View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. How does May Kasahara describe her love life in Chapter 5?

2. What does the woman do to Toru's mark in Chapter 4?

3. What changes about the style of writing in Chapter 3?

4. In Chapter 8, how does Creta Kano say she eventually managed to pay off her debts?

5. What is the only piece of information printed on the card that the woman gives Toru in Chapter 2?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. Why does Creta Kano become a prostitute?

3. What two requests does Creta Kano make of Toru Okada in Chapter 14 and how does he respond?

4. How does May Kasahara describe her situation in Chapter 5?

5. What is the Clumsy Massacre of Chapter 9?

6. Describe the interchange Toru has with the woman on the bench in Chapter 2?

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

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

9. Describe Toru Okada's dream at the end of Chapter 16?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

A major theme of Murakami's novel is personal reinvention, and this reinvention is often made most explicit in characters who choose to rename themselves and others. Write an essay about characters in the novel who choose to change names, focusing on three instances. What events transpire that precipitate this change? What is the nature of the change? Is the change permanent? Conclude each paragraph by stating the essential thematic purpose for this change in name.

Part 1) Toru Okada, when speaking with May Kasahara.

Part 2) Malta and Creta Kano.

Part 3) Toru Okada's cat.

Essay Topic 2

Regularly throughout the novel, characters discover something deeply spiritual about themselves, brought about by their close proximity to death. Write an essay about three of these instances and their meaning in the novel:

Part 1) Describe the harrowing experience Lieutenant Mamiya experiences in Mongolia. How is he affected by his day in the dry well before being rescued? What changed in his outlook of the world?

Part 2) At what point does Creta Kano, after years of constant and unremitting pain, achieve some type of relief? What does this transition have to do with a proximity to death? How is this change connected to her eventual, more ethereal profession?

Part 3) When does Toru Okada develop the blue-black mark on his face? What traumatic and somewhat dangerous occurrence does this follow? What new and spiritual powers does this mark seem to imbue Toru with?

Essay Topic 3

In The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Haruki Murakami juxtaposes the fantastical with a sort of general malaise that permeates modern Japanese society. Write an essay about this general malaise, describing how it manifests itself in the business world, in politics, and in popular culture. How do both Toru Okada and May Kasahara choose to ignore this malaise? Do they drop out of society? Conclude by discussing how this portrait of Japan reflect the Lost Decade in which the novel is set.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,158 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample