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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. Which of the speakers expresses an appreciation for natural beauty in Section 3?

2. Who takes the children for a "brisk walk"?

3. How does Rhoda characterize herself at the end of Section 3?

4. How old is Rhoda in Section 3?

5. Who is enamored with the light caused by Miss Lambert's ring?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe the fears, or the lack of fears, that the characters articulate in Section 3.

2. What is the major event that occurs in Section 4, and why is it significant?

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

4. What is significant about displaying the children in school in the novel's first section?

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

6. Briefly analyze how the characters have developed as a group in the first two sections of the novel.

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

8. Why is Bernard's announcement of his engagement in Section 4 significant?

9. As the characters appear in Section 2, do you feel that they are becoming more or less self-aware? Briefly explain your answer with relevant examples from the text.

10. Describe how Section 2 is structured.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Compare and contrast the characters of Louis and Bernard, who seem to constantly sway between admiration and jealousy toward each other. Why do they pursue such separate life paths? What leads them to their major decisions? How do they find themselves at the novel's conclusion? What makes them arguably the two most similar characters in the text?

Essay Topic 2

Evaluate the structure of this novel in the course of a detailed essay. Evaluate and identify the rising and falling action as well as the climax. Explain whether this text would have been executed more effectively if Woolf had chosen a different form rather than the constant intertwining of interior monologues.

Essay Topic 3

Evaluate the novel's final image. It is an appropriate one? What is the significance of both the waves as they appear in these vignettes, and as a title? Are there other instances of waves appearing in this novel, rather than in their literal form? There are many instances where a character's interior monologue describes something as being wave-like. Does the novel structurally parallel waves?

(see the answer keys)

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