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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 hypothesize about the wisdom of the birds?

2. What does the visitor in Part II tell Piranesi about the Great and Secret Knowledge?

3. How does Piranesi feel about the dark?

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

5. What does Piranesi do to try to determine if there are really gaps in his memory?

Short Essay Questions

1. What rare event does Piranesi witness in Part I in the House?

2. How does Piranesi get his food?

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

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

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

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

7. What does the Other ask Piranesi about in the section titled "The Other" that Piranesi is puzzled about?

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

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

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

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

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

Why is it particularly egregious and cruel that Arne-Sayles encountered Piranesi in the House but did not rescue him right then? How does Piranesi/Matthew Rose Sorensen react to the realization that Arne-Sayles could have, and probably should have, saved him? Write an essay explaining your answers.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 709 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample