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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 can the reader infer from the conversation between Nagare and the woman who seems to be the girl's mother?

2. When does Kazu tell Miki she will be old enough to pour the coffee?

3. Who is Yamagishi Katsura?

4. When Gohtaro was originally in the café, twenty-two years ago, what did he notice about the person sitting in the ghost chair?

5. After Kyoko leaves, who is in the café with Kazu?

Short Essay Questions

1. How did Gohtaro end up raising Shuichi's daughter?

2. What warning does Kazu give Gohtaro about remembering to drink his coffee?

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

4. What has fatherhood been like for Gohtaro?

5. Why does the narrator use vague language to describe the tears falling during the encounter between Shuichi and Gohtaro?

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

7. Which element of Gohtaro and Shuichi's relationship in college foreshadows their relationship outside of college?

8. When Gohtaro tells Shuichi, "Haruka has decided to get married," how does the narrator explain Shuichi's reaction, and what does the reader later learn is the real reason for his reaction?

9. What causes the narrator to suggest that Kyoko might be thinking, "Saved by Miki" when Kyoko suddenly bursts out laughing on page 53?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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.

Essay Topic 2

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.

Essay Topic 3

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.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,348 words (approx. 5 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample