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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. The novel follows the history of England's raids by whom?

2. What did Dunstan attempt to do?

3. Why is Rumon lost?

4. Why does Merewyn leave home?

5. Why is Gunnar disgusted when he goes to the Abbey?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why did Rumon leave his homeland?

2. What did the monastery behind the small church that is dedicated to St. Petroc look like when Rumon saw it for the first time?

3. What does King Edgar look like when Rumon and Merewyn first encounter him?

4. Describe Merewyn when she first encounters Rumon.

5. Is Breaca, Merewyn's mother, crazy as Rumon thinks she is when he meets her at the beginning of Chapter 2?

6. On the feast of the Assumption, how does Merewyn describe the Abbey's gardens as she sat in them beside Elfled on the well curb?

7. Why was the thought of Merewyn painful for Rumon as he talked to Dunstan outside his guesthouse rooms at Glastonbury Abbey?

8. Describe Caw when he is first introduced in Chapter 1.

9. What terrible events followed very soon after Edward's Coronation?

10. When Merewyn arrives at the Great Hall of Lydford Castle, how does she describe it?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How does the title of the novel, "Avalon," relate to the novel itself? Is the title descriptive? A statement of the theme? Or something else altogether? Why Did Seton choose the title "Avalon" over other possibilities? Analyze the relationship between title and novel, paying attention to the reasons that the title highlights something that the Seton wants readers to know or come to understand about the novel.

Essay Topic 2

When Rumon finds Merewyn in Iceland as an accepted member of society and happily married, Rumon may have viewed that as an act of betrayal by Merewyn. Later, Rumon admits to Merewyn that he betrayed his own values and beliefs when he killed two Vikings during a raid not to save the church's treasures in an act of heroism but symbolically killing Merewyn's Viking husband and father for them having taken Merewyn away from him. Analyze the nature of these betrayals and demonstrate how they contributed to the meaning of "Avalon" as a whole.

Essay Topic 3

Merewyn and Rumon are introduced with certain dreams, plans, and expectations. In the course of the novel, these main characters must come to terms with the difference between their dreams and the reality of the world around them. Examine how both Merewyn and Rumon navigate the journey from dreams to reality: What kind of course do they follow and how are they changed as they go on their journey? How do they adjust their idea of what Avalon is from the beginning of the novel to the end? Do they find what they seek?

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