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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 does Naoko say would be "wrong"?

2. What other living thing did Toru and Naoko see that day in the meadow?

3. What strange thing did Nagasawa once eat to end a feud between freshmen and upperclassmen?

4. What does Toru say was Nagasawa's greatest virtue?

5. What does Naoko think would happen if you fell into the hidden well?

Short Essay Questions

1. What was the "field well"?

2. What was the morning ceremony at the dormitory where Toru lived as a college student?

3. How did Storm Trooper affect Toru and Naoko's plans in January 1969?

4. What does Nagasawa tell Toru are his reasons for wanting to join the Foreign Ministry?

5. How did Toru and Naoko celebrate her twentieth birthday?

6. How does the dining hall at Ami Hostel compare to the dining hall at Toru's dormitory?

7. Why does the narrator, Toru, say that memory is such a funny thing as he describes the scene he remembers from the meadow?

8. Why is Naoko's roommate referred to as "Dr. Ishida"?

9. How does Midori feel about her father?

10. Describe Area C.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In the beginning of the novel, Toru says that from Kizuki's death he learned that death is not separate from but part of life. How is this philosophy carried out through the rest of the novel?

Essay Topic 2

In what way does Murakami use sex to represent the ways in which people communicate with one another? Please use at least three examples.

Essay Topic 3

How does grief play a role in shaping the characters in this novel? Please use at least three examples.

(see the answer keys)

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