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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. How did the new art teacher at Kurosawa's school respond to his art work?

2. Reading his family tree, young Akira realize his ancestors included whom?

3. How does Kurosawa describe the style of institution that Kuroda Primary School is?

4. At the end of The Fragrance of Meiji, the Sounds of Taisho, Kurosawa says that is sorry children of today do not have what?

5. What did Kurosawa's father insist he do if he is to take Kendo lessons?

Short Essay Questions

1. What memories does Akira Kurosawa have about movies in his childhood?

2. In Keika Middle School, how does Kurosawa refute the assessment that he was no good at sports?

3. Describe Akira's relationship with Aunt Togashi.

4. In Whirlwind, what sort of decline did Akira's older brother have?

5. How did Kurosawa's brother toughen him up as a child?

6. Describe the memories of sound that Kurosawa describes at the end of this section?

7. In Honor and Revere, how did Akira improve his math skills?

8. Why does Akira Kurosawa not understand the concept of hometowns?

9. Describe the memory of the dog in Babyhood?

10. What embarrassments did young Akira experience at his father's hometown?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

When Akira Kurosawa began to establish himself in the film industry, the War was still going on and a group of Japanese censors were reviewing his films. Write an essay about his conflicts with the censors. What specific issues do the censors have with his early pictures? How does he respond to these issues? Discuss the way Kurosawa describes the censors int he text. How did the conflict between the censors and Kurosawa end with the War?

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay about Akira Kurosawa as an outsider in his own life. Begin by discussing his earliest memories, how he has transformed them into mini-films. What other situations from his early childhood have become fodder for his films? Discuss how his early life is marked by an analytical appraisal. Why is he able to so easily dissect his though process in deeply emotional moments from this period?

Essay Topic 3

Throughout the events of SOMETHING LIKE AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY, Akira Kurosawa is clearly a city boy. From time to time, he goes to the country, and the experience is always one of growth for him. Wirte an essay about these trips and how they help him grow into an adult. How does Kurosawa's first experience with sake at his father's childhood home turn out? Why does his father later send him to Toyokaya Village? What role does the country play in the films of Akira's early career?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,136 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample