The Torrents of Spring MCQs

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Author: Nasir Iqbal | Assistant Professor of English Literature

The Torrents of Spring MCQs
Updated on: October 28, 2025
Estimated Reading Time: 18 min

The Torrents of Spring MCQs

1. Where does Yogi Johnson work at the start of the novel?

A. A logging camp
B. A big pump factory in Michigan
C. A newspaper office in Chicago
D. An automobile assembly line

B. A big pump factory in Michigan.
Yogi Johnson is introduced, looking out the window of a large pump factory in Michigan, employed and waiting for spring to arrive.

2. What specific foreign city did Yogi Johnson once spend two weeks in?

A. Rome
B. London
C. Paris
D. Duluth

C. Paris.
Yogi Johnson often thinks of Paris, remembering the two weeks he spent there, which were supposed to be the happiest of his life.

3. How many wives did Scripps O’Neil have at the beginning of the novel?

A. One
B. Three
C. Two
D. None

C. Two.
Scripps O’Neil is introduced, thinking of both of his wives; one lives in Mancelona, and the other lives in Petoskey.

4. What is Scripps O’Neil’s daughter’s playful nickname?

A. Lucy
B. Lousy O’Neil
C. The Little One
D. Darling

B. Lousy O’Neil.
Scripps playfully calls his daughter Lousy O’Neil, although her real name is identified as Lucy O’Neil.
5. What did Scripps and his Mancelona wife do together to feel happy?

A. Went to the High School
B. Drank by the railway tracks
C. Watched trains go by in town
D. Worked at the pump-factory

B. Drank by the railway tracks.
When Scripps and his wife were drinking together, they were happy and would sit under a pine tree watching trains go by.

6. What kind of wind signaled the start of spring in the factory?

A. A warm Chinook wind
B. A Northern blast
C. A cyclone
D. A trade wind

A. A warm Chinook wind.
A warm breeze started blowing, which the pump workmen called a Chinook wind, causing them to lay down their tools.

7. What was the foreman’s memorable past travel destination?

A. Chicago
B. Duluth
C. Paris
D. Petoskey

B. Duluth.
The foreman, an iron-jawed man, had once made a trip as far as Duluth, where a wonderful, vaguely defined thing had happened.

8. What color was the brick of the Mancelona High School?

A. White
B. Red
C. Yellow-brick
D. Grey-brick

C. Yellow-brick.
Scripps noted that the Mancelona High School, where his daughter learned, was a yellow-brick building lacking rococo features.

9. What poem did Scripps struggle to recall while walking home?

A. If Winter Comes…
B. The Raven
C. Home, Sweet Home
D. Ode on a Grecian Urn

C. Home, Sweet Home.
Scripps struggled to remember the words to a poem his friend Harry Parker recited, including the famous line “there’s no place like home.”
10. Scripps’s cry when he found his house empty was compared to what animal’s cry in Paris?

A. A barking dog
B. A wounded cat
C. A run-over stallion
D. A singing bird

C. A run-over stallion.
Scripps’s cry of “Lucy!” was compared to the sound heard from a stallion that an autobus in the Place Vendome, Paris had once run over.

11. What item did Scripps carry inside his shirt for warmth while walking the tracks?

A. An old newspaper
B. A small frozen bird
C. A piece of coal
D. His father’s compass

B. A small frozen bird.
Scripps picked up a small dead bird that had frozen on the tracks and placed it inside his shirt to warm it with his body heat.

12. What was the bird doing inside Scripps’s shirt?

A. Pecking at his chest gratefully
B. Struggling to fly out
C. Crying softly
D. Singing loudly

A. Pecking at his chest gratefully.
The bird nestled close to his body and pecked his chest, which Scripps interpreted as a sign of gratitude.

13. Where did Scripps decide to stop, instead of Chicago, to enter the furniture business?

A. Detroit
B. Grand Rapids
C. Petoskey
D. Duluth

B. Grand Rapids.
Scripps decided to stop in Grand Rapids to get into the furniture business, believing fortunes were made that way by knowing “all the wrinkles.”

14. What item did Scripps remember from an old sign in Chicago?

A. Furniture for the People
B. Let Hartman Feather Your Nest
C. Chicago is the Capital
D. Watch Your Step

B. Let Hartman Feather Your Nest.
Scripps remembered a flashing electric sign his mother showed him that read: LET HARTMAN FEATHER YOUR NEST.
15. What was the sign written on the railway station platform where Scripps stopped?

A. MANCELONA
B. PETOSKEY
C. BAYONNE
D. CHICAGO

B. PETOSKEY.
Scripps, having become confused while walking in the snow, realized he was standing knee-deep in front of the Petoskey railway station.

16. How much money did Scripps have in his pocket when he reached Petoskey?

A. Five dollars
B. Four hundred and fifty dollars
C. Two thousand dollars
D. Eighty-four cents

B. Four hundred and fifty dollars.
Scripps had four hundred and fifty dollars remaining after successfully selling a story to George Horace Lorimer just before his drinking trip.

17. What was the sign above the beanery entrance where Scripps decided to eat?

A. OPEN ALL NIGHT
B. THE BEST BY TEST
C. CHEAP AND CLEAN
D. BROWN’S PLACE

B. THE BEST BY TEST.
Scripps decided to eat after seeing the sign: BROWN’S BEANERY THE BEST BY TEST, noting that these big owners were “wise fellows.”

18. What did Scripps order for himself and his bird?

A. Crackers and milk
B. Coffee and doughnuts
C. Beans, with pork
D. T-bone steak

C. Beans, with pork.
Scripps requested beans for both himself and the bird, which also came with a serving of pork, showing his care for the bird.

19. What specific item did Scripps’s bird peck at on the counter?

A. A sugar container
B. The catsup bottle
C. A salt cellar
D. A piece of pork

B. The catsup bottle.
The bird was placed on the counter, where it ruffled its feathers and pecked inquiringly at the catsup bottle, showing its curiosity.
20. The élderly waitress’s former home was in which literary region?

A. Scotland Highlands
B. England’s Lake District
C. The Paris Left Bank
D. Dublin

B. England’s Lake District.
The élderly waitress was from England, specifically the Lake District, which she noted was “Wordsworth’s country.”

21. What did Diana’s mother purchase from the coiffeur’s shop in Paris?

A. A new hat
B. Smelling salts
C. Hair ribbons
D. Mustache tongs

B. Smelling salts.
Diana’s mother bought “smelling salts” from the coiffeur, which later helped confirm Diana’s story of crossing the channel with her mother.

22. What item did the French general purchase at the coiffeur’s shop?

A. A razor blade
B. A mirror
C. Mustache tongs
D. A bouquet

C. Mustache tongs.
The coiffeur later recalled that the general, whom Diana was supposedly registered with, had purchased a pair of mustache tongs.

23. Which famous person did Scripps’s mother say his father admired?

A. General Sherman
B. Abraham Lincoln
C. Gladstone
D. James Russell Lowell

C. Gladstone.
Diana mentioned that her family had always taken The Guardian because her father was a great admirer of Gladstone.

24. What does Diana say that Scripps is to her during their impromptu wedding ceremony?

A. Her dearest friend
B. All of America
C. Her great sorrow
D. Her fortune

B. All of America.
During their “wedding ceremony,” Diana tells Scripps, “You are my man and more than my man. You are all of America to me.”
25. Who did the newlyweds meet when they returned to the beanery after getting married?

A. Yogi Johnson
B. A drummer
C. The cook
D. General Joffre

B. A drummer.
When Scripps and Diana returned as man and wife, a drummer sat at the counter reading the Detroit News and eating a steak.

26. What magazine was Diana (the waitress) reading when Scripps returned after his first day of work?

A. The Manchester Guardian
B. The American Mercury
C. Vanity Fair
D. The Dial

A. The Manchester Guardian.
Diana was sitting behind the counter, reading the overseas edition of The Manchester Guardian, when Scripps returned to the beanery.

27. What was the buxom waitress’s name?

A. Diana
B. Mandy
C. Lucy
D. Ethel

B. Mandy.
The robust, vigorously lovely relief waitress, named Mandy by Diana, served her crackers and milk.

28. What famous author’s death did Mandy recount an anecdote about?

A. William Lyon Phelps
B. Henry Mencken
C. Henry James
D. Willa Cather

C. Henry James.
Mandy told the anecdote about Henry James receiving the Order of Merit and telling the nurse to “spare my blushes” on his deathbed.

29. What was the name Mandy suggested for Scripps’s bird?

A. Puck
B. Polly
C. Ariel
D. Osprey

C. Ariel.
Mandy suggested naming the bird Ariel, a character out of Shakespeare, while Mrs. Scripps suggested Puck.
30. What did the drummer suggest Scripps do to determine the bird’s sex?

A. See if he sings
B. Wait till he lays eggs
C. Take him to the zoo
D. Watch how he flies

B. Wait till he lays eggs.
The drummer suggested, “Wait till you see if he lays eggs,” which Scripps recognized as sound advice because he didn’t know the bird’s sex.

31. What did Diana look into the mirror and wonder constantly?

A. Could she hold him
B. Was she old
C. Could she quit the beanery
D. Should she dye her hair

A. Could she hold him.
Diana, now Mrs. Scripps, frequently looked in the mirror, wondering if she could manage to hold her husband against Mandy’s influence.

32. What specific literary magazine does Diana eventually read to try to hold Scripps?

A. The Dial
B. The Literary Digest
C. The American Mercury
D. The Manchester Guardian

C. The American Mercury.
Diana, trying to compete with Mandy, subscribed to and read The American Mercury, hoping an editorial would hold Scripps’s interest.

33. What did Diana try to convince Scripps to come home to read in The Mercury?

A. An essay on writing style
B. An editorial about chiropractors
C. A story about Iowa
D. A review of Faulkner

B. An editorial about chiropractors.
Diana made a final plea, mentioning a “wonderful editorial in it by Mencken about chiropractors.”

34. What happened to Diana’s copy of The Century Magazine as she watched for Scripps?

A. It fell from her nerveless hand
B. She burned it
C. She loaned it to a workman
D. She read it to her bird

A. It fell from her nerveless hand.
As Diana watched Scripps and felt her confidence wane, her copy of The Century Magazine slipped from her nerveless hand.
35. What animal did Diana compare the sleeping bird to as she left Scripps?

A. A wren
B. An old osprey
C. A flamingo
D. A little cat

B. An old osprey.
As Diana clutched the cage, she remembered that the sleeping bird was like an “old, old osprey from her own Lake Country.”

36. Why did Yogi Johnson visit the Public Library before the spring thaw?

A. To find a book about his worries
B. To meet the librarian
C. To look for a job
D. To read a newspaper

A. To find a book about his worries.
Yogi went to the library asking for a book because he was worried he did not want a woman, fearing this meant he was “going to pieces.”

37. What animal did Yogi lament his inability to connect with, thinking they were his only remaining affection?

A. Cats
B. Dogs
C. Horses
D. Deer

C. Horses.
Yogi worried that even his deep love of horses failed him when the two hitched in front of the feed store rejected his touch.

38. Yogi compares the intensely unpleasant experience of war combat to what American sport?

A. Baseball
B. Football
C. Boxing
D. Wrestling

B. Football.
Yogi explains to the Indians that war, specifically combat, is much like playing American football, especially the centre position.

39. In the war, what was the first phase of a good soldier, according to Yogi’s theory?

A. Not thinking anything could hit you
B. Becoming hardened
C. Doing good deeds
D. Becoming scared

A. Not thinking anything could hit you.
Yogi explains that in the first phase, a soldier is brave because they believe nothing can hit them, thinking they are special and immortal.
40. What was the small Indian’s physical disability when he played pool?

A. A scarred face
B. Two artificial arms
C. A blind eye
D. A wooden leg

B. Two artificial arms.
Yogi noticed that the little Indian had two artificial arms made of brown leather, which squeaked when he climbed the ladder.

41. What item was framed and draped in the American flag inside the Indian club?

A. George Washington’s portrait
B. A photograph of Jim Thorpe
C. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s portrait
D. A picture of General Custer

C. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s portrait.
The room of the Indian club featured a framed, autographed portrait of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow draped in the American flag.

42. What name did the refined Indian, Red Dog, use to describe the Negro bartender?

A. A good worker
B. An eccentric
C. A good-hearted chap
D. All of the above

D. All of the above.
Red Dog calls Bruce “a merry fellow,” “a corking bartender and a good-hearted chap,” and an “eccentric.”

43. Which historical figure’s action was Chief Running Skunk-Backwards’s great-grandfather famous for?

A. Selling Manhattan Island
B. Fighting Custer
C. Signing a treaty
D. Discovering gold

A. Selling Manhattan Island.
Red Dog explains that Skunk-Backwards’s ancestor sold the entire Island of Manhattan for a few strings of wampum.

44. What did Red Dog ask Yogi about, which revealed Yogi was not an Indian?

A. His name
B. His work
C. His tríbe
D. His war record

C. His tríbe.
When asked about his tríbe (Sac and Fox, Jibway, Cree), Yogi revealed his parents came from Sweden or Norway.
45. What happened to the two woods Indians after Yogi’s heritage was revealed?

A. They were invited to leave quietly
B. They joined the Salvation Army
C. They were thrown down the ladder
D. They started shooting pool

C. They were thrown down the ladder.
A kick and a blow were heard from above the trap-door, and the two woods Indians were thrown crashing down the ladder.

46. What did the little Indian lose when thrown from the club?

A. His money
B. His wampum
C. One of his artificial arms
D. His cue stick

C. One of his artificial arms.
The little Indian was sobbing outside because he had lost one of his artificial arms during the rough ejection from the club.
47. What happened to the squaw who entered the beanery clad only in moccasins?

A. The cook forcibly ejected her
B. Scripps gave her clothes
C. She was served beans
D. She left after a drink

A. The cook forcibly ejected her.
The naked squaw, who caused an uproar among the patrons, was forcibly ejected by the Negro cook.

48. What did the vision of the squaw cause Yogi to realize?

A. He must return to Paris
B. His lack of desire for women was cured
C. He hated Petoskey
D. He should kill himself

B. His lack of desire for women was cured.
Something snapped inside Yogi, and he realized that his fear of not wanting women had been a mistake and was now permanently cured.

49. What was the “ugliest thing” that happened to Yogi in Paris, despite starting as beautiful?

A. He was charged too much
B. He was arrested by the police
C. He saw his lover being shown to men through a slit
D. He lost his passport

C. He saw his lover being shown to men through a slit.
Yogi discovered the beautiful woman he slept with was a próstitute being viewed through a slit by customers in a dark room.
50. What did Yogi Johnson do to his clothes as he walked North with the squaw?

A. He sold them to the Indians
B. He stripped them off and cast them away
C. He put on a new suit
D. He shared them with the squaw

B. He stripped them off and cast them away.
As Yogi walked North with the squaw, he silently stripped off his garments one by one and cast them beside the railway track.

Brief Overview

The novel, by Ernest Hemingway, takes place in Michigan as winter ends. Yogi Johnson and Scripps O’Neil work at a pump factory. Scripps is a writer. His first wife leaves him. He gets a job working with his hands.

Scripps quickly marries Diana, an élderly English waitress. They have a fast wedding ceremony. Soon, Scripps is drawn to Mandy, a younger waitress. Mandy tells him many long stories about famous writers.

Diana reads magazines and tries hard to hold her new husband. But she fails. Diana finally leaves. She takes only her sleeping bird in its cage. Scripps stays with Mandy.

Yogi Johnson is Scripps’ friend. He is worried because he does not want a woman. He tries to join an Indian club. He is thrown out because he is Swedish. The club Indians are ex-soldiers who play pool. At the beanery, an Indian squaw walks in. She wears almost no clothes. Seeing the squaw cures Yogi of his problem. He leaves the town immediately.

Yogi strips off his clothing. He walks north into the cold night with the squaw. Two Indians follow them. They collect Yogi’s discarded clothes. The warm spring chinook wind is now blowing strongly.

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