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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. At the beginning of Chapter 11, what does Toru remember doing with his father as a child?

2. In Chapter 13, what memory of Yanamoto's death does in Lieutenant Mamiya say he will never forget?

3. What article of clothing does Toru Okada agree to wear to his meeting with Malta Cano in Chapter 3?

4. What does Toru Okada rename his cat in Chapter 6?

5. What does the factory where May Kasahara works produce?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Kumiko explain her own disappearance in her letter of Chapter 11?

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

3. Why does Toru Okada stay in the well longer than he intended?

4. What does the unnamed boy see in Chapter 3?

5. What does Noboru Wataya want to say to Toru Okada in Chapter 3?

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

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

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

9. In the story of Chapter 13, why does the Russian commander choose not to kill Lieutenant Mamiya?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle is replete with images of imperiled children such as young Nutmeg, Kumiko, and her sister, Cinnamon. Write an essay about the world of the novel as a place when the innocent are not safe, focusing on three wounded adults who are trying to escape childhood traumas. What trauma is each trying to escape? How does this fear lead each to make an equally destructive choice in adulthood? In conclusion, what is Murakami saying about the relationship between childhood and adulthood?

Essay Topic 2

In the Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, the central protagonist is Toru Okada, but the character of May Kasahara provides a tertiary plot-line that mirrors Toru's. Write an essay about May Kasahara's story. What adversity does she face, and how did this come about? Thematically, how is her story similar to Toru Okada's? What is the nature of her alienation, and how does she overcome it? Conclude the essay by explaining how May's story ends similarly to Toru's.

Essay Topic 3

Haruki Murakami's novels almost always involve grown men who have not fully developed emotionally and several strong-willed women who force them to question their world-views. Write an essay about Toru Okada's relationship with the women of the novel. How is Toru's emotional growth stunted at the beginning of the novel? What shattering event forces him from his torpor at the beginning of the novel? Choose three women who enter his life after this event and discuss their relationship to him.

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