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. What is offered for Saburo's capture?

2. Who is Saburo?

3. What does Yoshida do after discovering the celebration?

4. With whom does Yoshida find fault when he watches the boys' practice?

5. Who is to control the snipe?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Okada respond to Jiro's question?

2. What does Kinshi steal for a celebration and what happens?

3. What does Jiro offer to about the new play and what is the outcome?

4. How does Jiro practice puppeteering skills?

5. How is Jiro's family getting along?

6. What do Jiro and Kinshi get to do on stage during one performance?

7. Who does Jiro meet at the theater and what does the person tell Jiro?

8. What does Jiro discover when he goes to steal the script for the next play?

9. What does Jiro hope about his father and what is the outcome?

10. What is the basic plot of the play?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Choose one of the following to discuss:

1. Choose two significant symbols and trace and analyze their appearance in The Master Puppeteer. Are these universal symbols? Would they be understood in any culture? Are there other symbols that would portray the same idea? What are they? Why do you think Peterson chooses the symbols he does?

2. Choose two important metaphors and trace and analyze their appearance in the novel. Are these universal metaphors? Would they be understood in any culture? Are there other metaphors that would portray the same idea? What are they? Why do you think Peterson chooses the metaphors she does?

3. Discuss Peterson's use (or lack ) of literary device (such as foreshadowing, clifthangers, deux ex machina, etc...), and how they add or detract from the story. Does Peterson use too many or too little literary techniques? State which of the five major elements of fiction the literary device is related to (style, character, plot, setting, theme).

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the following:

1. Who is/are the protagonists of the story and why?

2. Who is/are the antagonists of the story and why?

3. Which 3 secondary characters have the greatest impact on the plot?

4. Are any of the characters dispensable and which ones? Why or why not?

5. Do you think this is a character-driven plot or an action-driven plot? Explain.

Essay Topic 3

In this story, the gap between people's wealth and their social position is particularly large. This is because it is a time of famine, and the farmers are forced to give most of their food to the daimyos. The rice merchants have grown extremely rich while the farmers and other peasants are poor and starving. The samurai might be considered very important on the social scale, but Jiro tells us that even some of the samurai are starving on very small rice stipends. This has made people very angry and restless, as the lowliest and undeserving members of society, the merchants are getting rich and fat while those who should be more important starve. The famine has only made these feelings worse, and has caused the peasants of the city to become desperate.

1. Compare a day in the life of a peasant with a day in the life of a Lord in feudal Japan. Use examples from The Master Puppeteer to support your reasoning.

2. Do you think the rice merchants have an obligation to feed the masses? Why or why not? Use examples from The Master Puppeteer to support your reasoning.

3. What kinds of behaviors do you think desperate, starving people will display and how does starvation of the masses enter into many revolutions in countries? Use examples from The Master Puppeteer to support your reasoning.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,128 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample