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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 Librarian ask the Caretaker in the Power Station chapter?

2. What happens to the skulls when the narrator begins to play the music?

3. What does the librarian notice about the narrator's statements during dinner?

4. What does the chubby girl begin reading in the narrator's apartment?

5. What kind of power is the Town apparently running on?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does the narrator tell the librarian about why he got divorced?

2. What does the narrator say he plans to do with the Librarian's mind once he has read it?

3. Describe the Town's power source.

4. Describe the taxi that picks up the narrator and the chubby girl after the exit from the underground in Chapter 31.

5. Which situation does the narrator define as "despair" in Chapter 33?

6. What is the significance of the narrator's realization of what the accordion is and how to use it?

7. Given what the narrator tells his shadow about why he plans to stay, what do you think he plans to do with his time in the Town?

8. Explain the beasts' feeding habits as observed in Chapter 26.

9. Describe the significance of the music in Chapter 36.

10. What does the narrator do after arriving in his apartment in Chapter 31?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Explain how "shuffling" is done and the significance of this process for the novel's exploration of consciousness.

Essay Topic 2

Describe what the narrator refers to in Chapter 35 as "despair", "disillusionment" and "hell" and explain why he says he's unable to create a better life for himself.

Essay Topic 3

Describe the author's attention to the physical needs of the characters in each storyline and explain how Murakami's depictions add to the overall effect of the story.

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