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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. Who surprises Jane by showing up at the shoot?

2. What was Akiko's job prior to getting married?

3. As a result of the doctor visit, what has happened to John?

4. What else upsets Akiko's husband?

5. What does Jane find the criteria for the show to be?

Short Essay Questions

1. What stereotypical gender role is not fulfilled at this next shoot?

2. Unfortunately for Akiko, what happens to her when John finds out she has purposefully become infertile?

3. Why does Jane hesitate to send Suzie the tape?

4. Why does Akiko's husband want her to watch the show, My American Wife!?

5. Why does Jane have her production assistant take John to a strip club?

6. When Purcell stops eating chicken parts, what happens?

7. How did Akiko and John meet?

8. What surprises Suzie Flower during her sociological survey?

9. Because the author is like the novel's main character, what distinct qualities does she bring to her protagonist?

10. What does the reader begin to suspect about Jane?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How does Ruth Ozeki portray Japanese men? Japanese business men?

Is she using a stereotypical model that she knows?

Is she too quick to judge this group of men?

Essay Topic 2

This novel places a lot of importance on strong female relationships.

Describe the following relationships and why they are necessary for the characters involved:

-Akiko and Jane

-Lara and Dyann

-Lara, Dyann, and Jane

-Jane and her mother

Essay Topic 3

Akiko seems to seek happiness that money and status cannot buy.

For what sort of happiness does she strive?

Does she think she will be able to create it without her husband?

(see the answer keys)

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