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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 25, why is Toru heartened by his life?

2. Who is Yoshitaka Wataya?

3. Whose computer is in the Residence?

4. Why can Cinnamon not speak?

5. At the end of Chapter 15, May says that what about her new home sometimes overwhelms her?

Short Essay Questions

1. What plans do most women in May Kasahara's factory have?

2. What war atrocity occurs in Chapter 26's story?

3. What plan does Kumiko reveal in Chapter 17?

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

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

6. That is Nutmeg's concern in Chapter 24?

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

8. What circle of connections does Toru Okada uncover in Chapter 23?

9. What problem does Ushikawa admit with Kumiko's meeting Toru, and how does he solve it in Chapter 19?

10. How does Nutmeg's marriage end in Chapter 20?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle is a hodgepodge of different types of narrative forms, with some chapters wildly divergent from or seeming unrelated to, the central first-person narrative of Toru Okada. Write an essay about several chapters that are different from the main narrative. How do they connect to this central narrative? What story do they tell? Is there a particular theme that these other chapters serve to illuminate?

Part 1) The tabloid articles.

Part 2) The letters from the factory town.

Part 3) The third person chapters.

Essay Topic 2

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.

Essay Topic 3

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?

(see the answer keys)

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