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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 Buntaro escape death?

2. Why does Blackthorne bow to Yabu?

3. What is the subject matter of the Prologue?

4. Who comes to take Blackthorne from the pit?

5. Why does Hiro-matsu request permission to commit seppuku?

Short Essay Questions

1. During the galley trip to Osaka, what happens with the weather?

2. What does Blackthorne tell Toranaga at their first meeting that puzzled him?

3. How is the Portuguese pilot, Rodrigues, introduced into the story?

4. Describe the change in Toranaga's orders related to Blackthorne after he is removed from prison.

5. Why does Blackthorne not take Rodrigues up on the offer to copy his rutters?

6. How is tension presented in Toranaga's character after meeting Ishido?

7. How is the conflict between Toranaga and Ishido presented as Ishido is introduced into the novel?

8. When the samurai who fails to carry through on his actions is ordered to be executed, who is given the job?

9. How does Omi persuade Blackthorne to come out of the pit?

10. What prompts Blackthorne to attack Father Sabastio and desecrate his wooden cross?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay of at least two typewritten, double spaced pages on the topic, The Irony of Omi and Yabu. Begin with Omi's wanting to kill his uncle at the very beginning of the novel. Detail how Omi carries out Yabu's orders even though he despises him. Next point should be that it is Omi who brings the samurai to Toranaga whose testimony brings Yabu down. Conclude with the irony of Yabu naming Omi as his heir and selecting him to be his second at his seppuku.

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay of at least two typewritten, double spaced pages on the topic, How Traders Made Their Living. Start with the idea that trading went on long before there were systems for monetary exchanges. Use information from SHÅŒGUN about the European/Chinese/Japanese trade practices worked. Include the more familiar trade between China, India, and Europe in the days of Marco Polo. At what point in that system does actual money come to play?

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay of at least two typewritten, double spaced pages on the topic, Feudalism in Shōgun. Your points should include the use of peasants as slave labor, the exorbitant taxes placed on them, and the fear the ruling class has at the idea of peasants having access to guns.

(see the answer keys)

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