The Drowning Kind Quiz: 20 Questions on Plot, Characters, and Themes
Test your knowledge of Jennifer McMahon's The Drowning Kind with this 20-question quiz covering plot, character motivation, themes, and synthesis. Each question is grounded in the novel's events and themes. After you finish, check the answer key for brief explanations. For deeper analysis, see the book overview or the ending explained. You can also browse questions and answers for more discussion. Good luck!
The Drowning Kind Quiz: 20 Questions on Plot, Characters, and Themes
Plot and Sequence (Questions 1–8)
1. What game do Lexie and Jax play in the pool during the prologue?
A. Marco Polo
B. The Dead Game
C. Drowning Tag
D. The Wishing Game
2. In what year does the prologue take place?
(Short answer)
3. What object does Ethel Monroe carry against her chest as a fertility charm at the town picnic?
A. A rabbit's foot
B. A sparrow egg
C. A lock of hair
D. A silver locket
4. What item does Lexie special-order that arrives at Sparrow Crest after her death?
A. A diving suit
B. A speargun
C. A metal detector
D. A waterproof camera
5. What happens to the Brandenburg Springs Hotel in 1929?
A. It is destroyed by a flood
B. It burns down
C. It is demolished for a new road
D. It is struck by lightning
6. Who is the narrator of the epilogue?
A. Diane
B. Lexie
C. Jax
D. Shirley
7. What does Ted do with Lexie's ashes?
A. He scatters them at Lake Wilmore
B. He buries them in the rose garden
C. He dumps them into the pool
D. He keeps them in an urn
8. What does Declan do to the fish tank at school?
A. He releases the fish into a river
B. He pours bleach into it
C. He smashes the tank
D. He feeds the fish poison
Character Motivation (Questions 9–13)
9. Why does Ethel make a wish at the springs?
A. To cure her husband's illness
B. To have a child
C. To win back her family's fortune
D. To escape her marriage
10. Why does Jackie feel guilty about Lexie's death?
A. She argued with Lexie the night before
B. She didn't answer Lexie's phone calls
C. She refused to visit Sparrow Crest
D. She told Lexie to stop her research
11. Why does Diane fill jars of pool water?
A. To sell as a tonic
B. To help treat Terri's MS
C. To use in a ritual
D. To preserve flowers
12. Why does Shirley claim that the dead become part of the springs?
A. She is trying to scare Jax
B. She genuinely believes it based on her experiences
C. She wants to justify her family's claim to the land
D. She is repeating a local superstition without belief
13. Why does Lexie measure the pool's depth using a grid and weighted tape?
A. To map the bottom for a diving expedition
B. To prove the pool is bottomless
C. To track changes in the water level
D. To find a hidden treasure
Theme and Symbol (Questions 14–17)
14. What does the pool most consistently symbolize in the novel?
A. Hope and renewal
B. Death and the supernatural
C. Family unity
D. The passage of time
15. What is the significance of the paper boats Lexie and Jax make?
A. They are toys for the cat
B. They carry messages and wishes
C. They are offerings to the pool
D. They are used to measure water flow
16. What does the sparrow symbolize in the novel?
A. Freedom
B. Fragility and the child
C. Wisdom
D. Rebirth
17. What does the rhyme “Come swimming with me” represent?
A. A childhood game
B. The seductive lure of death
C. A call to adventure
D. The bond between sisters
Synthesis (Questions 18–20)
18. How do both Jackie's and Lexie's wishes come true by the end of the novel?
(Short answer)
19. What is the price of the miracle that keeps Maggie alive?
(Short answer)
20. How does the novel use the motif of reflection (mirrors, the pool's surface) to develop its themes?
(Short answer)
Answer Key
1. B. The Dead Game – In the prologue, Lexie and Jax float facedown in the pool, playing the Dead Game, holding their breath with eyes open.
2. 2000 – The prologue is dated July 18, 2000.
3. B. A sparrow egg – Ethel carries a sparrow egg against her chest as a folk remedy for fertility.
4. B. A speargun – In Chapter Fifteen, Jackie and Diane open a package Lexie ordered, which contains a speargun with extra spears and a reel.
5. B. It burns down – The Brandenburg Springs Hotel burns down in 1929, killing fifteen people, as reported in Chapter Sixteen.
6. C. Jax – The epilogue reveals that Jax is dead and can only leave the water at night; she and Lexie slip into the pool together.
7. C. He dumps them into the pool – In Chapter Twenty-Five, Ted dumps Lexie's ashes into the pool, hoping it will help her return.
8. B. He pours bleach into it – Declan dumps a gallon of bleach into the fish tank, as reported in Chapter Seven and later confirmed in Chapter Thirty-Three.
9. B. To have a child – Ethel, desperate for a child, makes a wish at the springs after Eliza urges her to do so.
10. B. She didn't answer Lexie's phone calls – Jackie confesses to Barbara that she didn't answer the phone when Lexie called, and she carries guilt over this.
11. B. To help treat Terri's MS – Diane fills jars of pool water for Terri, who believes it heals her multiple sclerosis.
12. B. She genuinely believes it based on her experiences – Shirley tells Jax that the dead become part of the springs and can return, a belief rooted in her own history and the novel's supernatural events.
13. C. To track changes in the water level – Lexie's notes and measurements show that the pool's depth changes drastically, and she is studying these fluctuations.
14. B. Death and the supernatural – The pool is consistently associated with drowning, ghosts, wishes with a price, and the presence of the dead.
15. B. They carry messages and wishes – Lexie and Jax make paper boats with messages inside, hoping they will be carried away; Lexie's final boat asks why Jax didn't pick up the phone.
16. B. Fragility and the child – The sparrow is used to describe Maggie at birth (“delicate like a sparrow”) and symbolizes the vulnerable child kept alive by the springs.
17. B. The seductive lure of death – The rhyme warns of a figure in the water who invites the listener to “come swimming with me,” representing the pull toward death.
18. Both wished to have each other back. – In the epilogue, Jax realizes that when she drowned, both she and Lexie got their wishes: Lexie wished to have Jax back, and Jax wished to have Lexie back. They are reunited in death, together in the pool.
19. The pool claims other lives. – The miracle that keeps Maggie alive comes at a cost: the springs demand sacrifices, leading to the drownings of Martha, Eliza, Rita, and others. As the narrator reflects, “Miracles are not without their price.”
20. The pool's surface acts as a mirror, reflecting characters and revealing hidden truths. – Jax sees her own reflection and imagines Lexie; the painting of Lexie reflected in the pool symbolizes their intertwined identities. The motif underscores themes of identity, duality, and the boundary between life and death, as the water both reflects and absorbs the living.
For more discussion of these themes, see the ending explained page.