Intermezzo Quiz: Test Your Knowledge

Before You Begin

This quiz covers the entirety of Sally Rooney's Intermezzo (2024), including its epigraph and十八章 of narrative. Questions span plot events, character motivations, thematic concerns, and symbolic elements. Formats alternate between multiple-choice and short-answer to challenge both recall and interpretation. Use the chapter summaries to review, explore key questions, or read about the ending before or after testing yourself.

Section 1: Plot and Sequence (Questions 1–8)

Question 1 (Multiple Choice)

At the chess exhibition in Chapter 2, how many simultaneous opponents does Ivan face before the audience applauds?

A) Five
B) Eight
C) Ten
D) Twelve

Question 2 (Short Answer)

What does Ivan impulsively do when he visits his mother's house in Skerries during Chapter 10?

Question 3 (Multiple Choice)

In Chapter 6, how does Peter secure Naomi's release from the Garda station after her arrest during the squat eviction?

A) He pays her bail
B) He uses his privileged status as a lawyer
C) He calls a colleague for help
D) He convinces the officers she is innocent

Question 4 (Short Answer)

What does Peter discover when he enters Sylvia's apartment with his key in Chapter 11 despite her request to leave the medicine outside?

Question 5 (Multiple Choice)

What triggers the argument between Peter and Ivan at the restaurant in Chapter 7?

A) Ivan asks Peter for rent money
B) Ivan reveals that his girlfriend is thirty-six and separated
C) Peter criticizes Ivan's chess career
D) Ivan refuses to attend Sunday lunch

Question 6 (Short Answer)

What happens when Peter returns to his flat in Chapter 17 after his train journey?

Question 7 (Multiple Choice)

At the bar after the Bach recital in Chapter 12, who pointedly implies knowledge of Margaret and Ivan's relationship?

A) Anna
B) Danny
C) Ollie Lyons
D) Bridget

Question 8 (Short Answer)

Describe the physical altercation between Peter and Ivan at their father's house in Chapter 15.

Section 2: Character Motivation (Questions 9–13)

Question 9 (Short Answer)

Why does Margaret wrestle for days over whether to telephone Ivan after their first encounter at the chess exhibition?

Question 10 (Multiple Choice)

In Chapter 13, why does Peter attempt to end his sexual relationship with Naomi?

A) He no longer finds her desirable
B) He feels his actions are morally illegible and remains in love with Sylvia
C) Naomi explicitly asks him to stop
D) His mother Christine insists he choose one partner

Question 11 (Short Answer)

Why does Ivan react defensively and tells Naomi that Peter's problems are "none of her business" when she brings up Peter's emotional struggles in Chapter 14?

Question 12 (Multiple Choice)

What motivates Sylvia to propose a three-person arrangement in Chapter 17?

A) She wants to leave Peter permanently
B) She apologizes for her jealousy and recognizes that both she and Naomi are significant to Peter
C) Naomi pressures her into the idea
D) Peter demands a polyamorous relationship structure

Question 13 (Short Answer)

What drives Peter to offer Naomi a new place to live in Chapter 13, even as their conversation about ending the sexual arrangement remains unresolved?

Section 3: Theme and Symbolism (Questions 14–17)

Question 14 (Multiple Choice)

The Wittgenstein epigraph that opens the novel contrasts the feeling of grief with which other activity?

A) Running
B) Playing chess
C) Reading
D) Sleeping

Question 15 (Short Answer)

What multiple functions does chess serve for Ivan throughout the novel?

Question 16 (Multiple Choice)

What narrative role does the whippet Alexei play across the story?

A) He is a gift Peter gives to Ivan after their father's death
B) He serves as a connection to the deceased father and becomes the catalyst for Ivan's impulsive act of rescue
C) He is a stray Ivan finds and adopts near Margaret's cottage
D) He belongs to Margaret and Ivan bonds with the dog when visiting her home

Question 17 (Short Answer)

How does the novel structurally contrast Ivan's chess tournament success with Peter's personal crisis in the closing chapters?

Section 4: Synthesis (Questions 18–20)

Question 18 (Short Answer)

Compare how Peter and Ivan each process their father's death. Identify one specific coping mechanism for each brother.

Question 19 (Short Answer)

Using Margaret's experience with Ollie Lyons's pointed comment and her mother's condemnation, explain how the novel explores the gap between social norms and personal desire.

Question 20 (Multiple Choice)

What does the title "Intermezzo" most aptly signify within the world of the novel?

A) A permanent resolution to the characters' grief
B) An intermediate period—between a father's death and a new family configuration, between old selves and emerging possibilities
C) A direct reference to the Bach Goldberg Variations performed at the arts centre
D) A specific chess opening that Ivan employs in tournament play

Answer Key

Question 1

Correct answer: C — The Chapter 2 outline states Ivan "plays ten opponents simultaneously, defeating all of them while the audience applauds." Five, eight, and twelve are plausible numbers for a simul but do not match the text.

Question 2

Answer: Ivan discovers his dog Alexei neglected in a utility room and impulsively takes the whippet back to Dublin on the train, despite having no long-term plan. The Chapter 10 outline confirms he acts after seeing the dog's condition.

Question 3

Correct answer: B — The Chapter 6 outline specifies Peter "uses his privileged status to secure her release without charge." He does not pay bail, call a colleague, or argue for her innocence.

Question 4

Answer: Peter finds Sylvia lying on the floor in severe pain, unable to stand. He helps her to bed, cleans up, and they have an emotionally raw conversation about their breakup. The Chapter 11 outline details this sequence.

Question 5

Correct answer: B — The Chapter 7 outline records that Ivan "blurts out that his girlfriend is thirty-six and separated," prompting Peter to question whether a "normal" woman would be interested. While Peter does offer rent money earlier in the meal, that does not trigger the argument; Ivan accepts it warmly.

Question 6

Answer: Peter finds both Naomi and Sylvia waiting for him. The shock causes him to faint. After they revive him, the three talk, Sylvia apologizes for her jealousy, and she proposes they try an unconventional arrangement. The Chapter 17 outline describes this convergence.

Question 7

Correct answer: C — The Chapter 12 outline notes that "chess club captain Ollie Lyons pointedly says he saw Ivan in town, implying he knows about their relationship." Anna, Danny, and Bridget appear in the chapter but do not make this implication.

Question 8

Answer: A tense conversation about respect and their late father turns physical when Ivan shoves Peter. Peter retaliates by slapping Ivan and throwing him to the floor, nearly kicking him before fleeing the house in horror. The Chapter 15 outline provides this sequence.

Question 9

Answer: Margaret is conscious of the significant age gap (Ivan is twenty-two; she is thirty-six and separated), fears social judgment in her small town, and worries she might be taking advantage of a grieving young man. The Chapter 4 outline captures her internal debate before she finally calls.

Question 10

Correct answer: B — The Chapter 13 outline and evidence describe Peter agonizing over his actions as "morally illegible" and confessing his enduring love for Sylvia. Option A is contradicted by his continued attraction; option C and option D lack textual support.

Question 11

Answer: Ivan is estranged from Peter—Peter mocked his accent and blocked his number—and harbors deep resentment. Additionally, in the same chapter, Ivan recalls a childhood memory in which a distraught Peter begged for help and Ivan walked away, mingling his current anger with guilt. The Chapter 14 outline and its embedded memory confirm these layers.

Question 12

Correct answer: B — The Chapter 17 evidence shows Sylvia telling Peter she has been "cold, cruel, vain" and apologizing for her jealousy before proposing the arrangement. Option A misrepresents her intent; option C inverts agency; option D is contradicted by Peter's repeated resistance to the idea of polyamory earlier in the novel.

Question 13

Answer: Peter carries guilt over his simultaneous involvement with two women and believes that ending the sexual dimension with Naomi while materially supporting her (through housing) is the morally correct—if paternalistic—path. The Chapter 13 outline frames this as a breakup attempt that remains unresolved.

Question 14

Correct answer: B — The epigraph asks, "But don't you feel grief now? ('But aren't you now playing chess?')" The other activities are not mentioned in the epigraph.

Question 15

Answer: Chess serves as an escape from emotional pain and social awkwardness, a structured world where Ivan can demonstrate competence and control, a path to achievement (his IM norms), and the activity that brings him into Margaret's life. The outlines for Chapters 2, 8, 14, and 17 trace these overlapping functions.

Question 16

Correct answer: B — In Chapter 8, Ivan shares a video of Alexei with his late father. In Chapter 10, finding the dog neglected prompts Ivan's decisive rescue. Option A, C, and D invent details not present in the outline.

Question 17

Answer: In Chapter 17, Ivan secures his second IM norm—a major competitive milestone—while Peter struggles with suicidal ideation, faints upon seeing both women, and must accept an open-ended emotional path. The juxtaposition frames mastery and failure as parallel experiences, and Ivan's victory creates the occasion for the brothers' reconciliation and embrace.

Question 18

Answer: Peter numbs grief through self-medication (alprazolam and alcohol), loses himself in his tangled romantic life with Sylvia and Naomi, and experiences suicidal thoughts. Ivan withdraws into chess, social isolation, and a secret relationship with Margaret; his grief occasionally erupts physically, as in the fight with Peter. The outlines for Chapters 3, 9, 13, and 15 document Peter's pattern, while Chapters 2, 4, and 15 trace Ivan's.

Question 19

Answer: Margaret understands that her relationship with Ivan transgresses small-town norms—Ollie Lyons's "pointed" remark signals that gossip has begun, and her mother condemns her as sinking "low." Yet Margaret cannot reclaim her old life because her desire for Ivan has made it "impossible." The Chapter 12 outline articulates this tension: she is "lying to almost everyone she knows" but remains bound to her new reality through connection.

Question 20

Correct answer: B — The novel unfolds in the months after the father's funeral, and every major character occupies a transitional space: Peter between Sylvia and Naomi, Ivan between adolescence and adulthood, Margaret between her failed marriage and an uncertain future. Option A misreads the ending's open quality; option C is too literal a reference; option D invents a chess term not central to the novel's architecture.

Ready for more? Browse the full Intermezzo chapter guide or revisit the frequently asked questions for deeper analysis.