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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. In what year did the elementary school teacher admit to lying to authorities about what happened in the woods that day?

2. When Kafka wakes up in the middle of a blackout, where has he sleepwalked to?

3. What type of fish falls from the sky, exactly as prophesied?

4. During what year did the children pass out in the woods?

5. Which of the following books does Kafka read in the hotel room where he is sleeping?

Short Essay Questions

1. What hypothesis does Doctor Shigenori Tsukayama make about what happened to the school children in the woods?

2. What is Goma?

3. Who is Adolf Eichmann, and what note did Oshima scribble in the margins of his book?

4. What confession does Oshima make when the stern women accuse him of being misogynistic?

5. What realization does the white cat, Otsuka, make about Nakata?

6. How does Crow react to Kafka's fear when he is alone in the cabin in the woods?

7. What complaints do the two serious women make about the library where Oshima and Kafka work?

8. How does Kafka spend his first day of freedom in the city?

9. What information does Kafka provide to Sakura about his sister?

10. In what situation is it possible for a body and soul to become separated without the body dying?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

When the entrance stone is turned, it draws together two wandering souls - Mrs. Saeki and Nakata. First, describe the lives Mrs. Saeki and Nakata had been living before the stone was turned. Then, explain how Mrs. Saeki and Nakata complete each other, and what the effects of their final meeting were.

Essay Topic 2

As a boy, Tamura decides that he would like to change his name to Kafka. First, describe how Tamura chose this name for himself. Then, compare / contrast the character of Kafka from the novel with the man whose name he borrowed, Franz Kafka. What is the same about these men? What is different? Finally, explain whether or not you think Kafka is an appropriate name for the protagonist of this novel, and why.

Essay Topic 3

When Kafka was a young boy, his father made two prophecies about him. First, explain what the two prophecies were and what Kafka's reactions were to the prophecies. Then, explain whether or not these prophecies came true, and what the reader learned about Kafka through this process.

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