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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 kind of work does Oko ban Matahachi from doing?

2. What is the name of the military captain's commander?

3. What part of his body has Muasashi injured?

4. Where does Matahachi find laboring work?

5. What does Musashi say the talk with Nikkan makes him feel like?

Short Essay Questions

1. How is Matahachi's mother rude to Takeo's family in this section?

2. Who is Jotaro?

3. How does Jo's father show his torment in this section?

4. Describe Matahachi's mother's character?

5. How does Matahachi take advantage of Sasaki Kojiro's death?

6. How does Jo's father react when Matahachi takes food from him?

7. How has Matahachi's life changed for the worse at the beginning of Book III?

8. Why does Akemi's mother demand Akemi continue to steal from corpses?

9. Why do Osugi and Gon want to kill Musashi?

10. Why do the priest say they killed the men?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What is Takuan's role in the books? How would the book change if he were not one of the characters?

Essay Topic 2

Examine the construction of Yoshikawa's argument.

1. How does he introduce his ideas?

2. How does he construct his ideas to come to logical conclusion?

3. What weaknesses and strengths can you identify in Yoshikawa's argument?

Essay Topic 3

What are the main turning points of the book? How does Yoshikawa develop his story to get to each turning point? What happens to the story after a major turning point?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 640 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample