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. What does Aglie ask Belbo to do for him?

2. What does Casaubon discover, when reading the files he prints out from Belbo's computer?

3. What item is set up by the cloaked individuals in the Conservatoire?

4. Why does the mysterious caller ask Belbo to go to Paris?

5. What other figure, mentioned earlier in the novel, was involved in the anti-Semitic conspiracy against the Templars?

Short Essay Questions

1. What happens to Belbo after receiving the last piece of the Plan from Salon?

2. What happens to Casaubon at the end of the novel?

3. According to Casaubon's group, what were some of the Jesuits' accomplishments?

4. According to Casaubon's theory about the Jesuits, who were the Rosicrucians and the Scottish Rite Freemasons?

5. What is the final piece of information for the Plan, supplied by Salon?

6. What happens in the story Belbo creates from Abulafia's printouts?

7. What are Casaubon's speculations about Mr. Postel, in Chapter 88?

8. What story does Casaubon's group devise from Abulafia's output?

9. What does Aglie want Belbo to transport for him?

10. What does the group of cloaked individuals want with Belbo?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the theme of knowledge without understanding in the novel. How does the use of technology to accomplish some tasks diminish the significance of the result? How does each character feel about using computers and technology to perform certain tasks, such as permutations, and why? How does this theme, in the novel, reflect the increasing use of technology in modern society, and the author's attitude about it? Be sure to cite specific examples from the text to support your thesis.

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the pendulum as a symbol. What does it represent? Why is the novel named after it? What role does it play in the lives of the main characters? How does the author seem to feel about it? What is the significance of Belbo being hanged from it, and the double pendulum that creates? Be sure to cite specific examples from the text to support your thesis.

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the author's reasons for writing this novel. What can you infer about his views of the occult, based on this novel and the way it is presented? Do you think Casaubon is a character to whom he can relate? Why or why not? In what way do the author's views come out in the novel? Be sure to cite specific examples from the text to support your thesis.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 995 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample