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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 had Noa not thought of before Akiko speaks out in class in Book Two, Chapter 15?

2. What does Solomon ask his father to explain when he tells his father that he wants to take over the family business in Book Three, Chapter 21?

3. At the end of Book Three, Chapter 12, what does Yangjin want to do before she dies that she is not able to do?

4. What does Sunja tell Hansu about Noa and Mozasu in Book Three, Chapter 8?

5. In Book Two, Chapter 7, what does the father of the boy tell Haruki when Haruki says he can not prosecute the other children?

Short Essay Questions

1. What causes Etsuko's divorce as described in Book Three, Chapter 9? How has this affected her relationship with her children?

2. What does Solomon want to do for his and Hana's relationship in Book Three, Chapter 14?

3. What does Ayame find and experience at the park on the walk home from the bathhouse in Book Three, Chapter 6? What does she see and experience when she returns to the park a second time?

4. Why does Mozasu not want Solomon to take over the family business in Book Three, Chapter 21?

5. What does Etsuko think about her role as a mother in Book Three, Chapter 10?

6. In Book Three, Chapter 21, what does Sunja find inside her bag while at Isak's grave and what does she do with it?

7. What does Yangjin say in her pent-up final thoughts to Sunja in Book Three, Chapter 12?

8. How are the women in Phoebe's family different than in Solomon's family as described in Book Three, Chapter 18? Why is this the case?

9. Why does Phoebe find it difficult to live in Japan as described in Book Three, Chapter 16?

10. Where does Etsuko finally find Hana in Book Three, Chapter 15? What does Etsuko do when she sees her?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Noa and Mozasu are raised alongside one another and eventually both come to be working in pachinko parlors in different places in Japan. While Noa eventually commits suicide, Mozasu continues along working and raising his son. How do their different outlooks on life lead to different futures for them? Use at least three examples for each of the brothers to compare how they are similar and/or different. How does their upbringing, knowledge of their father, or things they are told about the world shape the actions in their lives? Finally, extend this larger: what does the novel show by putting these two characters alongside one another?

Essay Topic 2

The history of the Christian church in Japan carries throughout the novel. How does faith in Christianity shape the lives of the characters? Why is Christianity seen as such a threat in the beginning of the novel? How do those who do not follow Christianity understand it? Has the understanding of Christianity in the larger society change from the beginning to the end of the novel? Use at least three textual sources and two outside sources to develop a picture of faith and examine how it relates to the events of the novel.

Essay Topic 3

Do some research on the idea of "diaspora." Kim Changho returns to Korea because he longs to see his homeland. Noa eventually becomes a Japanese citizen and travels back to Korea. Meanwhile, the other members of the family are unable to get Japanese passports and can only have Korean passports, which are useless, and so they can not travel internationally or back to Korea. All of these events relate to longing for a homeland, diaspora, and the regulation of human bodies moving across geography. Use the concept of diaspora to focus on two characters in the novel and examine their connection to a homeland, their in-betweenness of identity and belonging, and how they navigate the policing of their bodies. How do they navigate heartache, pain, humiliation, and difficulties? Explain what diaspora is in relation to them.

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