View a FREE sample

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

Short Answer Questions

1. How does the Queen react to the King's decision as to whom he has chosen to succeed him?

2. How does Rumon differentiate the Prior from the other monks?

3. How long did Rumon stay at Glastonbury Abbey?

4. Where does Rumon say he wants to take Alfrida?

5. Why does Merewyn leave home?

Short Essay Questions

1. On the feast of the Assumption, how does Merewyn describe the Abbey's gardens as she sat in them beside Elfled on the well curb?

2. How has Merewyn changed since she first came to work for Alfrida in the Queen's Bower?

3. What kind of person is Earl Alfhere, Lord of all Mercia, when he is introduced in Chapter 3? What does he look like?

4. How does Dunstan describe the scene that he came upon that led him to take Rumon to Glastonbury Abbey two weeks after the coronation?

5. What happened between Alfrida and Alfhere when Alfhere burst into Alfrida's bower after he heard that Ethelred would not attend Edward's Coronation?

6. Is Breaca, Merewyn's mother, crazy as Rumon thinks she is when he meets her at the beginning of Chapter 2?

7. How did Rumon decorated his rooms in the Glastonbury Abbey guesthouse during the 2 years he lived there?

8. Why did Rumon leave his homeland?

9. What was Rumon's nightmare on Christmas night after Alfrida had made time to see him earlier in the day?

10. What does King Edgar look like when Rumon and Merewyn first encounter him?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In "Avalon," some of the characters are given positive, sympathetic portrayals. Others have negative, perhaps even villainous portrayals. Others may be introduced as negative but gradually become positive. How does Seton indicate which characters are positive and which are negative? What details, actions, and characteristics does Seton give us to help us define which characters are "good" in the novel and which ones are "bad?" Explain how you are able to tell the difference.

Essay Topic 2

Alfrida could be considered a villainness. Analyze the nature of her villainy and show how it enhances the meaning of the novel and is crucial to plot development.

Essay Topic 3

When Rumon finds Merewyn in Iceland as an accepted member of society and happily married, Rumon may have viewed that as an act of betrayal by Merewyn. Later, Rumon admits to Merewyn that he betrayed his own values and beliefs when he killed two Vikings during a raid not to save the church's treasures in an act of heroism but symbolically killing Merewyn's Viking husband and father for them having taken Merewyn away from him. Analyze the nature of these betrayals and demonstrate how they contributed to the meaning of "Avalon" as a whole.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,563 words (approx. 6 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample