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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. According to Toru in Chapter 23, how are Cinnamon's grandfather and Lt. Mamiya connected?

2. In Chapter 10, May Kasahara's boss tells her that genes determine what percentage of whether someone will go bald?

3. Who does Nutmeg suspect is the source of the tabloid stories?

4. Why can Cinnamon not speak?

5. In Chapter 38, what choice of hers does Kumiko blame on her brother's sins?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. What plan does Kumiko reveal in Chapter 17?

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

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

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

7. Why is Toru content in Chapter 25?

8. How does Toru Okada's opinion of his wife change over the course of the novel?

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

10. Describe Cinnamon.

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

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.

Essay Topic 3

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.

(see the answer keys)

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