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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 Natsuki's husband love to hear about?

2. What does Mr. Igasaki pull out of the trash that belongs to Natsuki?

3. What does Natsuki tell her husband her family would always buy in the spring?

4. Who is Natsuki's sister?

5. What does Mr. Igasaki sat to Natsuki after doing something very inappropriate to her in school?

Short Essay Questions

1. What plan does Natsuki make to try to escape her misery?

2. What vow do Yuu and Natsuki make to each other?

3. How do Natsuki and Tomoya meet?

4. In Part II, what does Natsuki desperately want to do with Yuu?

5. What is really unusual about Natsuki's and Tomoya's marriage?

6. How does Natsuki feel her mother treats her?

7. What is Yuu's problem with Mitsuko?

8. In Chapter 2, how does Natsuki refer to her town as an adult?

9. What happens to Natsuki after Mr. Igasaki sexually abuses her?

10. What childhood fantasy does Natsuki have in Part I?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How does Murata establish the reader's expectation for Natsuki's unconventional life path early on in the novel? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text to help support your conclusions.

Essay Topic 2

How does Yuu distinguish between the acts of living and surviving? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text to help support your conclusions.

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay exploring the symbolism Murata intends to convey through Natsuki's, Tomoya's, and Yuu's acts of eating each other while still alive.

(see the answer keys)

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