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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 world does Laura feel she now inhabits?

2. Where does Clarissa find Richard?

3. What is Louis' sad observation?

4. What does Laura remember being sold in novelty shops?

5. What causes Laura's unexpressed desperation?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. Why has Virginia's attitude changed?

3. Over what matters concerning Julia does Clarissa worry?

4. Why does Walter want to buy his young partner a present?

5. What does Virginia see as a kind of devil?

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

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

8. In what way is Laura's ambivalence towards her husband evident in Chapter 19 of The Hours?

9. What distracts Laura as she gets out of her car at Mrs. Latch's house?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

There are numerous interpersonal tensions running through all sections of Michael Cunningham's The Hours. Discuss two of these interpersonal tensions. Are they resolved during the novel? How do they affect the characters who are involved? How are these tensions associated with the themes and/or symbols that are important in the novel?

Essay Topic 2

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 3

Write an essay that discusses the contribution of the minor characters in The Hours. Could any of them have been omitted? What difference do they make to the story? Do they enrich it in any way?

(see the answer keys)

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