View a FREE sample

This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What are the languages involved in what Bakhtin terms the "triple linguistic process" of Rabelais' time?
(a) Classic Latin, Middle French, and vernacular French.
(b) Medieval Latin, Middle French, and Middle German.
(c) Medieval Latin, Old French, and Middle French.
(d) Classic Latin, Medieval Latin, and vernacular French.

2. What does Bakhtin argue is the relationship between the death of Tappecoue and the episode of the Catchpoles?
(a) The local people were shocked and saddened by each event.
(b) Freedom and equality are expressed bodily and coarsely in each event.
(c) Sexual relationships take center stage in each event.
(d) The sin of violence is paramount in each.

3. One of Rabelais' main sources for his enumerations of food was a Medieval treatise about:
(a) Lenten and non-Lenten foods.
(b) Restrictions of food for pregnant women.
(c) The proper order in which to eat banquet foods.
(d) The ways in which chicken tasted better than pheasant.

4. According to Bakhtin, how did Rabelais invent many of the locales and characters in his novel?
(a) He traveled much and met many people.
(b) He rewrote stories from his childhood.
(c) He abused drugs and wrote down his hallucinations.
(d) He wrote many letters asking friends for ideas.

5. What is the image of woman in the Renaissance popular comic tradition?
(a) Ambivalent: woman is degraded but simultaneously regenerative.
(b) Materialist: woman is worth money, in her body or from her work.
(c) Positive: woman is the light of the future, and must be celebrated.
(d) Negative: woman is the source of all sin, and must be oppressed.

6. From what does Panurge suggest the protective walls of Paris be built?
(a) Female genitalia.
(b) Arms of strong warriors.
(c) Bull horns.
(d) Monks' robes.

7. Bakhtin generally finds Goethe's sense of Carnival's _____________ to agree with his own views.
(a) Pessimism.
(b) Religiousness.
(c) Universalism.
(d) Poetic expression.

8. How does Bakhtin interpret Rabelais' work as a response to the hardships of France in 1532?
(a) The novel offers spiritual guidance through hard times.
(b) The novel reinforces the misery the people suffered.
(c) The novel chastises the people for bringing suffering on themselves.
(d) The novel provides a merry alternative to suffering.

9. Bakhtin defines the early French work "The Play in the Bower" as a:
(a) Melodrama.
(b) Farce.
(c) Comic drama.
(d) Tragedy.

10. What is the theme of "cuckoldry"?
(a) The act of voting a new mayor and chasing the old one out of town.
(b) The portion of the feast in which all the fowl are consumed.
(c) The introduction of one rooster into a rowdy henhouse.
(d) The rejection of an old husband and the crowning of a new husband.

11. What did the word "pantagruel" colloquially mean in the Renaissance?
(a) Hoarseness caused by drinking too much.
(b) A type of thin porridge eaten exclusively by the very poor.
(c) Articles of clothing, made of harsh cloth, that cover the legs.
(d) Foolish behavior caused by listening to fables.

12. What actual event probably inspired Rabelais' story of Pantagruel's birth?
(a) An earthquake which devastated southern France.
(b) A famine resulting from an unusually cold winter.
(c) The French victory of a battle with the Spanish.
(d) An unusual heat wave and drought.

13. What does Bakhtin consider the "symposium" of Medieval grotesque realism?
(a) Refereed debates between two clergymen.
(b) Bear-baiting in the town square.
(c) Vows spoken between lovers.
(d) The tradition of festive speech.

14. How does Bakhtin define the combination of human and animal organs in Rabelais' novel?
(a) "Horrifying."
(b) "Scientific."
(c) "Grotesque."
(d) "Otherworldly."

15. How does Bakhtin interpret Rabelais' term "agelast"?
(a) It is a person who is hostile to laughter or who does not know how to laugh.
(b) It is an elderly person whose grouchy moods isolate him/her.
(c) It is the person who brings up the rear of the great Carnival parade.
(d) It is a person who delights in causing pain to others.

Short Answer Questions

1. At the beginning of Chapter 6, Bakhtin argues that Rabelais' entire novel exhibits a clear, general __________ thematic trend.

2. Bakhtin asserts that in Rabelais' time, food and banquets always contained a sense of:

3. What significant thing did translators of Rabelais' work add to their translations?

4. Where did Rabelais collect most of his rich vocabulary?

5. The defense of the abbey by Friar John contains:

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 742 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample