View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. To what does the narrator compare the sound of the waves at the end of Section 3's beginning?

2. Who instigated the kiss in the garden?

3. Who tells Rhoda in Section 1 that someone has arrived to pick her up?

4. Who does Bernard refer to as a "drunken sailor?"

5. Who hears "something stamping"?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe how Section 2 is structured.

2. Describe the way Section 3's introduction, the italicized vignette, fits in with the rest of Section 3 as a whole.

3. Overall, what should the reader take away as most significant from Section 1?

4. Briefly analyze Neville's attitude towards religion.

5. Describe how each character is presented in Section 1.

6. Which of the characters appears most at ease in Section 3, and why?

7. Why does Woolf use a line or two of monologue rather than dialogue to introduce the children in Section 1?

8. Describe the attitude of the characters towards each other prior to Percival's arrival in Section 4.

9. What is significant about the way Section 2 is introduced?

10. Why is it relevant that Bernard is the first speaker in Section 4?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

When Jinny kisses Louis, only Susan is privy to the event, and this event should have only affected these three characters. But the loss of innocence pervades the whole novel. Write an essay which examines the theme of the loss of innocence, beginning with an analysis of "The Kiss" and its effect on the group.

Essay Topic 2

What is the significance of Woolf choosing the passage of a single day as a metaphor for the passage of a group of lives from childhood to old age and even death? What about the metaphor is apt, and what does not seem proper? Why does Woolf include such a vast variety of images that do not always play into the central meaning of the text? What is the importance of the italicization of these passages? Elaborate as much as you can.

Essay Topic 3

Write a detailed essay that argues that Percival is either: 1) an intrinsic character to the novel, made only more important by the fact that he doesn't speak and dies at the novel's midpoint or 2) a kind of outlier or distraction, both for the characters in the text and the reader. In the course of this essay evaluate Percival's significance, his effect on each of the characters, and the role his death plays in shaping other character's lives.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,511 words (approx. 6 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample