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 were the relations between Napoleon and the Jesuits and Jews?

2. In Belbo's account, John Dee is overtaken by whom?

3. What quality of his story does Belbo see as a virtue, instead of a vice?

4. What does Casaubon want Belbo to use Abulafia for?

5. What was Diotallevi's reasoning for the advice he gave to Casaubon and Belbo before he left for treatment?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Aglie tell Casaubon's group about the Freemasons?

2. What happens to Belbo after receiving the last piece of the Plan from Salon?

3. What happens to Belbo, at the end of the novel?

4. What does Lia try to explain to Casaubon, in Chapter 63?

5. What do Casaubon and Lia talk about while on their family vacation?

6. What deduction do Casaubon and his group make about the Pendulum's purpose, in Chapter 99?

7. What does Casaubon do after the night at the Conservatoire?

8. What happens during the trip Belbo takes with Lorenza?

9. How does Casaubon reinterpret the message of the parchment Ardenti discovered?

10. Why does Casaubon include a group not related to the Freemasons when constructing his time line?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the character of Lorenza, and her role as a symbol of knowledge. Why does Aglie call her Sophia? What does that name mean? How does she interact with the other characters, particularly Casaubon? How do her interactions with the other characters reflect their search for knowledge? Be sure to cite specific examples from the text to support your thesis.

Essay Topic 2

Diotallevi tells Belbo they made a mistake in devising the Plan, clearly believing that his own declining health is due to his involvement in it; Belbo is murdered because of it. Have there been other times when the pursuit of occult knowledge has led to someone's downfall? What was the reason for it? Do you think Diotallevi still would have fallen ill and died if it were not for his involvement in the Plan, or is he reading too much into his illness and death, as he and the others did with believing that the fictional Plan was true? Why? Be sure to cite specific examples from the text to support your thesis.

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the main characters' individual quests for knowledge and truth. How do Casaubon, Belbo and Diotallevi search for their version of the truth? What does each character, respectively, discover? What are the similarities and differences in each character's version of the truth? Be sure to cite specific examples from the text to support your thesis.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,135 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample