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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. Who do the yakuza men lock up with Eiji in Chapter Four?

2. Who does Eiji fantasize knocking out with the item in his toolbox?

3. What person does Eiji decide to meet virtually in the video game Virtua Sapiens?

4. What kind of insects live in Eiji's apartment?

5. At the beginning of Chapter One, how does Eiji hope he will meet Akiko Kato?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Morino trick Eiji with his father's photo in Chapter Four?

2. Why do Donkey and Dowager call the waitress with the perfect neck a "hand cream model", and what does the depiction of the girl's hands in Chapter One really indicate?

3. What information does Ryutaro Morino have about Eiji's father and how does he obtain it?

4. Why does Eiji think Miriam can lead him to his father and how does he pursue his father through her?

5. How does Eiji's experience with Daimon on his twentieth birthday illustrate his naivety?

6. What rumors has Anju overheard about her mother?

7. What factors make Eiji feel out of place in Tokyo?

8. How successful are Eiji's initial attempts to contact Akiko Kato?

9. Discuss Eiji's playing of video games in Chapter Three and what the video games symbolize.

10. Who does Eiji initially think "father" is in Chapter Four, and who does "father" eventually turn out to be?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss Eiji's parents. Neither character appears onstage in the novel, yet both play integral roles in the story. What is the parents' relationship history? What are the parents' life situations like at present in terms of their financial situations, their levels of happiness, and their relationships with their children and with significant others? What aspect of Japanese culture is the author depicting in these two characters, and what do you think the author is saying about this aspect of Japanese culture through Eiji's parents?

Essay Topic 2

Compare and contrast Eiji's relationships with his three male friends: Suga, Daimon, and Buntaro. Also, discuss how he meets each of these friends, how they help him and whether he helps any of them, what his relationship with each of them is like, and whether any of the relationships change over the course of the novel.

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the treatment of women in Number Nine dream.

Part I: Which women are treated well by men and which women are treated poorly by men in the novel? How do you explain any differences in the way women are treated?

Part II: Does the treatment of women in the novel reflect the role of women in Japanese society? In what ways?

Part III: What might Ai's defiance of her father to attend school in Paris symbolize about the changing role of women in Japanese society?

(see the answer keys)

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