1. The purpose of "travesty" in folk festivals was to:
(a) Reassert traditional definitions of social and spiritual life.
(b) Call upon something serious and make it amusing.
(c) Indicate the importance of travel to an individual's self-development.
(d) Irreversibly denigrate everything it could.

2. In the seventeenth century, the decline of laughter as a primary force in folk culture resulted from:
(a) The declining number of Carnival performers.
(b) The need of the public for other forms of diversion.
(c) The exhaustion of any new sources of humor.
(d) An increasingly "official" culture of rationalism.

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

4. After Rabelais' time, the use of laughter in literature and culture moved in which direction?
(a) From universal to restricted.
(b) From spiritual to earthly.
(c) From singular to universal.
(d) From accepted to encouraged.

5. What do oaths and curses have in common with town announcements and the calls of vendors?
(a) They are all said with the same feelings in mind.
(b) They are the only socially acceptable methods of greeting strangers.
(c) They all are familiar parts of the society of the marketplace.
(d) They all are forbidden during certain times of the year.