View a FREE sample

This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. After Edith died, what did Tolkien do to keep busy?
(a) He played with his grandchildren.
(b) He worked hard.
(c) He took up new hobbies.
(d) He wrote long letters.

2. The first book review was written by whom?
(a) Edith.
(b) T.S. Eliot.
(c) C.S. Lewis.
(d) Father Francis.

3. What happened to Tolkien in 1973?
(a) He caught a fever.
(b) He caught a chest infection.
(c) He had a heart attack.
(d) He contracted cancer.

4. There were many requests for Tolkien to be a professor __________.
(a) Letters.
(b) Emeritus.
(c) of Honor.
(d) of English.

5. The war hit in what year?
(a) 1941.
(b) 1933.
(c) 1939.
(d) 1935.

6. What was the place Tolkien had always considered to be his true home?
(a) London.
(b) Oxford.
(c) South Africa.
(d) Bournemouth.

7. What did the Tolkiens hope would give them some relief from the almost constant and intolerable flow of visitors, mail, and gifts that were always present in Headington?
(a) The sea air.
(b) The lack of neighbors.
(c) Their new, unpublicized, address.
(d) The quiet town life.

8. When did Tolkien finish the manuscript?
(a) 1949.
(b) 1952.
(c) 1955.
(d) 1947.

9. After reading through Tolkien's completed manuscripts, what did Unwin do?
(a) He chose most of them to be published.
(b) He threw them away.
(c) He chose a few of them to publish.
(d) He rejected all of them in favor of another book written as a sequel to The Hobbit.

10. What was taking a toll on Edith?
(a) Her children.
(b) The weather.
(c) The fanmail.
(d) The strain of keeping up the house.

11. All of Tolkien's attention was split between the new book along and the Oxford professorship until what happened?
(a) Christopher was diagnosed with a mysterious heart ailment.
(b) Christopher was diagnosed with a mysterious lung ailment.
(c) Christopher was diagnosed with a mysterious kidney ailment.
(d) Christopher was diagnosed with a mysterious liver ailment.

12. Tolkien was unhappy about splitting the work into three volumes and insisted on what?
(a) Naming each book something different.
(b) Keeping the book as one.
(c) Maintaining the title THE LORD OF THE RINGS for the entire series.
(d) Binding and selling the three volumes together.

13. The money began pouring in and soon Tolkien was worried about what?
(a) Having to move into a larger home.
(b) Having crazy fans.
(c) Being robbed.
(d) Having to pay an exorbitant amount in taxes.

14. Why was there a considerable problem with an American company?
(a) It refused to reprint the saga.
(b) It reprinted the saga without permission.
(c) It refused to pay royaltiesto Tolkien.
(d) It reprinted the saga incorrectly.

15. People began to call when?
(a) At night.
(b) At all hours of the day and night.
(c) When he was in meetings.
(d) In the morning.

Short Answer Questions

1. The delay in Tolkien's next installment of books could be blamed in part on what?

2. Why was Bournemouth a strange choice for holidays?

3. Rayner Unwin wanted Tolkien to send THE LORD OF THE RINGS posthaste. Why was Tolkien reluctant?

4. Why did some of the maps have to be reconstructed?

5. In many ways, Bilbo Baggins is who?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 564 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample