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 the box the Other brings a gift to Piranesi in have on the outside of it?

2. What does the visitor suggest Piranesi do to the Other?

3. What does the visitor in Part II tell Piranesi his world is?

4. What does Piranesi mistake the albatross for at first?

5. What is it about the woman and beehive statue that gives Piranesi a sense of queasiness?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the Other afraid of in the House?

2. Why does the Other bring new shoes to Piranesi?

3. What does the other person Piranesi meets in the House in Part II tell him about the Great and Secret Knowledge?

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

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

6. How does Piranesi get his food?

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

8. Why does Piranesi think the Other has so many more things and conveniences that he himself does?

9. What does Piranesi suggest that the Other use in his important ritual and why does he suggest this?

10. What theory does Piranesi forumulate about the bones of the Folded-Up Child?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Why do you think Clarke chose to write the novel as a series of journal entries? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text.

Essay Topic 2

In Part I, why does the Other ask Piranesi how much he remembers, and, specifically, if he remembers Batter-Sea? When does the reader finally understand the true intentions of these questions? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text to help support your conclusions.

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay exploring the concept of so-called "transgressive thinking" as Clarke describes it, citing specific references to the text to help support your answers.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 746 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample