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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. Where does Nakamura interview for a job in Section 4, Chapter 10?

2. What does Dorrigo bargain for with Nakamura during the beating in Section 3?

3. What does Jack Rainbow's widow unexpectedly ask Dorrigo if he believes in, in Section 4, Chapter 12?

4. Who is the prisoner that finds Darky collapsed near the camp in Section 3, Chapter 16?

5. By what method are the Goanna and other prisoners executed?

Short Essay Questions

1. How do the prisoners react when they are forced to watch as Darky Gardiner is killed in Section 3, Chapters 20-21?

2. How is Dorrigo's visit with Jack Rainbow's widow described in Section 4, Chapter 12?

3. How are Dorrigo's relationships with his wife and children described in Section 5, Chapter 6?

4. What prevents Rooster MacNeice from speaking up for Darky in Section 3, Chapter 19?

5. Where does Nakamura apply for a job in Section 4, Chapter 10? Who hires him?

6. What stops Colonel Kota from beheading Darky in Section 3, Chapter 15?

7. What happens when Nakamura enters the room with the prostitute in Section 4, Chapter 2?

8. How is the significance of Jimmy Bigelow's bugle revealed in Section 5, Chapter 14? What happens to the bugle?

9. What are Amy's current circumstances like in Section 5, Chapter 10?

10. What is revealed in the letter for Dorrigo from Ella in Section 5, Chapter 18?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the themes of culpability, responsibility, and history in the novel. Do you think that the Japanese characters in the story accept their culpability for the horrors visited on the POWs? Why or why not? How does the Goanna view his own responsibility for the crimes he is convicted of?

Essay Topic 2

Analyze and discuss the characters of Major Nakamura and Colonel Kota in the novel. How are Kota and Nakamura similar? How are they different? What are the overall objectives of each of these characters?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the author’s depictions of gender in The Narrow Road to the Deep North. What were gender expectations like for women in the 1940s when the novel takes place? Do you think that the women in the story adhere to those gender standards? Why or why not? Are the women in the novel portrayed as three-dimensionally as the men?

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