White Teeth Quizzes

1. What advice does Smith give the reader in the opening quote from E.M. Forster?

• Do not underestimate the power of the subconscious mind.
• Forget the past in favor of the future.
• Pay attention to details.
• Read the book once forwards and once backwards.

2. How does Archie attempt suicide?

• By inhaling carbon monoxide.
• By choking himself with a vacuum cleaner hose.
• He merely contemplates suicide, but does not attempt it.
• With the cleaver Mo Hussein-Ishmael uses to kill pigeons.

3. Why does Archie choose to die on Cricklewood Broadway?

• He wants Mo Hussein-Ishmael to be the one to find his body.
• He thinks it fitting of his marriage: incongruous and loud.
• He thinks it fitting of his life: quiet, urban, and unnoteworthy.
• His car runs out of gas there while he is driving to the cinema parking lot.

4. Why does Mo Hussein-Ishmael save Archie?

• Archie is betrothed to his neice.
• He is merely enforcing the no-parking rule on his street.
• Out of his deep sense of morality.
• He is merely trying to ask Archie to help him kill pigeons.

5. What spurred Archie's suicide attempt?

• His first wife, Ophelia, left him.
• He lost his job.
• His in-laws ridiculed him to the point of despair.
• He could no longer bear memories of the War.

6. What is wrong with Ophelia?

• She is mentally unsound.
• She is unfaithful.
• She cannot bear children.
• She refuses to consummate her marriage.

7. What is Archie's job at MorganHero?

• He manages the affiliated Indian restaurant.
• He designs press releases for postage stamps.
• He manages door-to-door Hoover vacuum sales.
• He designs the way in which things should be folded.

8. Which of the following does not apply to Horst Ibelgaufts?

• He is a gynecologist.
• He is Ophelia's former lover.
• He tied Archie at the 1948 London Olympics.
• He is Swedish.

9. Why does Archie like track cycling?

• It is the only thing that has ever given him true joy.
• The athlete is pitted against only himself.
• It allows him to remain seated.
• The athlete can improve with each lap.

10. What is Archie's unique talent in cycling?

• He got precisely the same time on every lap.
• He developed a one-of-a-kind folding bicycle.
• He always came in thirteenth, no matter what.
• He consistently improved each lap by .01 seconds.