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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 Bondone say people would think after looking at Rabatta?

2. Why does Frederigo leave the city for his farm?

3. What suddenly happens to Monna Giovanna's son?

4. What is the Baronci family of Florence noted for?

5. What happens when Ricciardo learns of Caterina's love for him?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the reply that Bondone gives Rabatta after his insult?

2. What does Gualtieri do to assure himself that his wife, Griselda, is a worthy woman?

3. How are Caterina and Ricciardo found out?

4. Although Frederigo would give anything to Monna Giovanna, why is it impossible for him to give her the falcon?

5. How does Brother Onion recover when he takes the charcoal out of the box instead of the feather?

6. When Calandrino finds what he thinks are magic rocks, what do Bruno and Buffalmacco decide to do.

7. How does the affair between Caterina and Ricciardo work itself out?

8. What happens that Don Gianni declares has broken the spell to change Pietro's wife into a mare?

9. Why do several nuns come to the Abbess' door in the middle of the night?

10. When two of Brother Onion's friends see him in the village proclaiming he will show a feather from the angel Gabriel, what do they plan to do?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay of at least two typewritten, double spaced pages on the topic, How Bernie Madoff Compares with Brother Onion. Using Brother Onion's feather from the wing of Gabriel and charcoal from the burning of St. Lorenzo, compare those things with Madoff's use of his connections and expertise on Wall Street to dupe people into investing money that he had no intention of returning. Define how people who want to believe in something are easily led.

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay of at least two typewritten, double spaced pages on the topic, Views of the Clergy in THE DECAMERON. Use the arguments put forth by Tedaldo in the Seventh Tale to point out the various excesses the general public observed in the behavior of the clergy.

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay of at least two typewritten, double spaced pages on the topic, Medical Pandemics Through the Ages. In your essay describe the Black Death that swept Europe in the Middle Ages and why it lasted so long. Then discuss pandemics of more modern times such as polio and various virulent strains of the flu. Conclude with how these plagues affect the human psyche.

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