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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. Who does Piranesi show his new shoes to?

2. Which of the following does the Other ask Piranesi for in Part I?

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

4. What gift does the Other bring for Piranesi in Part II that he loves?

5. What does Piranesi eat in the House?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

4. What is the Other trying to accomplish with Piranesi's help?

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

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

7. Why does the Other tell Piranesi that the House does not affect him as it does Piranesi?

8. What does the Other ask Prianesi to promise him in Part II?

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

10. What does Piranesi think is strange about the fact that the Other calls him Piranesi?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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.

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

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.

(see the answer keys)

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