View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. How many times did the man ask Kazu to be his girlfriend before she agreed?

2. What is Kyoko's brother's reaction when Kazu mentions his mother's name?

3. How old is Kazu?

4. In what modern kind of text does the narrator explore the use of onomatopoeia and mimetic language?

5. When does Kazu tell Miki she will be old enough to pour the coffee?

Short Essay Questions

1. When Gohtaro wakes up just after eight o'clock, what does Miki try to do, and how do her father and Kazu react?

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

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

5. When Gohtaro first sees Shuichi in the past, why does the gesture of putting his hand around his coffee cup cause Gohtaro to suddenly panic about his own ability to communicate?

6. Why does Gohtaro want to travel to the past?

7. What item does Kazu offer the ghost, and how do her emotions change during this encounter?

8. What warning does Kazu give Gohtaro about remembering to drink his coffee?

9. How does the subject of Kyoko's son Yohsuke come up in conversation?

10. Why does Kazu sound stern when she tells Gohtaro, "You know that even if your return to the past, reality won't change, right?" (13)?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

By the end of Tales from the Café, how has Kazu changed? What details and language early in the story establish that Kazu is trapped in the past? How does Kawaguchi use exposition and narrative action to explain her situation and begin to resolve it over the course of the four stories in the collection? How do other characters contribute to the change Kazu undergoes? What details and language at the end of the story demonstrate that Kazu has finally begun to heal from her grief? Write an essay that traces the development of Kazu's story and analyzes how she changes over the course of this collection. Support your assertions with evidence drawn from throughout the text, and be sure to cite any quoted evidence in MLA format.

Essay Topic 2

What figurative meaning is there in the text's advice to drink the coffee before it gets cold? How is this figurative meaning supported by the descriptive passages about the origins, taste, preparation, and serving of the coffee? What does it mean that the people drinking it are customers in a timeless and somewhat magical café, not just people drinking coffee that they made in their own homes? What other details and language in the text support the idea that the coffee is symbolic? Write an essay that analyzes the symbolic significance of coffee in Tales from the Café. Support your assertions with evidence drawn from throughout the text, and be sure to cite any quoted evidence in MLA format.

Essay Topic 3

What does Tales from the Café convey about the fleeting nature of human life? Because life lasts a finite and unpredictable amount of time, what does this text advise people do to maximize their happiness? What are some issues from the past that might encroach on a person's present happiness? How does the text advise people to deal with these issues? Write an essay in which you take and defend a position on the theme of Tales from the Café. Support your assertions with evidence drawn from throughout the text, and be sure to cite any quoted evidence in MLA format.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,203 words (approx. 5 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample