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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. What information does the narrator keep in her journal about the Woman in the Purple Skirt?

2. What does Supervisor Hamomoto tell the Woman in the Purple Skirt Supervisor Tachibana takes from work?

3. Considering all the advice Supervisor Tsukada gives to the Woman, how long does the narrator feel it will take her to complete training?

4. What had the director gone to school for prior to working at the hotel?

5. What did the narrator overhear Supervisor Tsukada telling the director about the Woman in the Purple Skirt on her first day?

Short Essay Questions

1. Who does the narrator follow at the start of the story? Where does she go each week? What does she buy? Where does she sit after?

2. What changes does the narrator note about the Woman when she has a job versus when she does not?

3. What does the narrator do while the director is training the Woman in the Purple Skirt during her first day of work?

4. What does the narrator leave on the Woman's park bench to assist in her job hunt?

5. How do the hotel employees feel about the Woman in the Purple Skirt when she first starts working there?

6. What surprises the narrator about the Woman in the Purple Skirt after they begin to work together?

7. What happens at the park after the Woman sits with her apple after her first day of work?

8. Who is Mei-chan and how does she relate to the Woman in the Purple Skirt?

9. Why is the narrator not surprised when the Woman struggles to get hired?

10. Where does the Woman in the Purple Skirt live? What does this place reveal about the Woman?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss Imamura’s focus on the theme of obsession as presented in the novel.

Essay Topic 2

Write a detailed analysis of tone in Imamura's The Woman in the Purple Skirt. Include whether the tone changes or remains the same. If it changes, include details on when, why and whether this change is effective.

Essay Topic 3

Discuss elements of the narrative structure: Exposition, conflict, complication, climax, resolution and conclusion. Do all the elements make for a logical and linear story? How does the story's structure express the novel's themes?

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