How to Stay Married Quiz: 20 Questions on Plot, Character, Theme & More

Welcome to the ultimate quiz on Harrison Scott Key's raw and redemptive memoir, How to Stay Married. Whether you've just finished the book or want to revisit the key moments, these 20 questions will test your grasp of the plot, character motivations, themes, and the bigger lessons of the story. After you've tried the quiz, explore the book overview, the discussion questions, or the ending explained for deeper insights.

Plot / Sequence Questions (1–8)

How does Harrison Scott Key first learn about his wife Lauren's desire for a divorce?
- A) She leaves a note on his pillow.
- B) She sends a cryptic email asking to discuss "life."
- C) He finds a letter in her drawer.
- D) She tells him during a fight about chores.
Who is the first person Lauren names as the man she is in love with?
- A) A coworker named Mark
- B) Their former neighbor, Chad
- C) A man from her church
- D) An old college friend
What unusual item does Dr. Berman use during the second therapy session to help the couple communicate?
- A) A stress ball
- B) A stuffed manatee named Dr. Beast
- C) A talking doll
- D) A whiteboard
After the first confession, what does Harrison do the following morning while Lauren is still asleep?
- A) He calls a divorce lawyer.
- B) He secures their finances and begins writing a novel.
- C) He leaves the house and drives to Chad's house.
- D) He wakes her up to demand more details.
What event happens just before the pandemic that temporarily strengthens Harrison and Lauren's bond?
- A) A second wedding vow renewal
- B) The birth of a new child
- C) A severe miscarriage
- D) A family vacation to Disney World
In 2020, how does Harrison discover that Lauren's affair with Chad has resumed?
- A) He finds a love letter in the laundry.
- B) He follows her to a hotel.
- C) A Google Alert for Chad shows photos of Lauren's makeup bag in Chad's bathroom.
- D) Chad calls him to confess.
What is the immediate result of Harrison's alphabetical list of his own faults (A to Z)?
- A) Lauren files for divorce.
- B) Lauren texts back, "I am, too."
- C) Dr. Berman gives him a new assignment.
- D) He moves out of the house.
What does Harrison do when he finds Lauren living with Chad in the carriage house?
- A) He calls the police and reports a break-in.
- B) He brings a gun (but leaves it in the truck) and helps her pack her belongings.
- C) He confronts Chad and fights him.
- D) He serves her with divorce papers on the spot.

Character Motivation Questions (9–13)

Why does Lauren Key give as the root cause of her unhappiness leading to the affair?
- A) Financial stress from Harrison's writing income
- B) Childhood trauma from her father's abandonment and her mother's death
- C) She fell out of love with Harrison over time
- D) She wanted a more exciting life outside of motherhood
What reason does the author suggest for Chad's seemingly ordinary and bland personality?
- A) He was naturally shy and introverted.
- B) He deliberately kept emotional distance to justify the affair, even calling Harrison a "big, fat walrus."
- C) He was secretly a spy and had to hide his true self.
- D) He had a traumatic brain injury that flattened his emotions.
After the affair is revealed, what does Harrison's friend Angie urge him to do, which changes his outlook?
- A) Move out immediately
- B) Fight for his wife and the marriage
- C) Seek revenge on Chad
- D) Start seeing a lawyer
When Harrison confesses his flaws to Lauren using his A-to-Z list, what does he realize about his own role in the marriage breakdown?
- A) His flaws caused the affair.
- B) His flaws did not cause the affair but did not help the situation.
- C) He had no role; Lauren was entirely to blame.
- D) He needed to become a more successful writer.
After the second confession in 2020, why does Lauren say she cannot fully end the affair with Chad?
- A) She still loves Chad and wants to marry him.
- B) Chad threatens to harm himself.
- C) She is afraid of being alone.
- D) She claims Chad knows all her secrets and she is addicted to the relationship.

Theme / Symbol Questions (14–17)

What does the dog Gary represent in the book?
- A) Unconditional love
- B) Chaos and destruction mirroring the family's turmoil
- C) The couple's growing financial stability
- D) Harrison's laid-back personality
The epigraph of the book quotes G. K. Chesterton: "Angels can fly because they can take themselves lightly." What central theme does this reinforce?
- A) The importance of religious faith
- B) Humor and self-deprecation as tools for marital resilience
- C) The necessity of strict moral rules
- D) The superiority of angels over humans
In the concluding chapter, Key refers to the affair as a "MacGuffin." What does he mean by this?
- A) The affair was the most important part of the story.
- B) The affair was a plot device that activated deeper questions about identity and duty.
- C) The affair was a lie invented by Chad.
- D) The affair was purely fictional and symbolic.
What does the "blight" in Harrison's home (chapter 19) symbolize?
- A) A literal plant disease caused by pests
- B) The growing emotional distance, lack of intimacy, and unresolved problems in the marriage
- C) The COVID-19 pandemic
- D) Harrison's jealousy over Chad's gardening skills

Synthesis Questions (18–20)

18. Short Answer: In his concluding advice, Key says staying married requires insanity, therapy, community, and comedy. Pick two of these and explain, using the book's events, why each is essential.

19. Short Answer: The book ends with Harrison shaving his mustache because Lauren hates it. What does this small act reveal about how their marriage has changed?

20. Short Answer: How does Key's understanding of forgiveness evolve from the beginning of the memoir to the end? Reference at least one specific event.

Answer Key

Plot / Sequence Answers

B – Chapter 2: Lauren sends a cryptic email asking to discuss "life," and that evening she tells Harrison she wants a divorce because she is in love with another man.
B – Chapter 4: Lauren names Chad, their former neighbor and close friend.
B – Chapter 3 (Salutation): Dr. Berman introduces a stuffed manatee named Dr. Beast, borrowed from one of their daughters, to facilitate conversation.
B – Chapter 11: Harrison wakes at dawn, secures the family's finances, and begins writing a novel about a cheating wife as a way to process what happened.
C – Chapter 18: After a season of healing, Lauren suffers a severe miscarriage. The shared grief and support from their church bring them closer.
C – Chapter 33: Harrison receives a Google Alert for Chad and finds a photo of bathroom shelves holding Lauren's makeup bag, confirming they are living together.
B – Chapter 15: Harrison texts Lauren "I'm an assface," and she replies "I am, too," marking their first agreement in a long time and a turn toward mutual humility.
B – Chapter 35: Harrison drives to the carriage house, bringing a gun but leaving it in the truck, takes a knife for protection, and helps Lauren frantically pack her belongings while Soren stands guard.

Character Motivation Answers

B – Chapter 6 and later Chapter 9 (as retold by Lauren): Lauren's deep-seated unhappiness stems from her father's abandonment and her mother's death from cancer, which left her with unresolved grief.
B – Chapter 5: The narrator learns that Chad's ordinary demeanor was a deliberate emotional shield; he needed to dehumanize Harrison (calling him a "big, fat walrus") to justify the secret romance.
B – Chapter 14: Friend Angie urges Harrison to "fight for her," which changes his outlook and commits him to fighting for the marriage despite his rage.
B – Chapter 15: Harrison recognizes that his flaws (bragging, workaholism, lack of empathy) did not cause the affair but did not help the marriage; owning his part is a step toward reconciliation.
D – Chapter 28 (Notes on Chad, Revisited): Lauren admits Chad knows all her secrets and that she cannot break the attachment, which Harrison theorizes is partly a "father quest."

Theme / Symbol Answers

B – Chapter 29: Gary the dog destroys household items, mirroring the family's chaos during separation, and his misbehavior becomes a metaphor for the emotional upheaval of the household.
B – Chapter 2 (Epigraph): The Chesterton quote sets up the book's central theme that humility, lightness, and humor are essential for navigating relationship difficulties.
B – Chapter 41: Key writes that the affair was "a brutal plot device that activated the real questions: Who are we? What is our duty to each other in this nasty and brutish life?"
B – Chapter 19: Harrison notices dying plants, no fruit, and sexual distance, which he recognizes as a metaphor for the unresolved issues and emotional blight in his marriage.

Synthesis Answers

Sample Answer (Therapy + Community): Therapy is essential because Dr. Berman steers the couple past the lurid details of the affair (the MacGuffin) to confront deeper childhood wounds and communication patterns. Community is essential because friends like Jimbo, Jason, and the church family at Christ the King fed them, hugged them, and refused to offer easy judgment, giving both Harrison and Lauren a safe space to heal.
Sample Answer: Harrison shaving his mustache shows that he has learned to let go of his ego and pride for the sake of love. Earlier in the memoir, he might have stubbornly kept the mustache to assert control; now he understands that small sacrifices and compromise are part of the ongoing work of staying married.
Sample Answer: At the outset, forgiveness is abstract—he reflects on forgiving his abusive father and seeks forgiveness from Lauren but is consumed by the logistics of the crisis (Chapter 11). By the end, he has lived forgiveness through concrete acts: helping Lauren pack, caring for her after her hysterectomy, and ultimately seeing her as a new creature. Forgiveness becomes a daily choice to love rather than a single dramatic event.