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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 is Taro doing when Jiro talks with him?
2. Who is Taro?
3. For what is Yoshida disciplining one of the boys?
4. What does Jiro say to Yoshida?
5. How do the boys feel about Kinshi?
Short Essay Questions
1. Who posts the roles for the new play and what is Jiro's role?
2. What does Jiro decide to do and why does he make this decision?
3. What does Jiro discover when he goes to steal the script for the next play?
4. What do Jiro and Kinshi get to do on stage during one performance?
5. How does Kinshi perform when he takes over for Kwada one day?
6. How do some of the attendees feel about the resemblance of Joman to Saburo?
7. What is the basic plot of the play?
8. What play does Okada finish and what do the apprentices worry about concerning the new play?
9. What does Jiro admire about one of Yoshida's apprentices?
10. What do Jiro and Kinshi think of Yoshida's performance?
Essay Topics
Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:
Essay Topic 1
Often, authors will write about "what they know," and sometimes knowing a little about the author makes the books more interesting. Discuss the following:
1. Research and give a brief biographical sketch of Katherine Peterson.
2. What in Peterson's background may have helped him in writing The Master Puppeteer? What may have influenced the way he depicts various characters and scenes?
3. Do you think there is always some of the author's own life in his/her novels? Why or why not? Give examples.
Essay Topic 2
In this story, the gap between people's wealth and their social position is particularly large. This is because it is a time of famine, and the farmers are forced to give most of their food to the daimyos. The rice merchants have grown extremely rich while the farmers and other peasants are poor and starving. The samurai might be considered very important on the social scale, but Jiro tells us that even some of the samurai are starving on very small rice stipends. This has made people very angry and restless, as the lowliest and undeserving members of society, the merchants are getting rich and fat while those who should be more important starve. The famine has only made these feelings worse, and has caused the peasants of the city to become desperate.
1. Compare a day in the life of a peasant with a day in the life of a Lord in feudal Japan. Use examples from The Master Puppeteer to support your reasoning.
2. Do you think the rice merchants have an obligation to feed the masses? Why or why not? Use examples from The Master Puppeteer to support your reasoning.
3. What kinds of behaviors do you think desperate, starving people will display and how does starvation of the masses enter into many revolutions in countries? Use examples from The Master Puppeteer to support your reasoning.
Essay Topic 3
Characters are an important part of what makes The Master Puppeteer interesting. Discuss the following:
1. Thoroughly discuss and analyze Jiro. What are his strengths? His weaknesses? How does he contribute to the plot? Is he a sympathetic character? Is he always likable? Never likable? Use specific examples to illustrate your ideas.
2. Thoroughly discuss and analyze Kinshi. What are his strengths? His weaknesses? How does he contribute to the plot? Is he a sympathetic character? Is he always likable? Never likable? Use specific examples to illustrate your ideas.
3. Thoroughly discuss and analyze the character of Saburo. What are his strengths? His weaknesses? How does he contribute to the plot? Is he a sympathetic character? Is he ever likable? Never likable? Use specific examples to illustrate your ideas.
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This section contains 1,093 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) |
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