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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 Eiji find inside the file folder?

2. In what city does the book open?

3. What is the name of the building in which Akiko Kato works?

4. What happens to Anju when Eiji has to leave her to go on an overnight trip with his soccer team?

5. Who do the yakuza men lock up with Eiji in Chapter Four?

Short Essay Questions

1. What factors make Eiji feel out of place in Tokyo?

2. Describe the letter Eiji receives from his stepmother in Chapter Three, and how it affects him.

3. Who does Eiji initially think "father" is in Chapter Four, and who does "father" eventually turn out to be?

4. What does Eiji's helping Daimon after the yakuza injure Daimon indicate about Eiji's character?

5. Discuss Eiji's playing of video games in Chapter Three and what the video games symbolize.

6. Who is Cat and what does Eiji's relationship with her indicate?

7. Who kidnaps Eiji in Chapter Four and why is Eiji kidnapped?

8. Why does Eiji engage in so much fantasy and daydreaming?

9. How does Eiji's experience with Daimon on his twentieth birthday illustrate his naivety?

10. What information does Ryutaro Morino have about Eiji's father and how does he obtain it?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Compare and contrast Eiji's relationships with his three male friends: Suga, Daimon, and Buntaro. Also, discuss how he meets each of these friends, how they help him and whether he helps any of them, what his relationship with each of them is like, and whether any of the relationships change over the course of the novel.

Essay Topic 2

Family is an important concept in Number Nine Dream. Compare and contrast Eiji's relationships with his real family members with his relationships with his Tokyo friends who become a substitute family to him. What do you think the author is saying through Eiji's relationships about family?

Essay Topic 3

At the beginning of the novel, Eiji is a procrastinator and daydreamer, and spends more time in fantasy and illusion than in reality. Discuss Eiji's character growth over the course of the novel, how he differs at the end of the novel from how he is at the beginning, and what helps facilitate any change in him.

(see the answer keys)

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