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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 can the protagonist clearly see two figures in the night in Chapter 3?

2. What does the shorter of the two men in Chapter 3 do while the protagonist watches?

3. In Chapter 16, Toru and the man with the guitar case fight with what weapon?

4. How did May Kasahara cause her boyfriend's death?

5. For much of Chapter 6, Nutmeg goes shopping with Toru for what?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. In the story of Chapter 13, why does the Russian commander choose not to kill Lieutenant Mamiya?

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

4. Why does Toru Okada stay in the well longer than he intended?

5. How does pain return to Creta Kano's life?

6. What painful admission does May Kasahara make in Chapter 15?

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

8. Why does Creta Kano become a prostitute?

9. What happens when Toru goes to the appointed address in Chapter 4?

10. What financial decision does Toru Okada make at the beginning of Book 3?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle is a hodgepodge of different types of narrative forms, with some chapters wildly divergent from or seeming unrelated to, the central first-person narrative of Toru Okada. Write an essay about several chapters that are different from the main narrative. How do they connect to this central narrative? What story do they tell? Is there a particular theme that these other chapters serve to illuminate?

Part 1) The tabloid articles.

Part 2) The letters from the factory town.

Part 3) The third person chapters.

Essay Topic 2

Lieutenant Mamiya has perhaps the most extended personal narrative of the novel after Toru Okada. By the end of the novel, we know exactly what happened to Mamiya, in detail during the war. Write an essay, beginning with an overview of the travails this man faced in China, Mongolia, and Eastern Russia. ow did he survive, and what malicious figure continued to cross paths with him? What experience did Mamiya have in the war that was similar to Toru's? In conclusion, how is Mamiya's life a warning to Toru?

Essay Topic 3

In The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, the protagonist Toru Okada is said to be inextricably linked to the antagonist Noboru Wataya. When one character succeeds, the other fails and vice versa. Write an essay about this connection and how it manifests itself in the plot of the novel. What Is happening in Noboru Wataya's life as Toru Okada is facing the travails of losing his wife? What secrets is Noboru trying to hide, and how does Toru get the upper hand with these secrets? What is the standing of each man at the end of the novel?

(see the answer keys)

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