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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What similarity is there between Kazu's approach to art and her approach to customers at the café?
(a) They are both analytical.
(b) They are both spontaneous.
(c) They are both intuitive.
(d) They are both objective.

2. In what modern kind of text does the narrator explore the use of onomatopoeia and mimetic language?
(a) Video games.
(b) Pop songs.
(c) Movies.
(d) Comics.

3. What amuses Kazu and Kyoko about Miki's backpack?
(a) Miki is wearing it upside-down and backwards.
(b) Miki has decorated it with drawings of anime characters.
(c) Miki is wearing it even though school is not yet in session.
(d) It is a color traditionally not worn by small children.

4. What does Kyoko believe about her brother not attending their mother's funeral?
(a) She is worried that something has happened to him.
(b) She thinks he was too angry at her to attend.
(c) She is concerned that he is too depressed to leave home.
(d) She wonders if the information reached him in time.

5. From the context, what is it likely "sakura" means when Shuichi tells Haruka that "the sakura were in full bloom" on the day of her birth (36)?
(a) Hydrangeas.
(b) Cherry blossoms.
(c) Irises.
(d) Chrysanthemums.

Short Answer Questions

1. Besides a love of insects, what does the narrator say links Japanese culture to the other culture discussed in the opening of "Mother and Son"?

2. Where did Miki get her red backpack from?

3. How does Kyoko react to Nagare's suggestion about a present for Kiyoshi's wife?

4. During the conversation between Kazu and Kyoko, what is Kiyoshi doing?

5. What quality is conveyed by the "sepia" lighting in the café?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does the exchange between Kyoko and Kazu about Kazu's boyfriend characterize both women?

2. How does the juxtaposition of the made-up lyrics to Miki's song with Kyoko's emotions after her confession about her brother highlight Kyoko's distress?

3. Which element of Gohtaro and Shuichi's relationship in college foreshadows their relationship outside of college?

4. When Shuichi tells Haruka in his message, "If it is for you, I can do anything," what does this foreshadow (36)?

5. What details at the beginning of the story convey to the reader that Kyoto is a regular customer at the café?

6. What happens to Gohtaro physically when Kazu pours the coffee?

7. Why is Kyoko not interested in using the café's time-traveling service to go back in time to try to fix the problem with her brother?

8. What rule of time traveling in the café does Gohtaro almost immediately break when he returns to the past, and who saves him from this error?

9. When Gohtaro tells Shuichi, "Haruka has decided to get married," how does the narrator explain Shuichi's reaction, and what does the reader later learn is the real reason for his reaction?

10. What causes the narrator to suggest that Kyoko might be thinking, "Saved by Miki" when Kyoko suddenly bursts out laughing on page 53?

(see the answer keys)

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