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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 happens to Jimmy Bigelow's bugle after he dies?

2. Where does Nakamura go after securing false identity papers in Section 4, Chapter 1?

3. Where does Nakamura go to visit a corporal from his platoon in Section 5, Chapter 2?

4. What does Ella announce about Dorrigo to friends in Section 5, Chapter 6?

5. What is the young Japanese prostitute referred to as in Section 4, Chapter 1?

Short Essay Questions

1. How are the lives of the POWs described after they return home from the war in Section 4, Chapter 4?

2. Whom does Nakamura pay a visit to in Section 5, Chapter 2? Why?

3. What decision must Dorrigo make regarding Jack Rainbow in Section 3, Chapter 17? What does he decide?

4. How is the significance of Jimmy Bigelow's bugle revealed in Section 5, Chapter 14? What happens to the bugle?

5. How are Dorrigo's relationships with his wife and children described in Section 5, Chapter 6?

6. Where is Nakamura living in the beginning of Section 4, Chapter 1? How are his circumstances described?

7. What stops Colonel Kota from beheading Darky in Section 3, Chapter 15?

8. Where and how does Darky Gardiner encounter Rooster MacNeice in Section 3, Chapter 14?

9. How are Nakamura's circumstances described in Section 4, Chapter 9? Where does he work?

10. What does Tomokawa remark about the war and the treatment of prisoners in Section 5, Chapter 5?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Analyze and discuss the character of Tiny Middleton in the novel. Why do you think Tiny refuses to work slower despite the struggles that his fellow POWs face in keeping up with him? What causes Tiny to collapse at the worksite? How is Tiny perceived by the other POWs when he cries after being beaten?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the themes of culture, history, and honor in The Narrow Road to the Deep North. What does “honor” mean to Colonel Kota? What does it mean to Nakamura? How is honor perceived differently from Dorrigo’s perspective? What role does history play in the objectives of the characters? How are culture and history intertwined?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the author’s depictions of gender in The Narrow Road to the Deep North. What were gender expectations like for women in the 1940s when the novel takes place? Do you think that the women in the story adhere to those gender standards? Why or why not? Are the women in the novel portrayed as three-dimensionally as the men?

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