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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 Eiji's mother doing when he arrives at her clinic?

2. Why has Mrs. Yamaya not been able to get the authorities to make use of the data she has gathered about the yakuza?

3. Who offers Eiji a job at Nero's pizza?

4. What does the postcard Eiji receives ask him to do?

5. What does Ai Imajo offer to buy Eiji when they meet for breakfast in Chapter Seven?

Short Essay Questions

1. What secrets does Ai Imajo reveal about herself in Chapter Six, and what do her revelations indicate about her changing relationship with Eiji?

2. Why does the second truck driver Eiji rides with in Chapter Eight want to commit suicide and why does he change his mind?

3. Why is the Nero's delivery truck driver with whom Eiji rides in Chapter Eight alone in his life instead of married?

4. In Chapter Seven, what plans does Eiji make with his mother?

5. Who is Takara Tsukiyama, and how might he lead Eiji to Eiji's father?

6. Who is Subaru Tsukiyama and what is his relationship to Eiji?

7. Why does Suga take a new job in Texas and what gift does he give Eiji upon departing for his new position?

8. Explain how Eiji gets a new job in Chapter Six.

9. After escaping the exploding cars and the yakuza, where does Eiji wake up at the beginning of Chapter Five, and what childhood memories does the place in which he awakens rekindle?

10. How does Eiji finally get to meet his father, and how does he feel after the meeting?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the significance of the John Lennon song Number Nine Dream to the novel. What does John Lennon tell Eiji in his dream that the song means? How do Lennon's references to ghosts and loneliness relate to Eiji's life? What do you think the author is trying to say through the use of the song in the novel's title and in the dream sequence?

Essay Topic 2

At the beginning of the novel, Eiji is a procrastinator and daydreamer, and spends more time in fantasy and illusion than in reality. Discuss Eiji's character growth over the course of the novel, how he differs at the end of the novel from how he is at the beginning, and what helps facilitate any change in him.

Essay Topic 3

Discuss how the fictional manuscript about Goatwriter that Eiji finds and reads in Chapter Five is an allegory of Eiji's own experiences. Cite examples from the text to support your arguments.

(see the answer keys)

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