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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 kind of milk was Shinsuke raised on?

2. What does the narrator's father try to bribe the narrator with?

3. What city does Akutagawa head towards at the beginning of the story?

4. What has the narrator been hired to write?

5. What does Yasuckichi have to write for Lieutenant Honda?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Akutagawa's wife increase his panic?

2. What is the life of the Stupid Man about?

3. What happens to the baby?

4. How do the Honda's relative's react to the eulogy?

5. Why does Akutagawa become so upset about the raincoat?

6. What does the narrator say he remembers about his mother?

7. Why does Yasukichi write cliches and sentimental clap-trap in the eulogy?

8. Summarize the Spinning Gears story.

9. Why does Shinsuke come to appreciate the fact his mother did not breast feed him?

10. How does Shinsuke deal with what he calls his fake parents?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What does the Rashomon gate symbolize in the story Rashomon? How does the gate reflect the servant's own state of mind?

Essay Topic 2

What In the Bamboo Grove say about unreliable narration? How can the court get to the truth?

Essay Topic 3

In what way is death a constant theme throughout the book? In what way do the Japanese view death differently to other western cultures? Does the author share this view?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 678 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample