Buckeye by Patrick Ryan: Full-Book Quiz (20 Questions)

Quiz: Buckeye by Patrick Ryan

Answer each question to the best of your ability. Some are multiple‑choice, others require a short written response.

Plot & Sequence (8 Questions)

Why is Cal Jenkins rejected from military service during World War II?
- A) He has flat feet.
- B) He is colorblind.
- C) One leg is two inches shorter than the other.
- D) He fails the written exam.
On what day does a stranger named Margaret Salt first kiss Cal?
- A) V‑J Day
- B) Pearl Harbor Day
- C) V‑E Day
- D) New Year’s Eve 1944
Where does Cal take a job after he and Becky marry?
- A) The concrete plant
- B) Her father’s hardware store
- C) The aluminum plant
- D) Van Benton Furniture Company
Casey LaGrange, the researcher who visits Becky, is forcibly removed by Cal and Roman. How do they get rid of him?
- A) They call the police.
- B) They steal his suitcase and put him on a train to Toledo.
- C) They pay him a large sum to leave.
- D) They threaten him with a lawsuit.
Margaret Anderson (later Margaret Salt) is left as a baby at which orphanage?
- A) St. Catherine’s Home
- B) Open Arms Orphanage
- C) The Doyle Foundling House
- D) Columbus Children’s Home
How does Felix Salt become trapped during the sinking of the Teague?
- A) He is pinned under a fallen beam.
- B) He is tangled in netting in the water.
- C) His leg is caught in a life raft line.
- D) He is locked in a compartment.
What event finally ends the affair between Cal and Margaret?
- A) Margaret moves to Columbus.
- B) Cal tells Becky the truth.
- C) Margaret learns Felix is missing in action and ends the affair.
- D) Cal’s father Everett threatens to expose them.
Which battle claims the life of Skip (Cal Jr.) in Vietnam?
- A) The Battle of Khe Sanh
- B) The Tet Offensive / Battle of Huế
- C) The Battle of Ia Drang
- D) The Battle of Hamburger Hill

Character Motivation (5 Questions)

Why does Becky Hanover begin working as a medium (spirit liaison)?
- A) She wants to make money to support her family.
- B) She feels compelled to help grieving people connect with lost loved ones.
- C) Cal encourages her to use her gift.
- D) She is trying to prove her powers to a skeptical town.
Felix Salt enlists in the Navy after Pearl Harbor. What deeper reason does the novel suggest for his decision?
- A) He wants to escape his unhappy marriage.
- B) He hopes to “reset” himself and prove he is not a homosexual.
- C) He believes strongly in the cause of the war.
- D) He wants to earn a promotion when he returns.
Why does Margaret Salt ultimately decide to leave Cal after their affair is revealed?
- A) She is angry that he will not leave Becky.
- B) She feels guilt and wants to start fresh on her own.
- C) Felix demands she move out.
- D) She learns Cal is not the father of her baby.
Everett Jenkins, Cal’s father, writes letters to President Roosevelt. What is his main grievance?
- A) He wants better veteran benefits.
- B) He protests the war and government overreach.
- C) He complains about the draft system.
- D) He asks for help with his hoarding problem.
In the 1950s, why does Felix visit the medium Becky Jenkins?
- A) To ask her about his job prospects.
- B) To try to contact his dead parents.
- C) To find closure regarding Augie Varick, the man he loved.
- D) To expose her as a fraud.

Theme & Symbol (4 Questions)

The buckeye tree in Cal and Becky’s yard comes to symbolize which theme?
- A) Economic prosperity
- B) Family secrets and hidden truths
- C) The fragile hope that grows from loss
- D) The bond between Cal and Tom (nicknamed Buckeye)
Becky’s séances and spiritual work are used in the novel to explore what larger idea?
- A) The existence of ghosts
- B) The human need for closure and the limits of grief
- C) Religious conversion
- D) Feminist independence
The letter Cal gives Becky at the end—the one she wrote to herself as a child—represents:
- A) The permanence of childhood dreams.
- B) Cal’s lifelong effort to correct his mistakes and honor her.
- C) A failed attempt at communication.
- D) Becky’s lost faith in the future.
Throughout the novel, the concept of “worry” is described as “the fuel of their lives.” Which couple most embodies this idea during the Vietnam War?
- A) Margaret and Felix
- B) Cal and Becky
- C) Everett and Ida
- D) Roman and Ida

Synthesis (3 Questions)

Compare Cal Jenkins and Felix Salt. What central struggle do both men share?
- Short answer:
The novel suggests that secrets (the affair, Tom’s paternity, Felix’s homosexuality) have what long‑term effect on family relationships?
- A) They protect loved ones from pain.
- B) They inevitably come to light and cause deeper wounds.
- C) They strengthen marriages built on honesty.
- D) They have little effect because everyone suspects anyway.
How does the author use the character of Tom (Buckeye) to connect the novel’s two main family lines?
- Short answer:

Answer Key

C) One leg is two inches shorter than the other.
The opening chapter states that Cal’s shortened leg makes him unfit for service.
C) V‑E Day
On Victory in Europe Day, Margaret Salt kisses Cal at the hardware store.
B) Her father’s hardware store
After marrying Becky, Cal goes to work in Roman Hanover’s hardware store.
B) They steal his suitcase and put him on a train to Toledo.
Evidence from Chapter Four describes Cal and Roman forcing LaGrange onto the 8:22 to Toledo.
B) Open Arms Orphanage
Chapter Five opens with baby Margaret left in a basket at Open Arms.
B) He is tangled in netting in the water.
Chapter Twelve describes Felix fighting netting after the torpedo strike.
C) Margaret learns Felix is missing in action and ends the affair.
After receiving the telegram, Margaret meets Cal to break it off.
B) The Tet Offensive / Battle of Huế
Skip’s letter and subsequent death occur during the Battle of Huế in 1968.
B) She feels compelled to help grieving people connect with lost loved ones.
Her motivation is compassion, not profit; she places an ad because word‑of‑mouth spreads.
B) He hopes to “reset” himself and prove he is not a homosexual.
Chapter Seven reveals his father’s ultimatum and Felix’s desire to escape the “mold.”
B) She feels guilt and wants to start fresh on her own.
After confessing to Felix and sending letters, Margaret packs and drives away from Bonhomie.
B) He protests the war and government overreach.
Everett writes to FDR objecting to the war; his later letter to LBJ continues this pattern.
C) To find closure regarding Augie Varick, the man he loved.
Felix is haunted by Augie’s death and his hidden sexuality; Becky’s session finally lets him confess.
D) The bond between Cal and Tom (nicknamed Buckeye)
Skip calls Tom “Buckeye” after their friendship begins, and the tree appears in their front yard.
B) The human need for closure and the limits of grief
Becky’s work helps others process loss, while she herself struggles with grief over Skip.
B) Cal’s lifelong effort to correct his mistakes and honor her.
In the final chapter, Cal gives Becky the sealed letter, fulfilling her childhood hope and showing his growth.
B) Cal and Becky
Their lives during Skip’s deployment are defined by constant worry, described as the fuel of their days.
Both men grapple with a sense of purposelessness and a hidden part of themselves (Cal’s disability and guilt over not fighting; Felix’s homosexuality and survivor’s guilt).
B) They inevitably come to light and cause deeper wounds.
The revelations of the affair, paternity, and Felix’s sexuality lead to estrangement and years of pain.
Tom is the biological son of Cal (through the affair) and the legal son of Felix; his friendship with Skip (Cal’s son) merges the two families. His existence embodies the novel’s themes of hidden connection and the cost of secrecy.