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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. What does Joshua think he hears in the rose garden?

2. How does Taddeo react to Kornhoer's invention?

3. What does the statue at the mercy camp resemble?

4. What does Zerchi do to Cors after the girl and her baby go to the mercy camp?

5. What name does the Old Jew go by in Chapter 25?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why can't Cors keep his promise to Zerchi?

2. What makes Paulo lose hope that Taddeo might be able to intervene to prevent the upcoming war?

3. Why do the Poet's jokes cause so much upset at the dinner?

4. What angers Paulo about the news of the governments' reactions to the nuclear incident?

5. Describe the legend of Leibowitz's death.

6. Who is eligible for euthanasia?

7. What power does New Rome give Joshua's colony, in the event of the destruction of the Earth?

8. Why does Taddeo think Kornhoer would be valuable to him?

9. What is Paulo's primary concern at the onset of war?

10. What story does Zerchi tell the dying woman, to convince her not to kill herself and her child?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the mutations in the novel.

Part 1) How do the mutated humans in the novel stretch the definition of what it means to be human? How do they create quandaries for the Church, in defining humanity?

Part 2) How do the normal humans in the novel treat the mutants, and what does this say about humanity?

Essay Topic 3

Compare the three abbots who control the Albertine Order of Leibowitz. What are their goals and fears? How do they see their duty toward the Memorabilia, the Order, and the Church? In what different ways do they carry out those duties?

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This section contains 671 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample