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 game do local children play in the park to see who has to tap the Woman in the Purple Skirt's shoulder?

2. How does the narrator know The Woman in the Purple Skirt?

3. How long after her job interview does the Woman land her new job?

4. How long has it been since the narrator last saw her sister?

5. What does the narrator do one day when a salesman sits on the Woman in the Purple Skirt's Exclusively Reserved Seat?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. In what ways does the Woman in the Purple Skirt remind the narrator of her sister? What is the narrator's relationship with her sister?

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

4. 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?

5. What does the narrator to do try to get shampoo samples to the Woman? Is she successful?

6. Describe the training the director gives to the Woman in the Purple Skirt on her first day,

7. How did the narrator once try to engage with the Woman in the Purple Skirt? What was the result?

8. In what way does the narrator feel she may have helped the Woman in the Purple Skirt win over the director and supervisor so quickly?

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay analyzing Imamura's language style and word choice in The Woman in the Purple Skirt. What are some words that stand out to you and why? What words are repeated? What words are most impactful? Explain your answers.

Essay Topic 2

Pick a character from the novel and discuss their goals and motives. Do they achieve their motive? Do they share similar goals and motives with other characters? Do their goals clash with other characters? How do the characters' goals and motives affect their interaction with each other?

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay analyzing the symbolic significance the narrator's backstory has on the story. Why is this important and how does it develop the themes of the story? What would be different if the narrator had a close-knit family? Use examples from the text to support your viewpoint.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 926 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample