Name: _________________________ | Period: ___________________ |
This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.
Short Answer Questions
1. What color of under-robe was depressing in the Eighth Month?
2. What dried plant evoked a memory from the past in the section titled "Things That Arouse a Fond Memory From the Past?"
3. In the section titled "One Day When the Emperor Visited Her Majesty's Rooms" what did the Emperor bring with him on his visit?
4. What was the residence of the Major Captain of the Smaller Palace of the First Ward called?
5. Who did the Empress refer to as "heavenly maidens floating in the air?"
Short Essay Questions
1. Why did the name of the water-plantain amuse Shonagon?
2. Why did the women hit one another with gruel sticks?
3. Why did the Emperor walk toward the Empress' building while playing his flute?
4. What did Narimasa do in the section titled "When the Empress Moved" that indicated he was attracted to Shonagon?
5. What caused Hitachi no Suke to stop coming to the Palace?
6. Why did the Empress scold Shonagon when she complained that people would see the women looking shabby as they entered the house because the gate was too small?
7. Why did the Empress give the old nun, whom the women later dubbed Hitachi no Suke, one of her own robes?
8. What made Shonagon come into the Empress's apartments after she left because the screens with the paintings of Hell frightened her?
9. Why did Shonagon say a wickerwork carriage should move swiftly?
10. The herbal balls hung on the pillars of the Empress' palace during the Festival of the Fifth Month were supposed to last until the next Chrysanthemum Festival. Why didn't they last until then?
Essay Topics
Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:
Essay Topic 1
How did Shonagon treat men differently from women? What did she say about each? Whom does she compliment? What might account for the differences in the way she treated men and women?
Essay Topic 2
What role did romance play in Shonagon's life? What rules for romance did she have?
Essay Topic 3
How did living at court affect Shonagon's view of the world? How did she feel about ordinary, but necessary, things? Was her view of the world realistic?
This section contains 863 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) |