Famous Book Characters Quiz

1. Which fictional detective lives at 221B Baker Street and is famous for his deductive reasoning?

1. Hercule Poirot
2. Inspector Morse
3. Philip Marlowe
4. Sherlock Holmes

2. Who narrates The Great Gatsby and is Jay Gatsby's neighbour?

1. Daisy Buchanan
2. Jay Gatsby
3. Nick Carraway
4. Tom Buchanan

3. Jay Gatsby throws his legendary parties hoping to reconnect with which woman?

1. Daisy Buchanan
2. Jordan Baker
3. Meyer Wolfsheim
4. Myrtle Wilson

4. Holden Caulfield, who despises 'phonies' and narrates his drift through New York, is the protagonist of:

1. Franny and Zooey
2. On the Road
3. Slaughterhouse-Five
4. The Catcher in the Rye

5. Who is the narrator of Herman Melville's Moby-Dick, beginning with the line 'Call me Ishmael'?

1. Captain Ahab
2. Ishmael
3. Queequeg
4. Starbuck

6. Winston Smith is the protagonist of which George Orwell dystopian novel?

1. 1984
2. Brave New World
3. The Handmaid's Tale
4. We

7. Which character is the narrator and protagonist of To Kill a Mockingbird?

1. Atticus Finch
2. Boo Radley
3. Scout Finch (Jean Louise)
4. Tom Robinson

8. In Pride and Prejudice, which Bennet daughter is the witty, perceptive protagonist who matches wits with Mr Darcy?

1. Elizabeth Bennet
2. Jane Bennet
3. Lydia Bennet
4. Mary Bennet

9. Don Quixote, who famously mistakes windmills for giants and attacks them, is the creation of which author?

1. Dante Alighieri
2. Gustave Flaubert
3. Leo Tolstoy
4. Miguel de Cervantes

10. The protagonist of The Handmaid's Tale — who wears a red dress and white bonnet in a totalitarian future — is:

1. Aunt Lydia
2. Offred
3. Ofglen
4. The Commander's Wife

11. In Les Misérables, Inspector Javert relentlessly pursues which ex-convict across decades?

1. Enjolras
2. Gavroche
3. Jean Valjean
4. Thénardier

12. Atticus Finch, the moral backbone of To Kill a Mockingbird, is a:

1. Doctor
2. Lawyer
3. Minister
4. Teacher

13. Robinson Crusoe is stranded on a desert island and befriends a man he names Friday. Who wrote this novel?

1. Daniel Defoe
2. Henry Fielding
3. Jonathan Swift
4. Samuel Richardson

14. Which Russian novelist created Raskolnikov, the student who commits murder and wrestles with guilt, in Crime and Punishment?

1. Anton Chekhov
2. Fyodor Dostoevsky
3. Ivan Turgenev
4. Leo Tolstoy

15. Captain Ahab, who pursues the white whale Moby Dick to everyone's destruction, is motivated by:

1. A bet with another captain
2. Greed for the whale's oil
3. Revenge — the whale had bitten off his leg
4. Scientific curiosity about the whale

16. In Great Expectations, who does Pip fall in love with — the cold, beautiful ward of Miss Havisham trained to break men's hearts?

1. Biddy
2. Clara Barley
3. Estella
4. Sarah Pocket

17. The brooding Heathcliff and his doomed love Catherine Earnshaw are at the heart of which classic novel?

1. Jane Eyre
2. North and South
3. Tess of the d'Urbervilles
4. Wuthering Heights

18. Anna Karenina — the tragic aristocrat who breaks social conventions for love — was created by which author?

1. Anton Chekhov
2. Fyodor Dostoevsky
3. Ivan Turgenev
4. Leo Tolstoy

19. Which Austen novel's protagonist is described in its opening sentence as 'handsome, clever, and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition'?

1. Emma — Emma Woodhouse
2. Persuasion — Anne Elliot
3. Pride and Prejudice — Elizabeth Bennet
4. Sense and Sensibility — Elinor Dashwood

20. Long John Silver, the cunning, charismatic pirate with one leg, appears in which adventure novel?

1. Robinson Crusoe
2. The Count of Monte Cristo
3. Treasure Island
4. Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea