This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Chapter 12, Chapter 4 - Banquet Imagery & Chapter 5 - The Grotesque Image of the Body and Its Sources.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Bakhtin considers "thrashing" ambivalent, rather than strictly negative, because:
(a) The one who is thrashed explicitly agrees to the act.
(b) The act of thrashing is done out of kindness.
(c) The one who is thrashed is also decorated and celebrated.
(d) The act of thrashing is done to punish the individual.

2. In the folklore and grotesque realism of Rabelais' works, excrement represents bodies and matter that are:
(a) One with the earth.
(b) Frightening and terrible.
(c) Generally revered.
(d) Mostly comic.

3. Why are Rabelais' billingsgate elements considered "coarse and cynical" by most scholars?
(a) The Latin derivations of his scatological vocabulary mean "cynical."
(b) Many scholars interpret them only in a modern context.
(c) Many scholars believe that Rabelais himself was bitter from publication disputes.
(d) These elements express a deep distrust of contemporary society.

4. Bakhtin notes that two of the most commonly combined themes in Medieval popular literature relating to monks are:
(a) Sex and death.
(b) Envy and greed.
(c) Gluttony and desire.
(d) Piety and cruelty.

5. What do wine and oil symbolize in Rabelais' novel?
(a) Hard harvest work in the vineyards and olive groves.
(b) Since both are flammable, they symbolize hellfire.
(c) Free, festive speech versus religious piety and seriousness.
(d) Sickness and hangovers versus a useful cooking ingredient.