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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 does the Master seem casual about delaying?

2. What is hard to maintain at a professional level, the longer the game of go is?

3. Where do Otake's students live?

4. To whom did the Master lose his final match?

5. What do the players wear for the ceremonial opening of the game?

Short Essay Questions

1. How is the ceremony for the game of go described by Yasunari?

2. What does Uragami do for the widow with care and deference after the Master's death?

3. How does the Master reveal his desire for enough time to not worry about time in games?

4. How are the two players described in the beginning of the book?

5. After the judges and reporters and Otake leave the inn, what does Uragami reflect upon?

6. Why does Uragami feel touched by seeing the Master in the outbuilding?

7. What are some concessions made for the game that seem very difficult to follow?

8. What is the controversy surrounding the match he had with Wu?

9. How does Uragami describe himself?

10. What does Uragami admit to having for the Master?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Kawabata mentioned some stereotypes associated with playing go. How were stereotypes often based in myth? What aspects of stereotypes seemed real? With go, many myths abounded in relation to mastery and intuition. What were they? Were they believable? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 2

Kawabata espouses a radical approach to game and thus related employment that would alter the structure of society. He describes the game player in The Master of Go as a proletariat like Marxian philosophy who is rebelling against the government in some ways. Describe the worker in The Master of Go. Do you think this is realistic and characteristic of today? Do you think the issues that Kawabata discusses are still relevant today and if so, in what ways?

Essay Topic 3

The author used more than one instance of irony in The Master of Go. Cite at least two examples that you can identify in the book and note why they were examples of irony.

(see the answer keys)

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