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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 does Laura intend to do in the hotel room?

2. How does this chapter begin?

3. Who does Laura desire?

4. What prompts Laura's fury?

5. What surprises Sally about Oliver?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is Richard's most precious memory of Clarissa?

2. Why is suicide not an option for Laura?

3. Why has Virginia's attitude changed?

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

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

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

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

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

9. What do the two women exchange as Laura prepares to return home?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Is Richard Worthington Brown's death a tragedy? You need to consider the nature of tragedy as well as the illness Richard suffered.

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the tension between commitment and freedom in the lives of the characters in Michael Cunningham's The Hours. Focus particularly on two major characters and one minor one.

Essay Topic 3

Explain the ways in which multiple points of view enrich the narrative in Michael Cunningham's The Hours.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 756 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample