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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 does the narrator learn the Woman in the Purple Skirt had done with other staff members after her third day of work?

2. On the Woman in the Purple Skirt's third day of work, does the narrator go to work on her day off?

3. What does the bus driver do after the Woman in the Purple Skirt announces her accusation?

4. Who brings the Woman in the Purple Skirt to work after she stops taking the bus in the mornings?

5. Where does the girl in the park say her parents purchased the items she has at home with the hotel logo on it?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe the conversation between the Woman and Supervisor Tsukada about the hotel shampoo and why the Woman does not use it.

2. What do the Woman and director do at the bus stop after the bar? What does the director learn he lost? What happened to this item?

3. What happens when Supervisor Tsukada confronts the Woman in the Purple Skirt about the stolen hotel items?

4. What does the Woman discover when she sniffs the other staff members' water bottles? Does she check the narrator's? Why or why not?

5. What rumor does the narrator overhear about the Woman in the Purple Skirt?

6. In what ways does the staff treat the Woman very different than the narrator has ever been treated by them?

7. What does the director discuss at the second monthly meeting the Woman attends? What does he task supervisors with and how do they feel about this?

8. Why is the narrator annoyed with the way the Woman explains the bus incident to the director and others? What does she imagine doing the next time she has a chance?

9. What happens when the staff learn someone is selling hotel items at the local bazaar? Who do they think is behind it?

10. How does the narrator know the Woman in the Purple Skirt met the director on her day off from work?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Choose a character and discuss their role in creating conflict in the book.

Essay Topic 2

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

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay analyzing Imamura's commentary on the theme of loneliness in The Woman in the Purple Skirt. How is this theme important to the story? How does it affect the narrative? Use textual evidence to explain your analysis.

(see the answer keys)

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