Final Jeopardy: 1950s Fiction (6-28-13)
The Final Jeopardy question (6/28/2013) in the category “1950s Fiction” was:
John Updike wrote “Rabbit, Run” partly in reaction to this more carefree novel that was published three years earlier.
New champ Laura Amundson won $20,395 in yesterday’s game when she was the only one who got FJ! right. Today she is up against these two players: Sonrisa Cooper from Jamaica Plain, MA; and Nishant Menon from Hyattsville, MD.
Laura found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “An Ogden Nash Menagerie.” She just got herself out of the hole and was in third place with $600, $1,800 behind Sonrisa’s lead. She bet the $1,000 allowance, and thought it was a mosquito. That was WRONG.
About this insect Nash wrote, “Would you be calm and placid, if you were full of formic acid?” show
Nishant finished in the lead with $4,800. Sonrisa was second with $4,400 and Laura was last with $1,200.
Laura found the first Double Jeopardy Daily Double in “Rivers on the Border.” She was still in third place but now had $5,600, $6,000 less than Nishant’s lead. She bet $4,000 and she was RIGHT.
The Usumacinta River forms the border between Mexico & this country.
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Laura then found the last Daily Double in “Parlez-vous Français,” after cleaning out the category. She was now in the lead with $15,200, $3,600 ahead of Nishant in second place. She bet $3,000 but did not have a guess so she was WRONG.
Meaning uninterested, it’s the past participle of a French word meaning “to become boring”. show
Laura finished in the lead with $15,000. Nishant was next with $14,800 and Sonrisa was in third place with $7,200.
NONE of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.
On the topic, Updike said: “Jack Kerouac’s On the Road came out in 1957 and, without reading it, I resented its apparent instruction to cut loose; Rabbit, Run was meant to be a realistic demonstration of what happens when a young American family man goes on the road — the people left behind get hurt. There was no painless dropping out of the Fifties’ fraying but still tight social weave. Arriving at so prim a moral was surely not my only intention: the book ends on an ecstatic, open note that was meant to stay open, as testimony to our heart’s stubborn amoral quest for something once called grace.” (Kristin’s Book Blog: Rabbit, Run)
Sonrisa wrote down “On the” and ran out of time. She only bet $2,800 and finished with $4,400.
Nishant wrote down “Rabbit at Rest,” actually the third sequel to “Rabbit, Run.” That cost him $14,399 and he finished with $401.
Laura wrote down “Rabbit Run.” (yes the same book mentioned in the clue — see the comments). She lost $11,000 and finished second with $4,000.
So Laura and Nishant finishing so close to each other worked out in Sonrisa Cooper’s favor and she is our 4th new Jeopardy! champ this week.
@Tom Clark – you’re right, she did write down the same answer as the clue. I don’t know why, but I really thought she had reversed the title.
You’ve confused me with this:
***Laura wrote down “Rabbit Run,” apparently also thinking the answer was by the same author. None of the Rabbit books had that title***
Actually, what Laura wrote down has to qualify as one of the dumbest responses to Final Jeopardy in History.
Let’s review: The FJ Answer was: John Updike wrote “Rabbit, Run” partly in reaction to this more carefree novel that was published three years earlier.
Laura wrote: What is Rabbit Run?
Is it the lack of a comma that makes you think it’s a different title than the one given in the FJ Answer (what Trebek calls “the clue”)?
It seems to me Laura named the same book given in the Final Jeopardy clue!
I agree Laura’s bet didn’t make a lot of sense and she surely must have regretted not betting an even 10K. She looked pretty miffed to me!
I bet none of them would get FJ!
not that it mattered- all three got it wrong, but Laura’s bet? don’t bet anything if you feel your opponent(s) will not get it, or – in her case – 14601.
kind of a wishi/washi bet.
and nishant continued with the…999 bet. what if- and quite a few do it – the leader plays for a tie and you would fall short just 1 buck???? a real bad approach. either bet everything or just to overtake the leader if s/he gets it wrong or everything. that …999 bet will also in the future have some contestants kick themselves.