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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 does May's visit to the bottom of the well affect her self image?

2. What does Toru find in the envelope the silent boy gives him?

3. Who saves Lieutenant Mamiya from the dry well where the Mongolian soldiers leave him?

4. Where does Toru Okada find his necktie in Chapter 4?

5. What is the style of writing that Chapter 7 is supposed to be?

Short Essay Questions

1. What strange event happens involving a bar folk singer in Chapter 7?

2. Describe Kumiko and Toru Okada's first date.

3. What two requests does Creta Kano make of Toru Okada in Chapter 14 and how does he respond?

4. Why are the Okadas estranged from the Watayas?

5. Why is Lieutenant Mamiya uncomfortable with his mission with Yanamoto?

6. How does the infant Nutmeg nearly killed in the story of Chapter 9?

7. Why do Koru and Kumiko Okada meet with Mr. Honda?

8. Describe the interchange Toru has with the woman on the bench in Chapter 2?

9. Describe Nutmeg.

10. What information does Malt Kano provide Toru Okada in their first meeting in Chapter 3?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Haruki Murakami's novels almost always involve grown men who have not fully developed emotionally and several strong-willed women who force them to question their world-views. Write an essay about Toru Okada's relationship with the women of the novel. How is Toru's emotional growth stunted at the beginning of the novel? What shattering event forces him from his torpor at the beginning of the novel? Choose three women who enter his life after this event and discuss their relationship to him.

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay about Nutmeg and Cinnamon. What is their function within the novel? Begin the essay by discussing their lives before meeting Toru Okada and how Nutmeg comes to be fascinated with the protagonist. What about the mother and son makes them unusual and eccentric? In the final paragraph, discuss the possibility that Cinnamon is the author of the novel. What is on his computer that would lead a reader to this conclusion?

Essay Topic 3

The central antagonist of the novel is Noboru Wataya, a generally unpleasant but popular politician. Write an essay exploring the character arc of Noboru Wataya. How does he go from malcontent intellectual to beloved politician in such a short period? What is his opinion of Toru Okaka, and Toru's opinion of him? Describe the initial secret that Toru knows about Noboru and how this secret gives rise to a much large incrimination of Noboru Wataya. In the end, does Noboru get what he deserves?

(see the answer keys)

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