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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 was the age difference between Naoko and her sister?

2. What college's sweatshirt does Hatsumi put on when she and Toru return to her apartment?

3. What color dress does Hatsumi wear to the celebration dinner?

4. What object does Toru tell Naoko triggered memories of Kizumi at the pool hall?

5. How many times was Reiko hospitalized before coming to Ami Hotel?

Short Essay Questions

1. What kind of student was the young girl Reiko taught?

2. Describe Naoko's sister.

3. How does Toru get Midori's father to eat?

4. What is Toru's opinion about Nagasawa and Hatsumi's relationship?

5. What have Midori and her sister decided to do with the bookstore?

6. Where did Hatsumi learn to play pool?

7. What is Midori's theory about Toru's girlfriend?

8. What is Toru's answer to Hatsumi's question of why he sleeps with random girls when he doesn't find much pleasure in it?

9. What happens in the middle of the night on Toru's second night in the women's apartment?

10. What does Toru learn about Naoko from Reiko's letters?

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

One of the themes Murakami develops throughout "Norwegian Wood" is the idea of a connection between the mind and the body. Choose two characters and discuss how that connection or disconnection is exhibited in the novel.

Essay Topic 3

In what way does Reiko's story of her own life encompass all of the main themes of Murakami's novel into one tale-within-a-tale? Please be specific.

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