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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 is Fusako?

2. In Chapter 7, what type of leaf does Kikuko bring Shingo with a glass of water?

3. How many fifteen-year-old girls had legal abortions?

4. Where was there one middle-school pregnancy?

5. What type of thickets are the side of a stream Shingo sees from his window at the inn?

Short Essay Questions

1. With whom did Shingo go dancing one night?

2. What sound does Shingo hear when he wakes in the night in Chapter 1?

3. What does Shingo struggle to remember at the beginning of Chapter 1?

4. What wakes Shingo at the beginning of Chapter 8?

5. Describe the circumstances of Kikuko's birth.

6. What does Mrs. Ikeda think would help get Shuichi to leave his mistress?

7. How did Shingo come to hire Eiko?

8. Describe Shingo's family.

9. Why does Kikuko have a scar on her forehead?

10. How did Toriyama's wife torture him when she was going through the change of life?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Shingo refers to Kikuko as both injured party and absolver. Discuss what Shingo means when he refers to Kikuko as an injured party and an absolver.

Essay Topic 2

Discuss round and flat characters in the "The Sound of the Mountain".

Essay Topic 3

Shingo appears to have changed the most in the novel. Discuss how characters did or did not change through the course of the novel.

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