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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. In addition to being diplomatic to Taddeo, why does Apollo meet with him?

2. Why does Francis go to bed without food?

3. What would we term Taddeo's field of study today?

4. How does Francis initially think blueprints were produced?

5. To what does Brother Francis attribute his finding of the fallout shelter?

Short Essay Questions

1. What physical characteristics to Minnesotans have, and what is the likely cause of them?

2. What is the implication of the wry smile on Fingo's statue of Leibowitz?

3. Why doesn't Francis want to join the Pope's crusade?

4. What was Isaac Edward Leibowitz's profession before the Flame Deluge?

5. What does Brother Francis need to protect himself against in the desert?

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

7. Why are a shopping list and casual notes treasured finds for Brother Francis?

8. Describe Brother Kornhoer's invention.

9. Describe the pilgrim.

10. What does Cheroki's disbelief in Francis's find tell the reader about the rarity of the fallout shelter and relics?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Taddeo believes that he finds evidence that the current human race was a created race of servants, inferior to the great civilization of the past. His own personal view of humanity colors how he views this evidence. Discuss the way that personal points of view affect the interpretation of evidence and events throughout the novel. Include in your discussion Francis, Cheroki, and Arkos' reactions to the discovery of the Fallout Shelter; Paulo, Taddeo, and Armbruster's reactions to the electric light; and Zerchi's reaction to reports of movements or responses from Mrs. Grales' second head, Rachel.

Essay Topic 2

Compare the relationship between Dr. Cors and Zerchi to the relationship between Taddeo and Paulo. Each abbot meets a man of science who has a very different perspective than his own. Describe the conflicts arising between the abbots and the scientists, and discuss each abbot's perspective on the scientist.

Essay Topic 3

The novel presents dreams, impressions, and myths of the characters, such as the abbot's dream about Rachel, Joshua's impression of the possible snake in the garden, Zerchi's hallucinations as he is dying, and myths about the Great Deluge and Leibowitz. How can the reader and the characters tell the truth from human perception or myth? In what way, or ways, are these perceptions and myths real? In what way or ways are they false?

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