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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 does Ono come to admire Moriyama's treatment of his students?

2. What happened to Moriyama after Ono left his school?

3. What shows European influences on Moriyama?

4. How does Ono evaluate Naguchi's suicide?

5. What news does Ono give Matsuda about himself?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Matsuda say the smell of burning most likely means now that the war is long over?

2. Why is Ono irritated at Setsuko's insistence that Saito never heard of Ono until the miai?

3. Why didn't Moriyama applaud his student's maturing talent as an artist?

4. How does Matsuda console himself when thinking of his actions during the war?

5. After re-establishing contact with Matsuda during Noriko's marriage negotiations, what contact have Ono and Matsuda had before Matsuda dies?

6. How does Ono console himself that he did not visit his old friend as often as he had intended to?

7. What happened to Moriyama's best student, Sasaki?

8. What effect did Moriyama try to create in his paintings?

9. How does Ono believe a teacher should regard his students diverging from his teachings?

10. The reader learns some news about Noriko at the same time Matsuda does. What is the news?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Many questions in this story are left unanswered or answered only by implication. Did Ono's father burn his paintings? Did Moriyama burn his paintings? Why did the Miyakes withdraw from the marriage negotiations? Discuss such subtleties and ambiguities as a stylistic device for you as a reader. Do you find it intriguing? Frustrating? Both? Neither? For instance, how would the story have been different if the author had simply said, "The Miyakes withdrew abruptly from the marriage negotiations when they talked to Kuroda and learned that Ono had turned him in to the patriotism committee," or "My father tried to teach me that art was an unacceptable career choice by burning my paintings."

Essay Topic 2

Compare and contrast the personalities of Noriko and Setsuko based on their conversation and behavior. Remember that Ono comments on the character of the two girls. Do your observations agree with his?

Essay Topic 3

Ishguro uses political diction when describing the art world. When a student artist went against his teacher's style, he was called a "traitor," and his work an act of "treachery." Such students were banished from the fellowship of their fellow artists. What does this type of language tell you about the social or political world in which Ono lived? Is art important for political purposes?

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