Some people are short story fanatics, and others avoid the form completely; in our experience, ambivalent readers are pretty rare. But even if it’s been decades since you last read a short story, chances are your eyes were dragged through at least one textbook of English class chestnuts like “
Flowers for Algernon” and “
To Build a Fire.” Afterwards, you were probably asked questions like:
What is the climax? Who is the antagonist? Define third person omniscient. Maybe you enjoyed this; you probably didn’t. Either way, you know a thing or two about short stories. You could probably even rock a quiz about them.
In honor of Short Story Month, we invite you to test your memory (and multiple choice skills) with our Short Story Quiz. Below are quotes from 10 of the most famous short stories in modern literature, many pulled from our own halcyon school days. Match the quote to the story and win bragging rights until next May.*
Directions:
Match each quote to the short story it comes from. When you finish the quiz, check the answer key below. And remember, cheaters only cheat themselves.
“There was no pulsation.”
a.
The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe
b.
The Monkey’s Paw by W. W. Jacobs
c.
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving
“A furnished flat at $8 per week. It did not exactly beggar description, but it certainly had that word on the lookout for the mendicancy squad.”
a.
A Pair of Silk Stockings by Kate Chopin
b.
The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry
c.
The Poor Relation’s Story by Charles Dickens
“The morning of June 27th was clear and sunny, with the fresh warmth of a full-summer day; the flowers were blossoming profusely and the grass was richly green.”
a. "A Golden Wedding" by
L. M. Montgomery
b.
The Lottery by Shirley Jackson
c.
Soon by Alice Munro
“She stood for a long time in the doorway in a red fury that grew bloodier for every second that she regarded the creature that was her torment.”
a.
The Red Bow by George Saunders
b.
The Doll by Daphne du Maurier
c.
Sweat by Zora Neale Hurston
“And one day, out of Heaven knows what material, he spun the beast a wonderful name, and from that moment it grew into a god and a religion.”
a.
Sredni Vashtar by Saki
b.
The Garden of Paradise by Hans Christian Andersen
c.
The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar by Roald Dahl
“She was an old photograph dusted from an album, whitened away, and if she spoke at all her voice would be a ghost.”
a. "Childfinder" by
Octavia Butler
b.
Samsa in Love by Haruki Murakami
c. "All Summer in a Day" by
Ray Bradbury
“’Don’t be alarmed,” said Rainsford, with a smile which he hoped was disarming. ‘I’m no robber. I fell off a yacht.’”
a.
The Most Dangerous Game by Richard Connell
b.
The Offshore Pirate by F. Scott Fitzgerald
c.
The Killers by Ernest Hemingway
“It is the same woman, I know, for she is always creeping, and most women do not creep by daylight.”
a.
Walnut-Tree House by Charlotte Riddell
b. "The Reckoning" by
Edith Wharton
c.
The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
“The trouble with him was that he was not able to imagine.”
a. "Luck" by
Mark Twain
b.
To Build a Fire by Jack London
c.
Some Other, Better Otto by Deborah Eisenberg
“’I ain’t telling you all this,’ she said, ‘to make you scared or bitter or to make you hate nobody. I’m telling you this because you got a brother. And the world ain’t changed.’”
a. "Thank You, Ma’am" by
Langston Hughes
b.
Sonny’s Blues by James Baldwin
c. "Like a Winding Sheet" by
Ann Petry
Answers: a; b; b; c; a; c; a; c; b; b
*Word in the aisle is that this quiz is really difficult, so we're grading on a curve:
1-3 correct answers = B (minor bragging allowed)
4-6 correct answers = A- (lots of bragging allowed)
7-10 correct answers = A+ (no bragging necessary — chances are your incredible intelligence already alienates and offends your social circle)