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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. In a reminiscence in Chapter 9, why does Kumiko refuse to speak to Toru Okada for three days?

2. At the end of Chapter 2, Malta Kano calls Toru Okada to set up a meeting between him and whom?

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

4. In Chapter 11, Toru Okada is surprised to find packaging for what in his waste-basket?

5. In Chapter 14, Creta Kano states that she now considers her physically numb state from before she met Noboru Wataya to be what?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. Describe Toru Okada's life at the beginning of the novel.

4. Describe the marital tiff the Okada's have as related in Chapter 9?

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

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

7. Describe Nutmeg.

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

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

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

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

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle is a vast menagerie of different storylines and themes. One theme that lingers beneath the surface of the central narrative is the legacy of the Second World War and its psychically wounding effect. Write an essay about the war's place in the novel, in two parts below:

Part 1) Write a paragraph about the veterinarian and his days in the Chinese zoo as the allies approach. How do the few events mentioned in the book about this man indicate an absurd force driving the war? What does Murakami mean to get across about the war by the fact that these stories are told by two characters that never fought in World War Two?

Part 2) Write a paragraph about the war stories of Lieutenant Mamiya. To what extent does Mamiya's narrative illustrate the brutal realities of war? How have these experiences affected Mamiya is the War's end? How are they a counterpoint to the stories of the veterinarian?

Essay Topic 3

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.

(see the answer keys)

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