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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. Who chooses the pseudonyms Nutmeg and Cinnamon?

2. Who is the prophesied caller beginning with "O" that calls Toru Okada in Chapter 1?

3. Who tells the story of the massacre in Chapter 9?

4. What does Malta Kano assure Toru Okada that he will find at the end of their meeting?

5. What does Toru find in the envelope the silent boy gives him?

Short Essay Questions

1. What painful admission does May Kasahara make in Chapter 15?

2. Describe Toru Okada's dream in Chapter 2.

3. What strange event happens involving a bar folk singer in Chapter 7?

4. How does the infant Nutmeg nearly killed in the story of Chapter 9?

5. What story about a house in Koru Okada's neighborhood does his uncle tell in Chapter 10?

6. Why does Toru Okada choose to go into the well behind the old Miyawaki house?

7. How does pain return to Creta Kano's life?

8. What does Toru Okada discover while shaving in Chapter 12?

9. What information does Malt Kano provide Toru Okada in their first meeting in Chapter 3?

10. Describe Kumiko and Toru Okada's first date.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, beginning even with its title, is a novel that draws mystically from the animal world. Animals serve as harbingers and, to some extent, good-will ambassadors. Write an essay on the roles of three animals in the book. How is each animal introduced? What is its purpose, and how does this purpose become clear by the end of the novel? Does the appearance of this animal have positive or negative connotations?

Part 1) The ducks by May Kasahara's factory

Part 2) Toru's cat

Part 3) The Wind-Up Bird

Essay Topic 2

Dreams play a key role in the advancing of plot in Murakami's novel. Write an essay, discussing the role that dreams play in Toru Okada's journey. Who does he meet while in a dream state? What new information does he gain from these dreams? Write a paragraph about each type of dream the Toru has over the course of the novel. As a conclusion, discuss whether the dream-world of the novel has any concrete bearing on the waking world.

Essay Topic 3

Much of the important action of the novel, including the climax, occurs not in the real world, but in dreams and in a sort of metaphysical hotel. Write an essay about these events that occur in a sub- or supernatural world, focusing on three of them:

Part 1) When Creta Kano appears to Toru Okada, and the two have sex, how is this more than a mere erotic dream? Why does it affect both of them in their waking lives? In analyzing this sexual encounter, explain what Creta Kano's profession is, and how it relates. Why does she come to Toru's dream?

Part 2) Write a paragraph describing Toru Okada's first trip to the metaphysical hotel. What is he doing in the real, waking world that allows him entry? When Toru emerges, what has changed about him? Is this change emotional or physical?

Part 3) Describe the climax of the novel as it takes place in the hotel. What very real dangers does Toru Okada face and what achievement does he have in his conflict with Noboru Wataya? What does he understand by the end? How are his actions in the hotel reflected in his waking life?

(see the answer keys)

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