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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 the chubby girl say her grandfather can do for the narrator in regards to his wound?

2. Why does the narrator say, following the chubby girl's line of thinking, that the two of them will have to help her grandfather?

3. What does the librarian try to get the narrator to hear while they are lying in bed?

4. What time of year does the narrator say it is at the beginning of Chapter 2?

5. What do Junior and Big Boy do to the narrator, saying they have no choice?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the source of the noise that dominates the first half of Chapter 23?

2. Describe where the narrator's shadow lives.

3. What do you know about the narrator's job based on your reading of Chapter 3?

4. Briefly describe the memory the narrator has while climbing the underground tower with the chubby girl.

5. Explain the narrator's reaction to the skull the Professor gives him as a gift.

6. Give a brief description of the beasts introduced in Chapter 2.

7. Why does the chubby girl think her grandfather's lab hasn't been broken into in Chapter 21?

8. What does the narrator realize in Chapter 17 about Junior's reference to a "time bomb"?

9. What does the Gatekeeper have to say about the fact that the narrator got lost in the Woods and fell ill?

10. Describe the differences between Western and Eastern unicorns as presented in Chapter 9.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Explain some of the main characteristics of existentialist literature and describe how Murakami's novel is similar.

Essay Topic 2

Write a detailed characterization of Murakami's use of literary and musical references, describing his choice of usage and explaining how these choices add to the development of the characters.

Essay Topic 3

Consider the first two chapters of the book. In the first chapter, the narrator is stuck in an elevator. In the second chapter, the beasts and the coming of autumn are described. Compare and contrast the tone of both of these chapters.

(see the answer keys)

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