Spirited Away

Prologue-Part 1

Reading Check

1. A bouquet of flowers from her friend (Prologue)

2. Her flowers start dying. (Prologue)

3. Red (Part 1)

4. An abandoned amusement park (Part 1)

5. Train whistle (Part 1)

Short Answer

1. Chihiro is miserable and skeptical, and she clearly misses her old friends and school. She does not have any interest in finding out about the new place and rejects it. (Prologue)

2. Chihiro’s parents seem to dismiss her feelings and downplay her reaction to moving. (Prologue)

3. Chihiro sees some discarded Hokora (shrines) lying on the side of the road. Her mother tells her that some people think spirits live inside them. (Part 1)

4. A gust of wind followed by the appearance of the Dosojin statue (actual term not needed for answer) spook Chihiro; she spotted it in the woods beforehand, and it seems to be communicating something. (Part 1)

Part 2

Reading Check

1. Pigs (Part 2)

2. A bathhouse (Part 2)

3. Haku (a boy dressed in white who seems to know magic; name not yet revealed) (Part 2)

4. The lamps are being lit. (Part 2)

5. Dark shadowy spirits (Part 2)

Short Answer

1. Chihiro and her parents cross a dried riverbed. This could symbolize either their crossing over into the spirit world, or Modern Humanity’s Abandonment of Spirituality and Nature. (Part 2)

2. Chihiro’s parents find an array of hot, prepared foods, many of which are rare and all of which smell delicious. They start eating without considering whose food they are eating or the consequences of what they are doing. (Part 2)

3. Chihiro has an instinctual feeling that something is not right, and she worries that they will get in trouble for eating the mysterious food without permission. (Part 2)

4. Chihiro is met by a strange boy who warns her that she is in danger and needs to cross the river immediately. Chihiro has no clue what he is talking about, but soon returns to find her parents have turned into pigs. (Part 2)

Part 3

Reading Check

1. The river is now filled up with water and the other side seems miles away. (Part 3)

2. A large riverboat appears, and dozens of spirits of various appearances come out. (Part 3)

3. A frog (Part 3)

4. Yubaba (Part 3)

5. The boiler room (Part 3)

Short Answer

1. Haku gives Chihiro some food from the spirit world that prevents her from disappearing and allows her to stay there. (Part 3)

2. The spirits can smell the scent of humans. Haku freezes the frog who smells a human long enough for Chihiro to escape. (Part 3)

3. Chihiro cannot believe it is possible that her parents became pigs, Haku uses magic, spirits exist, and the river somehow filled up. (Part 3)

A bird with a human head (Yubaba) is looking for Chihiro. Haku insists she must go to the boiler room and ask for work to force Yubaba into letting her stay. (Part 3)