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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. Which of the following is not part of the story that Monkfish relates to Eiji?

2. What is Subaru Tsukiyama's relationship to Eiji?

3. Who is Monkfish?

4. Who does Eiji call to share the good news about the response to his newspaper ad?

5. What have the yakuza done to Mrs. Yamaya because of her attempts to use the information she has gathered about their activities?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does the second truck driver Eiji rides with in Chapter Eight want to commit suicide and why does he change his mind?

2. As he learns about Subaru Tsukiyama's life, what insights does Eiji begin to get about his own life?

3. What secrets does Ai Imajo reveal about herself in Chapter Six, and what do her revelations indicate about her changing relationship with Eiji?

4. How is the manuscript Eiji finds about Goatwriter an allegory for Eiji's own adventures?

5. Explain how Eiji gets a new job in Chapter Six.

6. What is the significance of Eiji's final dream about Anju in which Anju tells him to go away so he will not drown, too?

7. Why is the Nero's delivery truck driver with whom Eiji rides in Chapter Eight alone in his life instead of married?

8. Is the earthquake in Tokyo at the end of Number Nine Dream real or fantasy?

9. What does Mrs. Yamaya's letter in Chapter Seven reveal about her relationship with the yakuza?

10. Why is Eiji's grandfather disappointed in Eiji's father?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the treatment of women in Number Nine dream.

Part I: Which women are treated well by men and which women are treated poorly by men in the novel? How do you explain any differences in the way women are treated?

Part II: Does the treatment of women in the novel reflect the role of women in Japanese society? In what ways?

Part III: What might Ai's defiance of her father to attend school in Paris symbolize about the changing role of women in Japanese society?

Essay Topic 2

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 3

Two suicides and one contemplated suicide occur in Number Nine Dream. Discuss Mr. Aoyama's suicide, Subaru Tsukiyama's suicide, and Monkfish's contemplation of suicide. What motivates each of them and what theme(s) or lesson(s) do you think the author is trying to convey through these incidents? Cite examples from the text to support your arguments.

(see the answer keys)

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