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 type of death does the prisoner experience when the oxcart is pulled away?

2. What are the values of the boys who gather in the marketplace?

3. What does Philip's brother, Francis, surprise him with when he comes to visit?

4. What does King Stephen decide about the ownership of the Shiring quarry?

5. Where do Tom and his family go for shelter from the freezing weather?

Short Essay Questions

1. Who is riding behind the oxcart that brings the condemned man to the gallows?

2. What does the condemned man do as the noose is placed around his neck?

3. What does Tom discover when he has a change of heart and goes back to Agnes' grave to get the baby?

4. What happens when Tom asks the master builder of a cathedral in Salisbury if he can have a job?

5. What is the secret compromise that Philip proposes to the Hamleighs about the forests and quarry in Shiring and how does this affect his relationship with Waleran?

6. Describe the design of the cathedral Tom proposes to build for Prior Philip.

7. What is the deal that Archdeacon Waleran makes with Philip after the death of Prior James, the Prior of Kingsbridge?

8. What events take place when William Hamleigh goes to the castle at Shiring to claim it as his own?

9. Why does Lord William Hamleigh fire Tom from the job of building him a house?

10. How does Tom first meet Ellen and her son, Jack?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

1) Summarize the events that led up to Philip's raising Jonathan in the monastery?

2) How do these events relate to the plot of the story?

3) How do the events affect the characters in the novel? Cite examples from the novel to support the answer.

Essay Topic 2

1) Imagine you are an historian reading Pillars of the Earth. Would you see the story as historically accurate?

2) Use details from the story to support your answer.

3) What plot or setting descriptions would you change to make it more historically accurate?

4) Are the historical figures, such as King Henry and Thomas Beckett, depicted accurately? Support the answer with examples from the novel.

Essay Topic 3

1) Summarize how Ken Follett uses local color and imagery to describe Kingsbridge and the cathedral.

2) Cite descriptive examples of landscaping, the monastery, the cathedral architecture, villagers, and the market.

3) How does the imagery Follett uses depict a clear and accurate picture of Kingsbridge and surrounding landscape?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 749 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample