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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. Which of the following spirits frequents Kafka's bedroom while he is sleeping?

2. Who is the director of the films that Hoshino watches back to back?

3. Why does Kafka think his mother abandoned him?

4. Who do the police suspect has hired Nakata as a hit man?

5. What is the one thing that Hoshino wishes he could change about himself?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Kafka react to the desolate village that the Japanese soldiers guide him to?

2. How does Kafka react when he is approached by the Japanese soldiers in Oshima's woods?

3. What happens when Crow encounters Johnny Walker in the enchanted woods?

4. What is the origin of Kafka's name?

5. How do Nakata and Hoshino know that the entrance stone is working?

6. What does Kafka decide to do with his life after emerging from Limbo?

7. What does Mrs. Saeki ask Nakata to do with her memoirs?

8. What book did Mrs.Saeki write after collecting interviews?

9. What conversation does Hoshino get into with the elderly coffee shop owner the day that the entrance stone is flipped?

10. Why does Oshima wake Kafka in the middle of the night with a frantic phone call?

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

The face of evil took many different forms in this novel - Johnny Walker, Colonel Sanders, and the white salamander. First, describe how each of these creatures embodied the force of evil. Then, explain why each of these beings was so intent on opening the entrance stone.

Essay Topic 3

The woods surrounding Oshima's cabin are a place of great wonder to Kafka. First, explain Kafka's initial reaction to the woods and explain how his opinion of this place changed throughout the course of the novel. Then, give at least two examples of lessons Kafka learned about nature due to the time he spent in Oshima's woods.

(see the answer keys)

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