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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. Which of Yoko's features is Komako certain Shimamura likes?

2. What is the weather like outside the night before Shimamura is to return to Tokyo?

3. Who runs up to Komako at the train station?

4. What obstacle can the drunken Komako not believe she surpassed on her own to reach Shimamura's room?

5. How does Shimamura describe the voice that he hears calling to Komako from the hallway?

Short Essay Questions

1. Who has Komako signed a geisha contract with and where does she live?

2. What makes Shimamura "strangely reluctant" to call Komako to the inn?

3. After Yukio's death, what does Komako inform Shimamura about Yoko in Part Two of the novel?

4. What is the content of the first note Komako sends to Shimamura, and who does she have deliver it?

5. Why does Komako not want to visit Yukio's grave?

6. How is Komako's samisen delivered to the inn?

7. Who is on the train with Shimamura when he leaves the resort town for the second time, and how do they disappoint him?

8. What does Shimamura find when he awakes at the beginning of this section of Part One?

9. Describe the peddler that Shimamura meets.

10. What reaction does Shimamura get from Komako when he asks about Yoko's living arrangements?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss art and culture as it relates to the novel. What traditional Japanese art and customs are mentioned in the novel? What significance do these examples have on the novel and characters?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss common themes of Japanese literature. How does the novel "Snow Country" represent Japanese literature and Japanese culture as a whole?

Essay Topic 3

What have you learned from reading the novel "Snow Country"?

(see the answer keys)

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