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. What does Toru want to know about Noboru Wataya in Chapter 15?

2. What personal question does Toru Okada ask Kumiko in their internet chat in Chapter 22?

3. What word do May's parents have to explain to her regarding the Miyawakis in Chapter 28?

4. Where is Nutmeg's husband murdered?

5. At the beginning of Chapter 25, why is Toru heartened by his life?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Toru overcome Noboru Wataya in Chapter 35?

2. Who does M consult a healer in Chapter 12?

3. What does Toru do after Nutmeg and Cinnamon stop coming to the residence?

4. How does Lieutenant Mamiya meet Boris the Manskinner for the second time?

5. How does May Kasahara express her attitude to her wigs in Chapter 15?

6. In Chapter 22, what does Kumiko say about her current state of mind?

7. What does May Kasahara remember about the Myawaki's in Chapter 28?

8. Why is Toru content in Chapter 25?

9. What questions about The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle does Toru have in Chapter 27?

10. What sad reality does May Kasahara admit to in Chapter 18's letter?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay about Nutmeg and Cinnamon. What is their function within the novel? Begin the essay by discussing their lives before meeting Toru Okada and how Nutmeg comes to be fascinated with the protagonist. What about the mother and son makes them unusual and eccentric? In the final paragraph, discuss the possibility that Cinnamon is the author of the novel. What is on his computer that would lead a reader to this conclusion?

Essay Topic 2

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.

Essay Topic 3

Perhaps the most central theme of The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle is the interconnectedness of humanity and the impossibility of escaping said interconnectedness. Write an essay about several characters' attempts to distance themselves from humanity and how they are pulled back:

Part 1) Why does Kumiko try to alienate herself from her family? How does she go about doing this, and how is she pulled back into the Wataya sphere? To what extent is Kumiko destroyed emotionally and existentially by her return to her family?

Part 2) Why does May Kasahara choose to leave Tokyo, and where does she go? Is this flight indicative of a desire to be separated from the society at large? Who is the only person with whom she maintains communication? How does she rediscover her interconnectedness with society?

Part 3) How is Toru Okada the definition of social alienation at the beginning of the novel? Who does he have in his life, and what does he do with his days? Write out the steps by which he leaves his house and accepts other into his life.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,006 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample