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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 characters encounters Johnny Walker while walking through the woods?

2. What color is the entrance stone?

3. How does Nakata feel after the entrance stone is flipped?

4. Why does Kafka think his mother abandoned him?

5. When Mrs. Saeki rests her hand on Nakata's chest, what rushes into him?

Short Essay Questions

1. While wandering through the woods, what disturbing dream does Kafka have about Sakura?

2. Who is Colonel Sanders?

3. How does Colonel Sanders explain his physical form to Hoshino?

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

5. Why does Colonel Sanders bring Hoshino to the religious shrine?

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

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

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

9. How does Mrs. Saeki react when Kafka confronts her about the possibility that she is his mother?

10. Why did Mrs. Saeki first open the entrance stone?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Nakata, like Kafka, is a man haunted by his past. First, describe the event that altered Nakata's life forever. Then, explain how this disastrous event affected Nakata's life into adulthood. What ailments continued to plague Nakata long after the event occurred?

Essay Topic 2

In the Prologue to this novel, Kafka warns his friend, Crow, that "Fate is like a small sandstorm that keeps changing directions." What did Kafka mean when he gave his friend this warning? Explain this quote and give at least two examples from the text that exemplify this theory.

Essay Topic 3

There are many talking animals in this novel. First, create a list of animal characters and explain their role within the novel. Then, discuss your reaction to the presence of talking animals in an adult novel. Was their integration into the storyline successful? Why or why not? How does their presence make this novel fit into the genre of magical realism?

(see the answer keys)

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