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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. What does the author's wife say she has had a premonition about?

2. What does Akutagawa call the girl he has an affair with?

3. Who visits Tsuneko at the end of the story?

4. Who does Yasukichi work for?

5. Who does the author believe is chasing him?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does the author's sister tell him about the death of her husband?

2. How does Akutagawa's wife increase his panic?

3. What is Shinsuke's opinion on books?

4. What is the life of the Stupid Man about?

5. Summarize the Spinning Gears story.

6. Why does Shinsuke struggle to make friends?

7. Why does the storyteller think Oshino is so ordinary?

8. What does the narrator remember about his eldest sister?

9. Why does Shinsuke come to appreciate the fact his mother did not breast feed him?

10. Why is Oshino suddenly unable to control his legs?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Why does E'in falsely prophesize that a dragon will rise from the pond? What meaning does it give the story that his prophecy comes true? What would have happened if his lie was found out?

Essay Topic 2

What In the Bamboo Grove say about unreliable narration? How can the court get to the truth?

Essay Topic 3

What was the structure of feudal Japan? What problems does these author highlight about feudal Japan? What within the system does the author suggest created these problems?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 614 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample