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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. Who asks Kazu about her age?

2. What is Kyoko's younger brother's name?

3. How old is Gohtaro's daughter?

4. How does Kyoko react to Nagare's suggestion about a present for Kiyoshi's wife?

5. What does Gohtaro surmise about the woman who seems to be the girl's mother from her conversation with Nagare?

Short Essay Questions

1. How did Kyoko end up becoming a regular at the café, and why does her son not come with her anymore?

2. When Gohtaro first sees Shuichi in the past, why does the gesture of putting his hand around his coffee cup cause Gohtaro to suddenly panic about his own ability to communicate?

3. Describe the atmosphere of the time-traveling café.

4. How does the juxtaposition of the made-up lyrics to Miki's song with Kyoko's emotions after her confession about her brother highlight Kyoko's distress?

5. What reason does the narrator give for Kiyoshi asking his question of the café staff?

6. Why does Kazu sound stern when she tells Gohtaro, "You know that even if your return to the past, reality won't change, right?" (13)?

7. Which characteristics of Shuichi's give Gohtaro "grounds for faith" that Shuichi will quickly understand that Gohtaro has traveled back in time (31)?

8. Why does Gohtaro want to travel to the past?

9. Why is Kazu especially concerned with whether Kyoko's brother understands the rule about not being able to change the present?

10. What rule of time traveling in the café does Gohtaro almost immediately break when he returns to the past, and who saves him from this error?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What does Tales from the Café convey about the fleeting nature of human life? Because life lasts a finite and unpredictable amount of time, what does this text advise people do to maximize their happiness? What are some issues from the past that might encroach on a person's present happiness? How does the text advise people to deal with these issues? Write an essay in which you take and defend a position on the theme of Tales from the Café. Support your assertions with evidence drawn from throughout the text, and be sure to cite any quoted evidence in MLA format.

Essay Topic 2

The relationship between Yukio and his mother is one of mutual obligation to each other's happiness. This relationship gives their lives meaning, and their obligations to one another do not end with either's death. How does the relationship between Kazu and Kaname echo this relationship? What other kinds of relationships does the text present similarly, as a two-way system of obligation that transcends death? Write an essay in which you consider the text's messages about mutual obligation in intimate human relationships. Support your assertions with evidence drawn from throughout the text and be sure to cite any quoted evidence in MLA format.

Essay Topic 3

Sometimes a setting is so significant that it becomes almost like a character in a story. Why is the Funiculi Funicula Café so important to the action of this text? In what sense is it more consistent than any of the collection's human characters? What does the juxtaposition of the café's consistency with the fleeting nature of human life contribute to the text's meaning? Write an essay in which you analyze the significance of the café itself. Support your assertions with evidence drawn from throughout the text, and be sure to cite any quoted evidence in MLA format.

(see the answer keys)

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