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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 Chapter 15, which of the following bits of information does Ushikawa know about Toru?

2. Who acted as May Kasahara's sponsor in securing her the factory job?

3. Where is Nutmeg's husband murdered?

4. Who is Yoshitaka Wataya?

5. What has happened to Noboru Wataya in the realm of the hotel in Chapter 33?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. What plan does Kumiko reveal in Chapter 17?

3. What two bits of strange information does Malta Kano provide Toru in Chapter 30?

4. What new offer does Ushikawa make to Toru Okada in Chapter 16?

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

6. How is Toru implicated in an assassination attempt in Chapter 33?

7. What does the tabloid in Chapter 21 determine about the dummy corporation that owns the hanging house?

8. What does Toru realize about his marriage to Kumiko in Chapter 34?

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

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

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

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

Lieutenant Mamiya has perhaps the most extended personal narrative of the novel after Toru Okada. By the end of the novel, we know exactly what happened to Mamiya, in detail during the war. Write an essay, beginning with an overview of the travails this man faced in China, Mongolia, and Eastern Russia. ow did he survive, and what malicious figure continued to cross paths with him? What experience did Mamiya have in the war that was similar to Toru's? In conclusion, how is Mamiya's life a warning to Toru?

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