Quiz Cackle Rachel Harrison

Cackle Quiz: Test Your Understanding of Rachel Harrison's Novel

Test your understanding of Rachel Harrison's Cackle with these 20 questions.
For more resources, see the full summary, questions and answers, and the ending explained.

Quiz

Plot and Sequence (Questions 1–8)

  1. Arrange these events in chronological order:
    (a) Annie receives a psychic reading
    (b) Annie moves to Rowan
    (c) Annie meets Sophie at the wine shop
    (d) Annie teaches her first class at Aster High

    • a, b, c, d
    • b, a, c, d
    • a, b, d, c
    • a, c, b, d

  2. What happens to Annie after she drinks Sophie's mushroom tea?

    • She gains instant magical powers.
    • She becomes violently ill and hallucinates.
    • She has a pleasant vision of her future.
    • She calls Sam and reconciles with him.

  3. What causes Dan to cough up bones during the blind date?

    • Sophie's curse
    • Annie's latent magic
    • A food allergy
    • A ghost in the restaurant

  4. How does Annie first discover she has magical abilities?

    • She levitates chicken bones after dinner.
    • She relights a candle with her mind.
    • She commands a spider to move.
    • She makes Sam bleed from his eyes.

  5. What does Sophie reveal is trapped in her cellar?

    • Stolen treasure
    • Potion ingredients
    • Ghosts of people who harmed her
    • Her ex-lovers

  6. When Sam visits Annie in chapter 19, what does Annie do?

    • Takes him back and asks him to stay
    • Makes him leave after causing him to bleed
    • Introduces him to Sophie
    • Asks him to move to Rowan

  7. In the epilogue, to whom does Annie offer an apple?

    • Sophie
    • Madison Thorpe
    • Oskar
    • Ralph

  8. What mysterious object does Annie find outside her apartment door early in the book?

    • A dead bird
    • Mistletoe
    • A note from Sophie
    • A spider

Character Motivation (Questions 9–13)

  1. Why does Sophie curse the students who bully Annie?

    • To protect Annie
    • For entertainment
    • To test her own powers
    • Because the students annoyed her

  2. Why does Annie lie to Sophie about Sam's planned visit?

    • She is ashamed of her feelings.
    • She wants to avoid conflict.
    • She is afraid of Sophie's reaction.
    • She wants to keep Sam a secret from everyone.

  3. Why does Sophie give Annie a ring when Sam texts?

    • To propose a new friendship
    • As a symbol of eternal loyalty
    • To distract Annie from Sam
    • To curse Sam

  4. Why does Annie initially agree to go on the blind date with Pascal?

    • She is lonely and desperate.
    • Jill pressures her into it.
    • She hopes to find true love.
    • Sophie encourages her to go.

  5. Why does Annie finally reject Sam in chapter 19?

    • She realizes she doesn't love him anymore.
    • Sophie forbids her from seeing him.
    • Sam admits he has a girlfriend.
    • Annie's powers scare him away.

Theme and Symbol (Questions 14–17)

  1. What does the mistletoe outside Annie's apartment symbolize?

    • Good luck and fortune
    • Peace and a fresh start
    • Sophie's watchful presence
    • Impending danger

  2. What do the spiders (especially Ralph) represent in the novel?

    • Fear and revulsion
    • Sophie's control over others
    • Transformation and connection
    • Ordinary household pests

  3. What do the ghosts in Sophie's cellar symbolize?

    • Evil spirits that must be vanquished
    • Sophie's past trauma and vengeance
    • Annie's repressed fears
    • The town's haunted history

  4. What does the apple Annie offers Madison in the epilogue symbolize?

    • Temptation and knowledge
    • A simple, harmless gift
    • Immortality
    • Friendship

Synthesis (Questions 18–20) – Short Answer

  1. How does the psychic's prediction of a "dark fate" relate to Annie's actual ending?
    (Write a brief answer in your own words.)

  2. In what ways does Annie's relationship with Sophie both challenge and support her growth?
    (Write a brief answer in your own words.)

  3. What does Annie's "cackle" in chapter 19 signify about her transformation?
    (Write a brief answer in your own words.)

Answer Key

Plot and Sequence Answers

  1. a, b, c, d – Annie visits the psychic in chapter 1, moves to Rowan in chapter 2, meets Sophie at the wine shop at the end of chapter 2, and teaches her first class in chapter 3.
  2. Becomes violently ill and hallucinates – Chapter 9–10: the tea gives Annie a nightmare hallucination and leaves her sick.
  3. Annie's latent magic – In chapter 13, Sophie insists the power came from Annie, not from a curse.
  4. She levitates chicken bones after dinner – Chapter 14: Annie accidentally levitates the leftover chicken bones.
  5. Ghosts of people who harmed her – Chapter 18: Sophie explains the ghosts are bound to her because of past attempts on her life.
  6. Makes him leave after causing him to bleed – Chapter 19: Annie uses her power to make Sam bleed from his eyes and mouth, then orders him to leave.
  7. Madison Thorpe – Epilogue: Annie offers an apple to her former student Madison.
  8. Mistletoe – Chapter 3: Annie finds mistletoe hanging outside her apartment; later Sophie reveals she placed it there for peace.

Character Motivation Answers

  1. To protect Annie – Chapter 7: Sophie confesses she cursed the teenagers who bothered Annie.
  2. She is afraid of Sophie's reaction – Chapter 17: Annie lies because she fears Sophie's disapproval of her continued contact with Sam.
  3. To distract Annie from Sam – Chapter 8: Sophie takes Annie's phone and gives her a ring to shift her attention away from Sam's text.
  4. Jill pressures her into it – Chapter 11: Jill arranges the double blind date, and Annie reluctantly agrees.
  5. She realizes she doesn't love him anymore – Chapter 19: During a kiss, Annie feels nothing and understands she has changed.

Theme and Symbol Answers

  1. Peace and a fresh start – Sophie places mistletoe for peace (chapter 8). It also marks the beginning of Annie's new life in Rowan.
  2. Transformation and connection – Spiders appear as supernatural signs, and Ralph becomes Annie's familiar, symbolizing her growing acceptance of her own transformation and her bond with Sophie.
  3. Sophie's past trauma and vengeance – The ghosts are bound to Sophie as a result of her vengeance against those who tried to harm her (chapter 18). They represent the weight of her history.
  4. Temptation and knowledge – The apple recalls fairy-tale tropes (Snow White, Eve), and Annie's offering to Madison hints at a new, almost mythological beginning.

Synthesis Answer Guidelines

  1. How does the psychic's prediction of a "dark fate" relate to Annie's actual ending?
    The psychic foresees darkness, but Annie ultimately rejects her old life and embraces her witch identity. Her fate is not dark but liberating. The prediction is subverted: Annie creates her own bright future rather than succumbing to a predetermined doom.

  2. In what ways does Annie's relationship with Sophie both challenge and support her growth?
    Sophie challenges Annie's need for romantic validation and encourages self‑sufficiency, yet she also manipulates and sets ultimatums. Annie must assert her autonomy, and by the end she reconciles with Sophie as an equal, having learned to stand on her own.

  3. What does Annie's "cackle" in chapter 19 signify about her transformation?
    The cackle marks a turning point: Annie laughs at Sam's fear instead of feeling shame. It signals her acceptance of her power and her witch identity, shedding self‑doubt and embracing who she is meant to be.