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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 decorates the vault beneath the small church in Rome?

2. What family financed Titian and Raphael?

3. How long is the time between registration and the event?

4. What happens to Twain in Florence when he gets lost and asks guards for directions?

5. Where does Twain finally find pretty foreign women?

Short Essay Questions

1. Twain accompanies his group to the Coliseum. As he watches them scrabble for pieces of the huge building, he finds a playbill where a woman invites a man on a secret date. Why is this piece of trash more interesting to Twain than the souvenirs his friends seek?

2. Twain has a moment of questioned faith in Chapter 6. What inspires this questioning? Is he questioning his faith or the object? Why does he question at all?

3. What particularly gruesome item is the group confronted with when it visits the Cathedral of Milan? How does Twain react to this artifact and why?

4. Why does Twain use an advertisement, rather than his own words, to describe the grand excursion?

5. Twain and his friends finally reach France. However, their first stop, Marseille, is fraught with problems. What are some of these problems? Do you think that some or all of these problems could have been avoided? Why or why not?

6. Describe Twain's experience at Bois de Boulogne. Compare/contrast this experience with Twain's overall experience in France.

7. In Chapter 2, Twain's excitement about the trip is abundantly clear. He visits the registration office frequently for numerous reasons. Do you think his excitement is only because of the upcoming journey, or do you think there are other factors?

8. In Chapter 13, the group hires a tour guide to show them famous sites. Despite being tasked with this duty, the guide seems more interested in obtaining money by taking the tourists shopping and earning a commission. He even manages to keep them from making the Louvre before closing. What does this say about the tour guides in Paris, and how might this affect the group's hiring of other tour guides in the future?

9. What observation does Twain make that seems unlikely in the heavily Christian city of Rome?

10. The ancient city of Pompeii was buried under an eruption of Mt. Vesuvius. Twain imagines what the lives of the people of Pompeii must have been like and wonders whether U.S. history would be correctly reported if something similar occurred in the United States. What do you think prompts Twain to wonder such a thing?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Twain's attitude toward the beggars, who seem to be everywhere, comes across as that of disdain rather than pity. He is disgusted by them, yet we hear few words of commiseration. What about the time Twain lived in encouraged this type of attitude toward the poor? What does Twain say that illustrates his attitude toward the beggars?

Essay Topic 2

In Smyrna, the group is confronted with a high hill awash with oyster shells and broken pottery. This appears to be an incredible source of consternation for Twain. Why do you think he obsesses so heavily over the origin of these objects so out of context? Do you think he, himself, feels so out of place that he must find a reason for the shells and pottery to justify his reason for being there? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 3

There are many points in the story where Twain notes that, though he cannot see or visualize something, it must be true because it was written about. What does this say about Twain? What does this say about his faith in the written word? Select a particular instance that outlines this.

(see the answer keys)

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