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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 direction does Yasuko face when the family eats together?

2. What does Shingo buy at the fishmonger's after work in Chapter 1?

3. What day of the week did the maid leave?

4. How old is Yasuko?

5. During what season did Fusako leave her husband?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. Why do the sunflowers make Shingo think of heads?

3. What type of a person was Toriyama?

4. Why does Shingo try to get Kikuko to lie down in Section 2 of Chapter 7?

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

6. Describe Shingo's family.

7. How does Shingo attempt to make his wife stop snoring?

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

9. What music is Kikuko playing at the beginning of Chapter 3?

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 learns that Kikuko has had an abortion. Discuss abortion and how it affects various characters.

Essay Topic 2

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

Essay Topic 3

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.

(see the answer keys)

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