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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 picture hung on the wall in Toru's dorm room?

2. How did Midori learn to cook?

3. How old did Naoko turn on her birthday in April, 1969?

4. What book was Toru reading the night he went to the movies alone?

5. Who lives in Area C?

Short Essay Questions

1. How did Toru first meet Naoko?

2. How was Toru's dorm room different from most of the others?

3. How did Toru feel about joining Nagasawa's womanizing expeditions?

4. What causes the narrator to feel dizzy in the opening scene of the novel?

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

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

7. What did Naoko tell Toru in the letter she sent him in July 1969?

8. Describe Nagasawa.

9. How does Midori feel about her father?

10. How does Toru spend the summer break?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Throughout "Norwegian Wood" there are a lot of ways in which characters have difficulty communicating. Midori's father can barely speak. Naoko has trouble writing. Toru isolates himself at his house and loses touch with everyone he knows. Discuss the novel's position on the importance of communication.

Essay Topic 2

Using several examples, discuss how Murakami uses the recurring motif of a group of three characters throughout the novel to develop Toru's character.

Essay Topic 3

How does the title of the novel, "Norwegian Wood," represent the text?

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