The Seventh Man

Which of the following statements represents a theme of "The Seventh Man"?

• If someone is a good friend, he/she will sacrifice him/herself for that friend.

• Fear should be avoided at all costs.

• Self-forgiveness is important for surviving survivor guilt.

• Death is not something of which to be afraid.

Which of the following BEST describes the situation in the frame story of "The Seventh Man"?

• The seventh man is speaking to fellow soldiers, all facing the dangers of war together.

• The seventh man is addressing a group during a storm.

• After a devastating loss, the seventh man finally makes peace with his past.

• After failing to save his childhood friend, the seventh man finally learns to forgive himself.

Which TWO of the following details from the text support your answer to Question 1?

• "As I said before, though, overcome with fear, I abandoned him there and saved only myself" (41).

• "I stayed away from my home town for over forty years. I never went near that seashore - or any other" (48).

• "I might have been making a terrible mistake all those years. As he lay there in the tip of the wave, surely K. had not been looking at me with hatred or resentment" (53).

• "And then I realized that the deep darkness inside me had vanished" (60).

• "But the most frightening thing we can do at such times if to turn our backs on it, to close our eyes" (65).

Which of the following is the MOST IMPORTANT detail from the events following K.'s death?

• He falls ill and has nightmares.

• He moves to Nagano.

• He starts attending a different school.

• He spends hours studying K.'s artwork.

Which of the following statements explains why the seventh man's view of the past begins to change?

• Studying K.'s art, he remembers that K. was gentle and realizes that his last look was not one of hatred.

• After his father dies, he returns home and realizes that he did not need to move to Nagano.

• Studying K.'s art, he realizes that K. would not have minded dying in the wave.

• After his father dies, he realizes that it was the second wave, not the first, that killed K.

When the seventh man is finished telling his story, he says that if we "turn our backs on" fear, "we take the most precious thing inside us and surrender it to something else" (65). What does he MOST LIKELY mean by these statements?

• If we ignore our fear, we will lose our lives to a natural force such as a storm.

• If we avoid our fear, then we give the fear power over ourselves and lose our freedom.

• If we do not respect our fear, then we will need to surrender to our enemies.

• If we do not respect our fear, then others will lose their respect for us.

Which of the following BEST describes the mood established in this detail from the frame of the narrative?

"The small group that huddled in a circle could hear the wind tearing through the darkness outside, heading west" (2).

• violent

• ominous

• meditative

• angry

Which techniques below does the author use to create suspense in the story? SELECT ALL THAT APPLY.

• foreshadowing

• point-of-view

• theme

• dashes

• mood

Why is the seventh man's first-person narration important to the story?

• The seventh man's experiences are presented in a fair, objective way.

• The pacing is more rapid because many story events are quickly summarized.

• The seventh man's feelings are vivid because he shares them himself, making him more empathetic in the reader's eyes.

• Suspense increases because the reader does not know what the seventh man knows.

Which of the statements below is an effective topic sentence for the following prompt:

What does Haruki Murakami suggest it takes to survive in "The Seventh Man?"

• How Murakami suggests survival in "The Seventh Man."

• Murakami talks about survival in "The Seventh Man."

• In "The Seventh Man," the main character survives because he runs away from the wave.

• Murakami suggests in "The Seventh Man" that instinct is important for survival.