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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 the unusual light in Richard's apartment reveal?

2. How does Virginia describe Vanessa's hand?

3. Where will Laura put her robe?

4. What jewelry is Laura wearing?

5. What is implied about Richmond station's yellow wooden benches?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

4. Why has Virginia's attitude changed?

5. Why is suicide not an option for Laura?

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

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

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

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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?

Essay Topic 2

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 3

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.

(see the answer keys)

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