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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 does Toru Okada use to climb down into the well at the end of Chapter 5?

2. What is the only piece of information printed on the card that the woman gives Toru in Chapter 2?

3. According to Toru's uncle in Chapter 13, how did Mr. Miyawaki lose all of his money?

4. What is Toru Okada's duty working with May Kasahara in Chapter 9?

5. After how many days of people-watching does Toru Okada see the man with the guitar case?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. How does Kumiko explain her own disappearance in her letter of Chapter 11?

3. Why are the Okadas estranged from the Watayas?

4. Describe Toru Okada's dream at the end of Chapter 16?

5. What information does Malt Kano provide Toru Okada in their first meeting in Chapter 3?

6. What two requests does Creta Kano make of Toru Okada in Chapter 14 and how does he respond?

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

8. How does May Kasahara describe her situation in Chapter 5?

9. What story about a house in Koru Okada's neighborhood does his uncle tell in Chapter 10?

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

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

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, beginning even with its title, is a novel that draws mystically from the animal world. Animals serve as harbingers and, to some extent, good-will ambassadors. Write an essay on the roles of three animals in the book. How is each animal introduced? What is its purpose, and how does this purpose become clear by the end of the novel? Does the appearance of this animal have positive or negative connotations?

Part 1) The ducks by May Kasahara's factory

Part 2) Toru's cat

Part 3) The Wind-Up Bird

Essay Topic 3

Much of the important action of the novel, including the climax, occurs not in the real world, but in dreams and in a sort of metaphysical hotel. Write an essay about these events that occur in a sub- or supernatural world, focusing on three of them:

Part 1) When Creta Kano appears to Toru Okada, and the two have sex, how is this more than a mere erotic dream? Why does it affect both of them in their waking lives? In analyzing this sexual encounter, explain what Creta Kano's profession is, and how it relates. Why does she come to Toru's dream?

Part 2) Write a paragraph describing Toru Okada's first trip to the metaphysical hotel. What is he doing in the real, waking world that allows him entry? When Toru emerges, what has changed about him? Is this change emotional or physical?

Part 3) Describe the climax of the novel as it takes place in the hotel. What very real dangers does Toru Okada face and what achievement does he have in his conflict with Noboru Wataya? What does he understand by the end? How are his actions in the hotel reflected in his waking life?

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