1. Why did Ono need a new house?
Ono needed a new house to keep up with his family status and to improve the marriage prospects of his daughters. It is for this reason that his wife Michiko had begun to pressure him to find a new house.
2. Who sold Ono the new house and why?
Akira Sugimura's daughters sold their late father's houseto Ono. A significant section of Sugimura's family was against selling the house but the sale was inevitable due to financial pressures.
3. Why did Ono pay so little for Akira Sugimura's house?
Ono only paid a nominal sum for the house - a figure probably not even half the property's true value at the time because Akira Sugimura's daughters only wanted to sell the house on grounds purely of good character and achievement. They wanted whoever bought the house to be someone that their father would haveapproved of and deemed worthy of the house. This made them to relegate the financial aspect of the sale as secondary and they fixed a very low price for the house.
4. Explain what "auction of prestige" means.
An auction of prestige as used in An Artist of the Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro refers to a sale conducted based on good character and achievement instead of financial aspects of the sale. In such an auction, the one with the highest moral character wins the bid not the one willing to pay the highest amount.
5. What happened to Ono's house in An Artist of the Floating World?
During the war, a bomb fell on Ono's house damaging a large section of it. The extensive damageto the house took Ono long to repair due to scarcity of materials and finances.
6. Explain the effects of war in an Artist of the Floating World.
War causes deaths.Ono losses his wife Michiko and son Kenji during the war.Michiko was in the house when it was bombed and died as a result. Kenji, on the other hand,was fighting alongside other young men when they died while trying to cross a field full of landmines.
War causes destruction of property. Ono's house is destroyed during the war and he struggles to rebuild it. Other buildings are also destroyed during the way including Migi Hidari.
War has psychological effects on the survivors. Ono suffers from grief having lost his son and wife to the war.We are also told that Mrs. Kawakami lost many of her relatives to the war and suffers from grief.
7. Explain any two themes in An Artist of the Floating World
Theme of grief. Ono Suffers from grief after losing his wife Michiko and his son Kenji during the war. Akira Sugimura's youngest daughter and Mrs. Kawakami also suffers from grief having lost most of their relatives to the war.
8. Name Ono's daughters starting with the eldest
Setsuko
Noriko
9. Why were Ono and his wife worried that their eldest daughter Setsuko could not make a good marriage?
Ono and Michiko viewed Setsuko as too plain to make a good marriage. She had rather masculine features which seemed only to grow more pronounced with adolescence.
10. How does Setsuko's masculine appearance in childhood affect her personality as an adult?
Due to her masculine features, Setsuko was referred to as "Boy! Boy!" whenever she quarrelled with her younger sister Noriko. As a result Setsuko grew up so shy and retiring.