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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 do Natsuki and Yuu make rings out of?

2. What does Natsuki believe she is as a child?

3. What is a traditional action everyone does when they first come to the mountain house?

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

5. Where does Natsuki live with her parents and sister?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Natsuki feel her mother treats her?

2. How does Natuski observe the dynamic between her mother and father?

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

4. What does Mr. Igasaki make Natsuki do early in Part II that is humiliating?

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

6. How does Natsuki feel her mother treats her younger sister Kise?

7. Which relative is always kind to the children in Natsuki's family?

8. Why do Natsuki and her family leave Akishina early in Part I?

9. Why is Natsuki barred from being a pallbearer in Part II?

10. In Part II, what "lesson" does Mr. Igasaki give to Natsuki at his home?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What are the expectations for both men and women in Natsuki's society, as Murata describes them to the reader? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text to help support your conclusions.

Essay Topic 2

What do you think Murata means to communicate to the reader about the dynamic in Natsuki's family by repeatedly having adult characters in Natsuki's extended family and who are friends or neighbors challenge her mother's harsh views of Natsuki? Write an essay explaining your answers.

Essay Topic 3

Why do you think Natsuki recognizes engaging in cannibalism as a taboo that it will be impossible to rejoin polite society after taking part in? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text to help support your conclusions.

(see the answer keys)

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