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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. How many plays can professional players make in the game that the Master has?

2. What drive does the Master possess despite his reserved nature at times?

3. What is the Master hospitalized for?

4. To whom did the Master lose his final match?

5. Who follows polite practices for the Master?

Short Essay Questions

1. How are the two players described in the beginning of the book?

2. How is the ceremony for the game of go described by Yasunari?

3. What are the events that happen immediately after the end of the match?

4. How does Kawabata frame the novel through Chapters 2 and 4?

5. How does the Master fail to keep rules when it rains?

6. How is the Master described before his death?

7. How does Uragami describe himself?

8. Why does Uragami feel touched by seeing the Master in the outbuilding?

9. Why does the Master go into another room with his white stone?

10. On the first day of play, what does Otake apologize for and why does he do this?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Explain the concept of loneliness as it exhibits in The Game of Go. Which of the individuals were lonely? Were they all lonely in some way? Explain the loneliness and the methods and attempts to overcome it.

Essay Topic 2

Kawabata espouses a radical approach to game and thus related employment that would alter the structure of society. He describes the game player in The Master of Go as a proletariat like Marxian philosophy who is rebelling against the government in some ways. Describe the worker in The Master of Go. Do you think this is realistic and characteristic of today? Do you think the issues that Kawabata discusses are still relevant today and if so, in what ways?

Essay Topic 3

Compare "The Master of Go" with another of Kawabata's other books that deal with socialist issues. Which is, in your opinion, better? Explain. What future scenarios might you want to see in upcoming books? Which characters would you like to see portrayed? Why?

(see the answer keys)

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