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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. How long after their initial reconnection had Ono visited his old friend?

2. Why does the songwriter Naguchi commit suicide?

3. What does Noriko like about her apartment?

4. How does Matsuda describe the contribution he and Ono made?

5. What does Matsuda say the world sees when they look at Ono and Matsuda now that the war is behind them?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Ono approve of his teacher's distancing himself from his students' discussions?

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

3. Why does Ono admire Sugimura's work on Kawabe Park, even though Sugimura failed to accomplish his goals?

4. What does Matsuda say about his own perspective now that he is old and ill?

5. What do we learn about Setsuko from Ono's conversation with Matsuda?

6. What European influences distinguished Moriyama's work from Utamaro's?

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

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

9. How does Ono explain Naguchi's suicide to Ichiro?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Ono recalls a rumor that Sugimura built a long corridor in his house to distance himself from his parents. Analyze Ono's relationship with his own father and with his two mentors, Takeda and Moriyama. Consider also that his daughters have moved at a distance from him, visiting only once a year. What do you think Ishiguro is telling his readers about parent-child relationships? Do you agree with his ideas?

Essay Topic 2

The Bridge of Hesitation is an important symbol in this story and Ono says that he spends a great deal of time there. What does the bridge represent? Are there various possible meanings? Consider the fact that in the midst of the destruction of much of the area, the bridge remained.

Essay Topic 3

Ishiguro devotes a great deal of description to the physical venues of Ono's city. Take the point of view of a reporter who is visiting the city to report on its postwar condition in 1948. As a reporter, what would you say about the parks? The homes? The pleasure district? If you returned in 1950, what would you report? Have there been significant changes? In your second paragraph, take the point of view of the same reporter returning after two years to observe the physical differences. What is still there? What is gone? What is there that wasn't before?

(see the answer keys)

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