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 do Jorge and William debate in ‘Second Day’?

2. What fascinated William?

3. Who is a mystery to Adso?

4. When are Adso and William traveling in ‘First Day’?

5. What surprises the Cellarer in ‘First Day’?

Short Essay Questions

1. Who originally translated the book?

2. What does Berengar think he saw in ‘Second Day’?

3. How does Salvatore speak?

4. Where did Adso meet William?

5. Who is the Pope at the time of the events in the novel?

6. What two things disappear from Venantius’s desk in ‘Second Day’?

7. Who is the Emperor at the time of the events in the novel?

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

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

10. What is William’s first conclusion about Adso’s death?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The abbey is organized according to strict power hierarchies. What are these hierarchies? How can characters move among them? What kind of actions, and feelings, do these hierarchies provoke? In what ways are they positive? Dangerous?

Essay Topic 2

Ubertino flees the abbey when the two rival factions arrive. Why is this the case? What does he fear losing? What might he gain by leaving? How does this tie in with larger political threads of the story?

Essay Topic 3

The monks debate Jesus’s laughter at great length. Why is such a seemingly small matter the subject of so much debate? What texts do they rely on to support their theories? What is the greater significance of their debates, and how often do they refer to these issues?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 440 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample