View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What language is Nagasawa teaching himself in Chapter 8?

2. In what city is Toru, years later, when he is reminded of Hatsumi?

3. How does Toru tell Hatsumi that Kizuki died?

4. On what does Toru cut his hand at the beginning of Chapter 8?

5. What does Toru receive an invitation to in the spring of 1970?

Short Essay Questions

1. What was Reiko's courtship with her husband like?

2. What happened to Reiko's marriage?

3. How does Toru's second visit to the Ami Hostel go?

4. How does Midori describe her father's funeral?

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

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

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

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

9. What happened to precipitate Reiko's first mental breakdown?

10. Describe Naoko's sister.

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

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 3

Discuss Murakami's use of music to develop his story.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,001 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample