- C) She’s Young
- D) I’m a Believer!

Section 2: Character Motivation (5 questions)

Why does Helen choose to appreciate “character” friends who refuse to be ordinary? (Short answer: one phrase)
Answer: Because they enrich life with unpredictability and challenge conformity.
According to “Call Me,” what motivates Helen to dial friends despite her initial reluctance?
- A) She wants to avoid texting
- B) She values the vulnerability and emotional payoff of voice-to-voice talk
- C) She is required to by a book club
- D) She has no other way to reach them
Why does Helen decide to travel by Greyhound bus in “I Go Greyhound!”?
- A) To save money
- B) To test her adaptability and observe fellow passengers
- C) To visit a friend in another city
- D) To write a travel article
What leads Helen to get a “Doubleday chin” procedure described in “I Feel Better About My Neck”?
- A) Pressure from her husband
- B) A desire to reverse the visible marks of aging
- C) A dermatologist’s recommendation
- D) A dare from a friend
In “There’s a Lady at the Poker Table,” why does Helen emphasize her gender in a poker setting?
- A) To gain sympathy from opponents
- B) To highlight the performance of identity in a male-coded space
- C) To distract other players
- D) To show off her skills

Section 3: Theme and Symbol (4 questions)

What does the phone call symbolize in “Call Me”?
- A) Distraction
- B) Intimacy and vulnerability
- C) Impatience
- D) Nostalgia
In “I Feel Better About My Neck,” what does the neck represent?
- A) Pride
- B) The visible marks of time and acceptance of aging
- C) Physical strength
- D) Vanity
What does the poker table in “There’s a Lady at the Poker Table” primarily symbolize?
- A) Competition
- B) A male-dominated space where gender roles are performed
- C) Luck
- D) Strategy
The Greyhound bus journey in “I Go Greyhound!” is used as a metaphor for:
- A) Adventure
- B) The shared human experience of carrying emotional baggage
- C) Freedom
- D) Escapism

Section 4: Synthesis (3 questions)

How does the book’s title, Bring Your Baggage and Don’t Pack Light, connect to the essay “I Go Greyhound!”?
- A) The bus trip requires packing a suitcase
- B) The journey becomes a literal and metaphorical way of carrying one’s personal history
- C) Helen loses her luggage
- D) The title is a quote from a fellow passenger
Based on the Reading Group Guide, what common thread sustains Helen’s childhood friendships throughout the decades?
- A) Shared career goals
- B) A lifetime of adolescent humor and support during fear
- C) Living in the same neighborhood
- D) Regular poker games
In the closing essay “I Feel Better About My Neck,” Helen’s revision to her body (the Doubleday chin) reinforces which overarching theme of the collection?
- A) The pursuit of perfection
- B) Embracing imperfection and aging with humor and solidarity
- C) Regret over past decisions
- D) The importance of medical procedures

Answer Key

A: The opening essay defines the “grown-ass ladies” concept.
A: Chapter 2 is titled “She’s a Character.”
A: The essay profiles an eccentric friend through vignettes.
A: The title alludes to Judy Blume’s Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.
A: The essay argues for the intimacy of phone calls.
A: The title indicates a poker-centered essay.
A: This back-matter page provides author biography and book list.
A: The essay details family revelations from a garage sale.
Short-answer: They enrich life with unpredictability and challenge conformity.
B: Helen values the vulnerability and emotional payoff of voice-to-voice talk.
B: She tests her adaptability and observes fellow passengers.
B: The procedure helps her feel better about aging marks.
B: She highlights gender performance in a male-coded space.
B: The phone call represents intimacy and vulnerability.
B: The neck symbolizes acceptance of aging.
B: Poker table symbolizes male-dominated space and gender performance.
B: The bus journey is a metaphor for carrying emotional baggage.
B: The bus trip embodies the book’s metaphor of carrying personal history.
B: The guide notes “lifetime of adolescent humor” and support through fear.
B: The revision reinforces embracing imperfection and aging with humor.

Want to dig deeper? Visit the Questions and Answers page for reader discussions, or check the Ending Explained page for analysis of the collection’s conclusion.