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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 Piranesi mistake the albatross for at first?

2. Which one is Piranesi's favorite statue?

3. Who is the Biscuit-Box Man?

4. What are there very few of in the House?

5. Where is Piranesi's starting point for the numbering of the Halls?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is Piranesi's relationship with the birds in the House?

2. What is Piranesi's favorite statue, and what does he think it means?

3. How does Laurence Arne-Sayles describe his work in Part I?

4. What are the only things Piranesi has witnessed outside the House?

5. What does the Other tell Piranesi about himself in Part II that shocks and unsettles Piranesi?

6. What does Piranesi find scattered in the Eighty-Eighth Western Hall that puzzles and intrigues him?

7. What does Piranesi see in the One-Hundred-and-Ninety-Second Western Hall that awes him?

8. What significant suggestion does Piranesi make to the Other about his work in Part II?

9. What is the thing that Piranesi knows but always forgets about his world?

10. What is Piranesi determined to explore as much of as he can in his lifetime?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

According to Arne-Sayles, what has humankind lost in the name of progress? How does Arne-Sayles try to regain what he posits humans have lost in the age of progress? Write an essay explaining your answers.

Essay Topic 2

What do the various statues in the House represent, which one is Piranesi's favorite, and why? Write an essay explaining your answers.

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay exploring the symbolism and meaning in the way Ketterley dies at the end of the novel, especially considering his attitudes towards the House itself throughout the book.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 620 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample