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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. What breed of dog is mentioned in this chapter?

2. How does Clarissa think we ought first to measure people?

3. What worrying symptoms does she think about?

4. To what is Laura's love for Richie compared?

5. What sort of top is Clarissa wearing?

Short Essay Questions

1. Comment on an aspect of the Prologue's final paragraph.

2. When Dan returned from the war, why was he given special acclaim?

3. What sets a favorable writing mindset for Virginia Woolf in this chapter?

4. Of what significance is the bird that Laura briefly glimpses?

5. Why is Richard's nickname for Clarissa ('Mrs Dalloway') an appropriate choice?

6. What does Virginia Woolf value about youth?

7. How does Laura plan to compensate for her neglect of Dan and Richie at breakfast?

8. What makes Clarissa Vaughan embarrassed?

9. What are Laura's feelings about her son?

10. When Clarissa thinks of Richard's illness, what makes her resentful?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

'In the debate about life versus suicide that tracks across the pages of Cunningham's The Hours, there is no winner.' Do you agree?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss Cunningham's style in The Hours. Was it essential for him to adopt a style similar to Virginia Woolf's in order to compose this novel?

Essay Topic 3

Much of the novel, The Hours, deals with characters' views of themselves and their fears concerning failure. Are these people actually successful, and in which ways or spheres of endeavor?

(see the answer keys)

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