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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. Why does Matsuda say he never married?

2. What honor had Ono received in 1938?

3. What does Ono tell Ichiro about why men drink sake?

4. Why does Ono believe that the Tortoise or Shintaro will never feel the sort of happiness he felt sitting on the hillside?

5. What does the neighbor boy do when Matsuda speaks to him?

Short Essay Questions

1. When does Ono achieve his greatest feeling of triumph?

2. What do we learn about Setsuko from Ono's conversation with Matsuda?

3. What European influences distinguished Moriyama's work from Utamaro's?

4. Ono recalls the influence of Moriyama on his own behavior. What does he say he adopted from his teacher?

5. How does Ono explain Naguchi's suicide to Ichiro?

6. How does Ono believe a teacher should regard his students diverging from his teachings?

7. What effect did Moriyama try to create in his paintings?

8. How has Ichiro changed in the year since Ono last saw him?

9. Why didn't Moriyama applaud his student's maturing talent as an artist?

10. The reader learns some news about Noriko at the same time Matsuda does. What is the news?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Ono recalls a rumor that Sugimura built a long corridor in his house to distance himself from his parents. Analyze Ono's relationship with his own father and with his two mentors, Takeda and Moriyama. Consider also that his daughters have moved at a distance from him, visiting only once a year. What do you think Ishiguro is telling his readers about parent-child relationships? Do you agree with his ideas?

Essay Topic 2

There are several places in this story where a character's speech does not reflect their actual opinions. Setsuko's conversations with her father are examples. Select and analyze a scene where you are able to establish that what is being said is not genuine. How do you know? How is the writer able to convey that double message to you as a reader?

Essay Topic 3

Naguchi is a character we never meet directly. Ono explains the musician's suicide to his grandson, Ichiro. There are some differences between this conversation and the opinions Ono expresses when Miyake tells Ono that his employer committed suicide and that Miyake finds the action admirable. Has Ono changed? If so, what has changed him?

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