Quiz The Dead Cat Tail Assassins P. Djèlí Clark

The Dead Cat Tail Assassins Full-Book Quiz: 20 Questions on Plot, Characters, and Themes

How to Use This Quiz {#how-to-use-this-quiz}

This quiz covers the full arc of The Dead Cat Tail Assassins, from Eveen's first contract in the tower to the divine arbitration at Pol Oranus's estate. Questions are grouped into four sections—plot and sequence, character motivation, theme and symbol, and synthesis—so you can test both recall and deeper understanding. Multiple-choice questions have one correct answer; short-answer questions are followed by model responses in the answer key. If you need a refresher before starting, revisit the book overview or the ending explained.

Part I: Plot and Sequence (Questions 1–8) {#part-i-plot-and-sequence}

1. When Eveen enters the tower room on her first contract, what does she find?

  • A) A group of mercenaries waiting in ambush

  • B) A sleeping girl whose face she recognizes

  • C) An empty room with a golden token on the bed

  • D) A dead body with a calling card pinned to it

2. What does Fennis give Eveen at the restaurant to help with her contract?

  • A) A map of the city's rooftops

  • B) A list of the guards stationed at the estate

  • C) A golden Festival token as a locating find

  • D) A vial of poison for the target

3. What does Ennis demonstrate at the School of Thaumaturgy?

  • A) A device that connects auras, confirming Eveen and Sky are the same person

  • B) A spell that can send Sky back to her own time

  • C) A weapon that can destroy undead assassins

  • D) A shield that protects against Aeril's hounds

4. Who attacks Eveen and Sky at the safe house?

  • A) Valesh

  • B) The old man

  • C) Rejik, using silver strands

  • D) The four assassin sisters

5. What happens to Mael in the Shimmer?

  • A) He successfully sends Sky back in time

  • B) He is killed by Valesh

  • C) He betrays Eveen and Sky to Pol Oranus

  • D) He escapes through a resonance tuner

6. When Aeril orders Eveen to kill Sky, what does Sky do?

  • A) She runs from the estate

  • B) She invokes the goddess herself, and a second goddess enters the world

  • C) She offers her own life in exchange for Eveen's freedom

  • D) She attacks Aeril with a knife

7. What happens to Pol Oranus at the end of the book?

  • A) He escapes to another city

  • B) He is killed by Baseema

  • C) Eveen and Sky perform surgery on him, with Sky making the first cut

  • D) He is sealed in a box and buried by the guild

8. (Short answer) How does Eveen escape Rejik at the safe house?

Part II: Character Motivation (Questions 9–13) {#part-ii-character-motivation}

9. Why does Eveen spare the girl in the tower?

  • A) The girl offers her a bribe

  • B) Eveen recognizes the girl's face as her own reflection

  • C) The girl is protected by Pura innocentes

  • D) Eveen fears the guards will catch her

10. Why does Baseema insist the girl must die?

  • A) The girl is a threat to the guild's reputation

  • B) Someone manipulated Eveen into breaking the third unbreakable vow, which would bring Aeril's hounds upon the guild

  • C) The girl witnessed the guild's secrets

  • D) Baseema was paid by Pol Oranus to ensure the contract is completed

11. Why does Pol Oranus contract Eveen to kill Sky?

  • A) He wants to prevent a prophecy about the guild

  • B) His son was the Reaper of the Barrow, and he wants revenge

  • C) He wants to test the guild's loyalty

  • D) He wants to claim Sky's inheritance

12. Why does the old man let Eveen and Sky go?

  • A) He was paid by Fennis to protect them

  • B) He wants to see the game finished

  • C) He fears Aeril's punishment

  • D) He is too weak to fight them

13. Why does Sky hire the Dead Cat Tails to contract Pol Oranus?

  • A) To protect Eveen from the guild

  • B) To get revenge for what he did to her

  • C) To prove she can be an assassin

  • D) To buy her way back to her own time

Part III: Theme and Symbol (Questions 14–17) {#part-iii-theme-and-symbol}

14. What does the golden Festival token represent in the story?

  • A) The wealth of Tal Abisi

  • B) The connection between Sky's past and Eveen's present

  • C) The power of the Clockwork King

  • D) The guild's standard payment system

15. What do Eveen's glass figurines represent?

  • A) Her wealth and status in the guild

  • B) Her craft and personal identity as something she built in her undead life

  • C) Her weapons against the guild

  • D) Her devotion to Aeril

16. What does the Pirate Princess legend symbolize in the novel?

  • A) The dangers of piracy

  • B) Sacrifice and love transcending boundaries

  • C) The founding of the assassin guild

  • D) The power of the Clockwork King

17. What does the Shimmer represent?

  • A) A source of magical power for the guild

  • B) The lasting consequences of the Clockwork King's destruction

  • C) A gateway to the afterlife

  • D) The home of Aeril's hounds

Part IV: Synthesis (Questions 18–20) {#part-iv-synthesis}

18. (Short answer) How does the novel use memory to explore identity?

19. (Short answer) What role does storytelling play in resolving the conflict?

20. (Short answer) How does the novel challenge the idea of fate versus free will?

Answer Key {#answer-key}

Plot and Sequence

  1. B) A sleeping girl whose face she recognizes. Eveen climbs the vine to the tower window, enters, and finds a sleeping girl. A memory surfaces—impossible for an undead assassin—and she recognizes the girl's face.

  2. C) A golden Festival token as a locating find. Fennis presents the contract with a golden Festival token that serves as a locating device for the anonymous contractor's target.

  3. A) A device that connects auras. Ennis links Eveen and Sky, and they share memories, confirming they are the same person with identical, nearly merged auras.

  4. C) Rejik, using silver strands. Rejik, the Dead Cat Tail assassin who calls himself the Spider, attacks with magicked silver strands at the safe house.

  5. B) He is killed by Valesh. In the Shimmer, the undead assassin Valesh attacks, killing Mael before Eveen and Sky destroy Valesh with a resonance tuner.

  6. B) She invokes the goddess herself, and a second goddess enters the world. Sky's invocation brings a second Aeril into the world, mirroring the first with variations.

  7. C) Eveen and Sky perform surgery on him, with Sky making the first cut. After the contract is drawn against Pol Oranus and his guards abandon him, Eveen and Sky perform surgery on him.

  8. Model answer: Eveen sets the safe house on fire—using combustible liquors as a backup plan—and escapes through a hidden tunnel (an old smuggler's route) with Sky. Sky ignites munitions to collapse the tunnel on Rejik.

Character Motivation

  1. B) Eveen recognizes the girl's face as her own reflection. Eveen concludes the girl is her—a younger version of herself pulled from the past.

  2. B) Someone manipulated Eveen into breaking the third unbreakable vow, which would bring Aeril's hounds upon the guild. Baseema explains that the broken vow would bring Aeril's hounds upon the guild, so the girl must die.

  3. B) His son was the Reaper of the Barrow, and he wants revenge. Mael reveals that Pol Oranus was the Reaper's father and wants revenge for his son's death.

  4. B) He wants to see the game finished. The old man says he's been watching the game play out all night and lets them go because he wants to see how it ends.

  5. B) To get revenge for what he did to her. Sky hires the Dead Cat Tails to contract Pol Oranus, paying with a Festival token, after the goddesses dissolve Eveen's original contract.

Theme and Symbol

  1. B) The connection between Sky's past and Eveen's present. The token bears the image of a Grand Patriarch from sixty years ago, linking Sky's time to Eveen's, and it appears both as a locating find and as Sky's payment for Pol Oranus's contract.

  2. B) Her craft and personal identity as something she built in her undead life. The magicked figurines are Eveen's creations—both art and weapons—and they serve as a distraction against Rejik, reflecting the identity she has built despite having no memories.

  3. B) Sacrifice and love transcending boundaries. The Pirate Princess legend tells of a girl who offered up her own life to stop feuding suitors and save Tal Abisi, and the story recurs throughout the novel as a lens for Eveen and Sky's bond.

  4. B) The lasting consequences of the Clockwork King's destruction. The Shimmer is a magical zone left by the Clockwork King's destruction, making an entire district uninhabitable and serving as a physical reminder of the city's trauma.

Synthesis

  1. Model answer: Eveen has no memories of her past life—she doesn't even know her original name—yet when she sees Sky, a memory surfaces. The novel suggests that identity persists beyond memory: Eveen and Sky share identical auras, and Sky reveals that Eveen was their mother's first name, showing that who you are isn't reducible to what you remember.

  2. Model answer: Eveen tells the story of Asheel the Maniac Hunter to persuade the two goddesses that they are being manipulated, and the story helps them see the truth and dissolve the contract. The novel also contrasts versions of the Clockwork King legend—Sky and Eveen notice the giants face opposite directions—suggesting that stories carry truths even when they differ.

  3. Model answer: Eveen is bound by contracts, vows, and divine law, yet she chooses to spare Sky, defy Baseema, and ultimately break free of her binds. Sky also exercises agency—invoking the goddess, requesting a reward for Eveen, and hiring the guild to contract Pol Oranus. The novel suggests that even within systems of divine and contractual obligation, individuals can make meaningful choices.

For further discussion of the novel's twists and ambiguities, see the questions and answers page.

Published by What Happened?

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