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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. With whom does Kinuyo enter the café when Yukio is in the past?
(a) A man Yukio does not know.
(b) Kazu.
(c) Yohsuke.
(d) Kyoko.

2. What is implied when the narrator says that, upon hearing of his mother's death, Yukio "heard a tautly stretched string snapping inside his head" (66)?
(a) He realized that nothing more prevented him from committing suicide.
(b) He was enraged at Kyoko's duplicity and wanted revenge.
(c) He felt deep shame at having stayed away from his mother for so long.
(d) He decided that there was no longer any reason to strive to repay his debt.

3. What detail does the narrator offer about the wholesaler that foreshadows his eventual disappearance?
(a) He complains of large debts.
(b) He does not pay his bills on time.
(c) No one in Kyoto has heard of him before.
(d) His business is newly established.

4. Who bought the café's Christmas tree?
(a) Nagare's wife.
(b) Nagare.
(c) Kazu.
(d) Kazu's boyfriend.

5. Why does Yukio regret it immediately after he blurts out that it looks as if Kinuyo has lost weight?
(a) He suspects that his mother's poverty prevents her from getting enough food.
(b) Her weight has always been a sore subject with Kinuyo.
(c) He knows that it is impolite to comment on his mother's appearance.
(d) He does not want to draw attention to her illness.

Short Answer Questions

1. How long has Yukio been deep in debt?

2. On page 71, how does Nagare react to Yukio's sudden appearance in the past?

3. Who is the woman running the café when Kiyoshi returns to the past?

4. What is Kinuyo's interpretation of Kazu's intentions in adding the stirrer to Yukio's cup and asking him to pass on her regards to his mother?

5. Which term accurately expresses how the narrator characterizes Kurata in the exposition explaining Katsuki's work life?

Short Essay Questions

1. When Kimiko enters the café, whom does Kiyoshi pretend to be, and why?

2. What is Fumiko's relationship to the café?

3. What happened when Kimiko tried to intervene in the mugging incident?

4. What is Kurata wearing in the story's opening, and why does it make him seem out of place?

5. What comparison does Yukio make between his own situation and that of a character in Maeterlinck's The Blue Bird?

6. When Yukio is discouraged about his future, what keeps him working toward becoming a potter?

7. What lies does Yukio tell his mother about taking care of himself, and why does he tell these lies?

8. What does Kinuyo explain to Yukio about the silver stirrer, and what does he realize this means Kinuyo knows?

9. How did Kinuyo prove her devotion to her son over and over during his childhood?

10. After Asami suffered a miscarriage, what advice did Kurata give her?

(see the answer keys)

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