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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What is the cause of Dr. Tokai's death?
(a) Drowning.
(b) Drug overdose.
(c) Self-starvation.
(d) Jumping off a bridge.

2. Who coordinates Dr. Tokai's personal calendar?
(a) Dr. Tokai's female secretary.
(b) Dr. Tokai's male secretary.
(c) Dr. Tokai's mother.
(d) The unnamed narrator of the story.

3. What type of literary device is used within Kino's wife's declaration that there had been something wrong between her and Kino from the start, "as if [they'd] done the buttons up wrong" (168)?
(a) Simile.
(b) Personification.
(c) Hyperbole.
(d) Onomatopoeia.

4. What verb is used to describe the way in which Habara had come to the "provincial city north of Tokyo" (121) four months before the story's beginning?
(a) Led.
(b) Brought.
(c) Moved.
(d) Transported.

5. In college, Kino had been a "standout" (148) in what sport?
(a) Squash.
(b) Middle-distance running.
(c) Swimming.
(d) Diving.

Short Answer Questions

1. To thank his personal scheduler, Dr. Tokai takes what action frequently?

2. How does Dr. Tokai say his method had worked in relation to keeping himself from falling in love with the married woman?

3. How often does Scheherazade come to see Habara?

4. According to the narrator, for how many years has Dr. Tokai been performing the same romance rituals?

5. To Habara's amazement, Scheherazade tells him that she can recall what phase of her life?

Short Essay Questions

1. How is vivid imagery employed within Scheherazade's depiction of her former life as a lamprey eel?

2. The narrator states that "affable" (83) people almost always have what other qualities?

3. What are Kino's feelings toward his ex-wife and her lover, who had also been Kino's colleague?

4. Who is Goto and what is his role in the story entitled "An Independent Organ"?

5. The unnamed narrator of the story "An Independent Organ" presents Dr. Tokai as an example of what type of person?

6. Discuss the significance of Murakami's use of a simile to describe the moment when Dr. Tokai falls in love.

7. Around the time Kino's cat disappears, what other creatures begins to show up outside of the bar and what do they symbolize?

8. To what work is the title of the story "Scheherazade" referring and what is the significance of the title?

9. How does the theme of appearance versus reality emerge within the stories that Scheherazade tells to Habara?

10. What attitude does the unnamed narrator have about the prospect of having children?

(see the answer keys)

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