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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 is unusual about the coffee that Kazu pours for Gohtaro?

2. Where did Haruka meet Satoshi Obi?

3. Whom does Gohtaro think that the woman who seems to be the young girl's mother looks very like?

4. What are the repetitions of the isolated, bolded words "clang-dong" meant to signify?

5. What does Gohtaro do for a living?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Kyoko reveal about her brother's reaction to their mother's death?

2. Which characteristics of Shuichi's give Gohtaro "grounds for faith" that Shuichi will quickly understand that Gohtaro has traveled back in time (31)?

3. What reason does the narrator give for Kiyoshi asking his question of the café staff?

4. Why does the narrator use vague language to describe the tears falling during the encounter between Shuichi and Gohtaro?

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. How did Shuichi's and Gohtaro's lives take different paths after college?

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

9. How did Gohtaro end up raising Shuichi's daughter?

10. 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?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Miki is portrayed as an eccentric child who is happiest when she is singing loudly, showing off her new backpack, pretending to be French, or mischievously criticizing her father or trying to persuade him to allow her to pour the coffee. How does this characterization relate to the "collectivistic" and "shame" aspects of Japanese culture? Would Miki's eccentricities be depicted as charming in an older character? Write an essay contextualizing the characterization of Miki within the collection's depictions of what honor, pride, and shame look like for older characters. Support your assertions with evidence drawn from throughout the text, and be sure to cite outside sources and any quoted evidence in MLA format.

Essay Topic 2

In a text that focuses on the hopes and desires of different characters who come and go over the course of several separate stories, what is important about having Kazu's situation also reflect key thematic motifs? Which of the thematic motifs in Tales from the Café does Kazu's life story amplify? How does Kawaguchi encourage the reader to care about Kazu and whether she finds happiness? Write an essay that discusses the importance of Kazu as a consistent central figure in Tales from the Café and analyzes the techniques that Kawaguchi uses to make Kazu's happiness significant to the reader. Support your assertions with evidence drawn from throughout the text, and be sure to cite any quoted evidence in MLA format.

Essay Topic 3

In "Lovers," Kurata advises Asami about how to cope with the death of her unborn child. What is the advice he gives her? How does this advice relate to the book's thematic concerns with grief, regret, and finding happiness? How does it relate to the fleeting nature of human life? How does it relate to love and the system of mutual obligation between friends and family members? How does this advice end up traveling and impacting the lives of several other characters? Write an essay that shows how Kurata's advice distills many of the thematic concerns of the novel and why it is therefore appropriate that this advice goes on to positively impact the lives of many other people. 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)

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