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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. How does Francis respond to being hit by the Abbot?

2. What does Brother Francis find that lets him know the fallout shelter hasn't been plundered?

3. Venerable Boedullus created a lake by _____________________________.

4. What happened to Francis as a child?

5. What does the pilgrim have to eat?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does the Pope treat the clan chief?

2. What does Francis realize about the Pope and the Vatican, on examining the Pope's cassock and the surroundings closely?

3. Describe Taddeo's ideas about history.

4. Describe Francis's reaction to the news that he's to attend the canonization.

5. Why doesn't Francis merely tell the abbot what he wants to hear?

6. Why is Arkos glad to have the Dominicans investigating Francis's find?

7. What stops Brother Francis from sharing the pilgrim's food?

8. Why is the find of Emily Leibowitz's skull important to the case for the canonization of Leibowitz?

9. What is Brother Francis seeking in the desert?

10. Describe the pilgrim.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The novel contains many objects that take on meaning and importance to the characters. Choose one of the following characters and objects and discuss the significance of the object to that character.

1) Discuss the significance of Leibowitz's blueprint to Francis.

2) Discuss the significance of the Poet's eye to the Poet.

3) Discuss the significance of the wooden statue of Leibowitz to the three abbots.

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the Old Jew.

Part 1) What is the Old Jew's true identity? Can you make a case for more than one possible identity? What evidence is there for his identity?

Part 2) What role does he play in the story? Why is he in all three parts of the novel?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the nature of knowledge in the novel.

Part 1) What do the Memorabilia represent? Why do the monks want to preserve it?

Part 2) Is knowledge good or evil or neutral? What are the consequences, positive and negative, of mankind's gaining of knowledge? How does knowledge in the novel relate to the story of the Garden of Eden and the fall of man for tasting the fruit of the tree of knowledge?

Part 3) Can knowledge be permanently lost?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 730 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample