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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 Ono believe should give Matsuda and him satisfaction as they review their lives?

2. Why doesn't Ono go to Moriyama's villa?

3. Where does Ono believe his own mannerisms come from?

4. What is the "floating world"?

5. What does Ono mean when he talks of the art students "slanging" one another?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

4. What does Ono say the New Japan proved about him and about Matsuda?

5. Why did Moriyama's students never comment directly to him about his paintings?

6. What does Matsuda believe was his and Ono's great misfortune?

7. Why does Matsuda say he never married?

8. What has changed since 1948 in regards to Ono's painting?

9. Years ago, Matsuda had accused Ono of having a narrow artist's perspective. What does Ono say about his perspective now that he is retired?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What do you see as Ishiguro's overarching theme in this story? Why did he write it? What is he trying to teach, and to whom? Consider the fact that the book was published first in English.

Essay Topic 2

There are several places in this story where a character's speech does not reflect their actual opinions. Setsuko's conversations with her father are examples. Select and analyze a scene where you are able to establish that what is being said is not genuine. How do you know? How is the writer able to convey that double message to you as a reader?

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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