View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. At the beginning of Chapter 6, Bakhtin argues that Rabelais' entire novel exhibits a clear, general __________ thematic trend.
(a) Upward.
(b) Liberal.
(c) Downward.
(d) Conservative.

2. What does Rabelais parody in his response to the episode of Gargantua's birth?
(a) The Renaissance philosophy of humanism.
(b) The Classical philosophy of stoicism.
(c) The Christian doctrine of submission.
(d) The Medieval doctrine of faith.

3. Bakhtin asserts that in the episode of Gargantua's birth, the dividing lines between _______ are erased.
(a) Human and animal consciousness.
(b) Human and animal organs.
(c) Children and adults.
(d) Earthly and divine spiritual relationships.

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

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

Short Answer Questions

1. What Renaissance series of works was highly influential to Rabelais' notion of the grotesque body?

2. Why was gaming very important in the Renaissance?

3. How does Bakhtin define "carnivalesque hell"?

4. What does the etymology of Gargantua's name suggest his name means?

5. What do wine and oil symbolize in Rabelais' novel?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Rabelais use the element of popular speech known as "coq-à-l'âne"?

2. How does Rabelais strengthen the exaggerated themes of his grotesque realism?

3. Discuss the significance of Gargantua's birth.

4. What is the significance of Friar John's description of the monastery belfry as "fecund"?

5. What is the significance of "cuckoldry," and how is it portrayed?

6. What is the role of games in Rabelais' work?

7. Which elements of Villon and Tappecoue's (Ticklepecker's) episode make it a "tragic farce"?

8. What did the Medieval stage resemble?

9. Why does Bakhtin assert that we cannot make the mistake of interpreting Rabelais' images of the material body lower stratum with our modern sensibilities?

10. Why does Bakhtin choose to relate Goethe to Rabelais' work?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 991 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample