Study Questions
1. How does the narrator describe the day at the start of the chapter?

2. What does the blueprint man ask the narrator?

3. What does the short-order cook assume that the narrator would like to eat?

4. What book does the narrator see open in the office?

5. What does the narrator decide about the men who operate this firm, based on what he sees in their plush office?

6. What does the man ask the narrator that makes the latter’s mind “begin to whirl,” as the narrator puts it?

7. In the midst of talking with the man, whose words of advice and caution does the narrator remember?

8. Who does the man the narrator is talking with turn out to be?

9. At the end of their conversation, what does the man ask of the narrator?

10. What does the narrator decide to do at the end of the chapter?

Answers
1. The narrator describes the day at the start of the chapter as clear and bright.

2. The blueprint man asks the narrator if he has the dog.

3. The short-order cook assumes that the narrator would like pork chops.

4. The narrator sees a copy of Totem and Taboo (by Sigmund Freud) open in the office.

5. Based on their plush office, the narrator decides that the men who operate this firm are extremely powerful. He calls them “Kings of the Earth.”

6. The narrator’s mind whirls when the man asks him if he has ever considered switching to another college.

7. In the midst of talking with the man, the narrator remembers the words of advice that his grandfather once told him.

8. The man the narrator is talking with turns out to be Mr. Emerson’s son.

9. At the end of their conversation, the man asks the narrator not to tell anyone about the conversation.

10. At the end of the chapter, the narrator decides to call the Liberty Paint company about a job that young Emerson had mentioned.