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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 is Noa's embarrassing wish in Book Two, Chapter 15?

2. What does Hana ask Solomon about when she calls him in Book Three, Chapter 15?

3. Who does the tour guide say cursed the Matsumoto-jo castle from Book Three, Chapter 5?

4. Why does Etsuko's husband divorce her as described in Book Three, Chapter 9?

5. What does Solomon do with his winning poker hand in Book Three, Chapter 16?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Mozasu tell Yumi they can not move to America in Book Three, Chapter Two?

2. 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?

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

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

5. Why does Hansu care so much about Noa's education from the background in Book Two, Chapter 18?

6. Why is Mozasu promoted to foreman of Paradaisu Seven in Book Two, Chapter 16?

7. How does Solomon get his name as told in Book Three, Chapter 10?

8. Why does Solomon get fired from his job in Book Three, Chapter 19?

9. How does Sunja feel seeing Hansu in the kitchen with her in Book Three, Chapter 4?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What is the narrative voice of Pachinko? Compare Chapter One to any of the following chapters (Book One, Chapter Five; Book Two, Chapter Nine; Book Three, Chapter One; Book Three, Chapter Two; Book Three, Chapter Fifteen) and analyze the narration style. Who is speaking throughout the different sections? When do characters speak and when are we told the words they say? When does the novel go inside the character's heads? Name the narration styles used according to what you have learned in class. Then analyze the effect of the narration styles used. What is the novel trying to show through its choices? How do different narration styles create a different effect?

Essay Topic 2

In the third book of Pachinko, with the war over, Japan begins to rebuild and Western influences begin to change society. What new ideas are introduced? How does this shape what the characters think of and what they want? What characters display new ideas or Western influence? Akiko and Yumi may be two examples of characters whose outlook is shaped by the ideas of the United States and Europe. Use at least three examples from the novel to develop a thesis: How does the outside influence of the United States, Europe, and the West affect the characters lives in the third book of Pachinko?

Essay Topic 3

Sunja and Etsuko are two characters shown in the role of a mother in Pachinko. Etsuko thinks that, "being a mother was what defined her more than any other thing" (406), and for Sunja, motherhood sets in place the events of the novel with the conception of Noa. How does motherhood define each of their lives? How do these women think similarly or differently about their relationship to their children? Why do they think this way, according to the times they were raised in, and according to what their parents taught them? What purpose do they contribute to in the novel by showing different pictures of motherhood?

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