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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. How many times a day did the woman Shonagon saw coming does the hill to the Upper Shrine say she was making the pilgrimage?

2. What terminology did Shonagon and Tadanobu use to discuss men and women when they didn't want anyone else to know what they were talking about?

3. What kind of woman did Shonagon say she couldn't understand anyone loving?

4. What were the musicians singing at the rehearsal of the Special Festivals?

5. Who recited the perfect lines at the gathering following the service dedicated to the late Chancellor?

Short Essay Questions

1. When the ladies visited the guard house in "While We Were in Mourning for the Chancellor" why did the guards get angry with them?

2. Why did the Empress keep the note Yukinari sent with the square cakes?

3. Why was Nobukata upset by Shonagon's response to his inquiry about how she felt about the poem "had not yet reached the term of thirty?"

4. Why did Shonagon want to change places with the woman she met on her way up the hill to the Upper Shrine?

5. Why did the Empress say that she could understand why Shonagon would be particularly impressed by Tadanobu's finding the perfect lines to say at a gathering following a service for the late Chancellor?

6. Why did the Chancellor tell the Empress that he must have good karma on the day after the Dedication of the Full Canon?

7. How did people respond to Masahiro being dressed more elegantly than most men and why did they respond that way?

8. Why was Shonagon so impressed with Michinaga's obeisance to the Chancellor?

9. Why was Nobukata offended when Shonagon teased him about liking to have a place to lie down and rest?

10. Why did Tadanobu tell Nobukata about the secret code he and Shonagon spoke in?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What was life in the women's apartments like for Shonagon? What was the building like? How did the people interact? What role did the apartments have in Shonagon's social life?

Essay Topic 2

Describe the political atmosphere following the death of the Chancellor. What impact did it have on Shonagon's life? How as the Empress affected?

Essay Topic 3

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?

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