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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 old was Yukio when he accepted the wholesaler's offer?

2. When Asami addresses Kurata "brusquely," what does this indicate her tone is (97)?

3. What causes Kiyoshi to reveal his identity to Kimiko?

4. Whose is Kiyoshi referencing when he talks about the dying man who travels into the future?

5. What lie about the future does Kiyoshi tell Kimiko toward the end of their conversation?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Kiyoshi feel partially responsible for his wife's death?

2. For Yukio, what is especially cruel about the timing of Kinuyo's death?

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

4. A year prior to the events of "Husband and Wife," what does Kiyoshi see in the café and what does it make him realize is true?

5. How did Yukio's perception of his own circumstances change over the years of his apprenticeship?

6. How did Yukio lose all of his money?

7. What are the conditions that Kurata gives Fumiko for either bringing or not bringing Asami to the café?

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

9. Immediately after losing all of his money, what is the only solution to his problems that Yukio can think of, and what prevents him from choosing this solution?

10. What is so tricky about Kurata's time-travel plans, and how has he tried to plan ahead to overcome this difficulty?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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 2

The café's major rules for time travel are first explained in "Best Friends." Later in Tales from the Café, though, the reader learns a few more rules--among these, that travelers are able to leave objects behind in the past. Given that this rule is not introduced until later, in "Mother and Son," do you think that it is only introduced because it is necessary to Yukio's story? What does this rule imply about the nature of time? Is this implication consistent with other ideas about time in this story? Write an essay in which you consider whether the rule about the giving and receiving of presents while time traveling is consistent with the rest of the stories in the collection or whether it is just a convenience to explain why Yukio is able to give his mother the passbook. Support your argument with evidence drawn from throughout the text, and be sure to cite any quoted evidence in MLA format.

Essay Topic 3

The motif of parental stand-ins begins in the story "Best Friends" with Gohtaro's adoption of his friend's orphaned child and with the parallel scenes between Miki and the younger version of Kazu. Later in the text, the reader learns about the relationship that developed between Kinuyo and Kazu after Kaname's death. What is Tales from the Café saying about stand-in and adoptive parents? Consider all three of these relationships--Gohtaro's with Haruka, Kazu's with Miki, and Kinuyo's with Kazu--as you write an essay analyzing the text's messages about parental relationships not through blood, but through choice. Support your assertions with evidence drawn from throughout the text, and be sure to cite any quoted evidence in MLA format.

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