Sleepwalk by Dan Chaon: 20-Question Book Quiz
Test your knowledge of Dan Chaon's Sleepwalk with this 20-question quiz covering plot, character motivation, theme, and synthesis. Questions 1–8 focus on plot and sequence, 9–13 on character motivation, 14–17 on theme and symbol, and 18–20 on synthesis. Multiple-choice questions have one correct answer; short-answer questions ask for a brief response. The complete answer key follows the quiz, with explanations grounded in the novel's events and themes. Good luck!
(If you need a refresher, revisit the book overview or the questions and answers page.)
Quiz
1. Which event occurs first in the novel?
A) The narrator meets Cammie on the phone.
B) The narrator delivers an infant to a woman in Texas.
C) The narrator kills two men at a campground.
D) The narrator loses his RV, the Guiding Star.
2. What causes the narrator to lose control of his camper on a bridge?
A) A tire blowout
B) A power outage that kills the engine and locks the steering
C) A drone attack
D) A collision with another vehicle
3. At the Dollar Dangle store, what happens to Experanza?
A) She is killed by Flip.
B) She escapes.
C) She is arrested.
D) She shoots the narrator.
4. What does the narrator find in the mini-fridge at Hebard's Self-Storage Units?
A) A bomb
B) A cell phone
C) A severed head
D) A tracking device
5. How does the narrator eventually reach Canada?
A) He drives across the border.
B) He is smuggled in the trunk of a car.
C) He flies.
D) He walks across.
6. What is the final setting of the novel?
A) A tropical island
B) A Canadian compound
C) A desert
D) A city
7. Which character is revealed to be the narrator's biological daughter?
A) Experanza
B) Cammie
C) Morgan
D) Heidi
8. In the opening chapter, the narrator lists many names (Will Bear, William Baird, Bill Behr, etc.). What does this list primarily establish?
A) The narrator's family tree
B) The narrator's many aliases
C) The narrator's criminal record
D) The narrator's friendships
9. Why does the narrator toss the burner phones out the window when they ring?
(Short answer)
10. Why does the narrator agree to deliver the infant to the woman in Texas?
A) He is forced at gunpoint.
B) He is paid a large sum.
C) He believes it is an under-the-table adoption.
D) He wants to help the baby.
11. Why does the narrator decide not to kill Cammie even though Tim Ribbons ordered him to?
(Short answer)
12. Why does the narrator leave Flip behind at the animal-rights collective?
A) Flip is too injured to travel.
B) Flip has a tracking chip that endangers them.
C) The collective refuses to let him take the dog.
D) He wants to give Flip a better life.
13. Why does Experanza confront Billy at the Dollar Dangle?
A) To kill him
B) To bring him back to Tim Ribbons
C) To warn him about danger
D) To give him money
14. What does the recurring motif of burner phones symbolize in the novel?
A) The narrator's wealth
B) The fragility of identity and the attempt to remain untraceable
C) The importance of communication
D) The dangers of technology
15. The epigraph from Rumi suggests that the seeker and the sought are mutually engaged. How does this theme manifest in the novel?
(Short answer)
16. What does the character of Flip, the dog, represent?
A) Loyalty and moral conscience
B) The narrator's violent past
C) A symbol of freedom
D) The dangers of domestication
17. The novel's title, Sleepwalk, and its recurring references to sleepwalking symbolize what?
(Short answer)
18. How does the narrator's use of multiple aliases (Will Bear, Bill Bayer, etc.) reflect the novel's themes of identity and surveillance?
(Short answer)
19. Compare the narrator's relationship with his mother to his relationship with Cammie. How do these relationships shape his actions?
(Short answer)
20. The novel ends with the narrator on a tropical island with three women he calls his daughters. What does this ending suggest about the possibility of escape and family?
(Short answer)
Answer Key
1. B — The narrator delivers an infant to a woman in Texas (chapter 9) before Cammie first calls (chapter 13), before the campground killings (chapter 18), and before losing the RV (chapter 26).
2. B — In chapter 22, a power outage kills the camper's engine and locks the steering, causing the vehicle to scrape along a bridge wall.
3. A — In chapter 40, Flip attacks Experanza and opens her carotid artery, killing her.
4. B — In chapter 29, the narrator opens the mini-fridge and finds a cell phone, not a bomb.
5. B — In chapter 44, the narrator is instructed to get into the trunk of a Border Patrol cruiser, which then drives him to meet Cammie.
6. A — The final chapter (45) is set on an island in the Solomon Sea.
7. B — Cammie claims to be his biological daughter (chapter 13), and the relationship is confirmed through the narrative.
8. B — The list of near-identical names establishes the narrator's many aliases, a central element of his identity concealment.
9. He wants to maintain anonymity and avoid being tracked; the phones are disposable tools to protect his identity.
10. C — The narrator rationalizes the delivery as an under-the-table adoption, as stated in chapter 10.
11. He develops a strong emotional connection to her, believes she is his daughter, and chooses to protect her rather than follow orders.
12. B — Cammie reveals that Flip carries a GPS tracking chip that enabled pursuers to find them, so the dog must stay behind (chapter 41).
13. B — Experanza wants to bring Billy back to Tim Ribbons; she claims to be protecting him but is actually trying to capture him.
14. B — Burner phones symbolize the narrator's attempt to remain untraceable and the fragility of his constructed identities.
15. The narrator is searching for Cammie while she is also searching for him; their mutual pursuit and connection drive the plot, echoing the epigraph's idea of reciprocal seeking.
16. A — Flip serves as a moral compass and loyal companion, often reflecting the narrator's conscience (e.g., his disapproval of the baby's treatment).
17. Sleepwalking symbolizes the narrator's passive, unexamined existence—his drifting through life without full awareness—and his eventual awakening to his choices and responsibilities.
18. The aliases reflect his attempt to erase his identity and avoid surveillance, but they also highlight the instability of self and the impossibility of true anonymity in a world of constant tracking.
19. His mother was abusive and he killed her; with Cammie, he seeks redemption and connection, trying to be a better parent than his mother was. These relationships drive his actions—he flees his past but also seeks to protect his daughter.
20. The ending suggests a fragile, makeshift family and a partial escape, but it also acknowledges the grim future and the impossibility of fully escaping one's past; the island is a refuge, not a permanent solution.