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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 Kichijiro bring to Rodrigues?

2. What does Rodrigues have to try and identify the objects as?

3. Who does Ferreirer serve?

4. Where are the peasants made to dig three holes?

5. What does the Samurai tell Rodrigues?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Rodrigues realize in Chapter 7?

2. What does Rodrigues think when Kichijiro brings him rice?

3. What routine does Rodrigues settle into in Chapter 6?

4. What are Rodrigues' feelings towards Ferreira?

5. From what does the snoring sound come?

6. Why can Rodrigues and Ferreira no longer get along?

7. What will happen to the villagers in Chapter 7 if Rodrigues does not apostatize?

8. How can Rodriguez's actions in Chapter 5 be deemed as wrong?

9. Why is Rodrigues transported in a covered caravan?

10. What happens to the elderly man in Chapter 6?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The novel is set mostly in Japan.

1) What meaning does Japan bring to the novel? What would you automatically presume about a novel that was set in Japan?

2) How different do you think today's Japan is to the Japan in the novel? How do you think the novel's meaning would change if it were set in today's Japan?

3) How do you think the Japanese settings contribute to the novel's spiritual meaning?

Essay Topic 2

Look at the structure of the novel.

1) How does Endo use character and dialogue to drive the narrative?

2) Discuss elements of the narrative structure: exposition, conflict, complication, climax, resolution and conclusion. Do all the elements make for a logical and linear story? How does the story's structure express the novel's themes?

3) Aside from the main character, Rodrigues, examine the way Endo uses the other characters in the story. When does he introduce and take them away from the story? What effect does it have on the story?

Essay Topic 3

Silence is part of the historical fiction genre.

1) What are the conventions of the historical fiction genre in terms of character, language and plot?

2) In what way did Silence help to set the template for similar novels? Do modern novels still use the ideas used in Silence?

(see the answer keys)

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