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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 is the relationship between Tingoccio Mini and Meuccio di Tura?

2. Why do the villagers look forward to the arrival of the monk from St. Anthony's monastery?

3. Why is the marquis displeased with his son?

4. What do the simple-minded Pietro and his wife want Don Gianni to do?

5. What is the avocation of Gualtieri, the son of a wealthy marquis in Saluzzo?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does the daughter of Messer Lizio di Valbona, a rich knight, do that her father knows nothing about?

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

3. What happens when the two men come to confess to Brother Onion what they had done.?

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

5. How does Peronella turn the situation around and get her husband inside the barrel.

6. On the way home in the rain, what is Rabatta's insulting comment about his friend, Bondone?

7. How does Calandrino learn that the magic has gone out of the rocks?

8. When collecting alms from a nearby village, what does Brother Onion use to get the people to give freely?

9. What is the result of a man sneaking into an Abbess' cell after he has fallen in love with her?

10. When Monna Giovanna's son becomes seriously ill, what does he tell her might make him better?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write a story of at least two typewritten, double spaced pages in the style of THE DECAMERON. This is a creative writing assignment where you are required to tell a story using the euphemistic language of THE DECAMERON and one of the themes such as unexpected happy endings or tragic endings.

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay of at least two typewritten, double spaced pages on the topic, Why Story Telling is Becoming a Lost Art. Begin with the modern media today that involves being spoon fed stories in visual and interactive formats. Discuss the fact that people no longer sit together and relate tales they have made up or have heard. Speculate how different the situation of THE DECAMERON would have been if all the people in the group had iPods and PCs.

Essay Topic 3

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.

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This section contains 791 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample