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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 Gohtaro notice hanging on the café wall?

2. What quality is conveyed by the "sepia" lighting in the café?

3. Which author is quoted near the beginning of Chapter I, "Best Friends"?

4. How long has Gohtaro been lying to his daughter?

5. What does Kyoko believe about her brother not attending their mother's funeral?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does the subject of Kyoko's son Yohsuke come up in conversation?

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

3. How does the exchange between Kyoko and Kazu about Kazu's boyfriend characterize both women?

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

5. What does Kyoko reveal about her brother's reaction to their mother's death?

6. 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?

7. What details at the beginning of the story convey to the reader that Kyoto is a regular customer at the café?

8. 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)?

9. Before Gohtaro goes into the past, what is his plan to deal with the revelations that will occur upon Haruka's marriage?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How does the text's advice about dealing with regret differ from its advice about dealing with grief? What similarities are there between these two emotions, and what is the key difference between them that leads to the text advocating different ways of dealing with them? Write an essay in which you explore the text's position on the sources and impact of these two emotions as well as its differing advice for dealing with them. Use the examples of the time-travelers in the collection to support your assertions. Be sure to cite any quoted evidence in MLA format.

Essay Topic 2

One of the reasons the customers traveling through time seek to comfort others and do what is right by them is to reduce their own pain and discomfort. On the surface, this appears to be a selfish motive. But can an argument be made that their pain and discomfort actually arises because of a deep sense of love and obligation to others? In other words, the desire to reduce their own suffering might be self-focused, but is the suffering itself generated by something selfless? Write an essay in which you consider two of the stories in this collection and the degree to which the suffering of the time-traveling characters in these stories is created by their love for and/or sense of obligation to others. You may conclude that both characters are in similar situations or that the characters' situations are different. Support your assertions with evidence drawn from throughout both stories, and be sure to cite any quoted evidence in MLA format.

Essay Topic 3

Which characters in Tales from the Café profit from the moral example or advice offered by others? Are there any characters who try to follow someone else's example or advice and fail? Are there characters who simply disregard the example set or advice offered by others? When people do learn from others in this way, what are the outcomes? Write an essay in which you analyze the messages that Tales from the Café sends about learning from others. 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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