View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What area of the abbey is forbidden to William?

2. When did the narrator receive the manuscript?

3. Who used to be a Dolcian?

4. When is Adso writing this book?

5. To what order did Brother William belong?

Short Essay Questions

1. Where did Adso meet William?

2. Where did the narrator find confirmation of the book’s veracity?

3. What is William fascinated by?

4. What do the monks debate at the first dinner?

5. What does William help the Cellarer to find?

6. What is William’s mission at the abbey?

7. Who, in ‘Second Day,’ reveals that the library is a labyrinth?

8. How did the narrator originally lose his copy of the book?

9. How does Adso feel about ‘modern’ life?

10. Why is Adso allowed to sit away from the novices in ‘First Day’?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The abbot and William finally end up at odds with one another. Why does the abbot wish William to stop investigating and leave? Compare and contrast the two men’s characters and their ultimate fates.

Essay Topic 2

Eco begins the novel with a note set in the twentieth century. What effect does this have on our experience of the book? How can this relate to the story itself? What meta-fictional elements does it tie in, and why are these important?

Essay Topic 3

A variety of languages, from Provençal to English to Latin, are used throughout the book. What is the significance of language in the novel? How do the “Italians” separate themselves from the others, and why is this important? How might reading this text in translation help us? Why did Eco not translate certain parts of French, Latin, and other languages found in the text?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 423 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample