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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 battle has been won?

2. What does Richard call death?

3. How many times will Clarissa Dalloway have kissed a woman?

4. What is the cause of Mary's emotional distress?

5. How does Virginia describe Vanessa's hand?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why has Virginia's attitude changed?

2. Why does Laura delay joining her husband in bed as his birthday draws to an end?

3. What gives Laura the feeling that she has actually succeeded in achieving a kind of perfection?

4. What writing decision of Virginia's is prompted by her success in her campaign to move back to London?

5. What is unusual about Louis' visit?

6. What makes Virginia, at this point, begin to reconsider killing off her character, Mrs. Dalloway?

7. What fears does Virginia have at this point in the novel?

8. Which character is referred to as the subjugated Amazon Queen?

9. What are some of the ways in which Laura justifies to herself her trip to the hotel just in order to read?

10. Over what matters concerning Julia does Clarissa worry?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How can knowledge of the context in which literature was composed deepen a reader's appreciation of the text? In your answer, refer closely to The Hours by Michael Cunningham, but you might expand your response by including reference to an additional text.

Essay Topic 2

What does the novel The Hours have to say to us about human love and human frailty? Express your ideas with close reference to the text.

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?

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