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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. After reading the opening to Section 4, about what time of day is it?

2. What is significant about what day it is at the end of Section 2?

3. Who says, "I am one person--myself"?

4. What "ceremony" does Bernard dislike so much?

5. What is Louis's profession when the reader encounters him in Section 3?

Short Essay Questions

1. Bernard is clearly becoming the most central of the six characters. Describe his characteristics as he appears in Section 3.

2. When the characters change locations in the text, it is not always noticeable. Identify why this is and the effect on the reader.

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

4. What is significant about the opening description to Section 4?

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

6. How are Jinny and Rhoda characterized in Section 3?

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

8. Characterize Bernard's attitude towards Louis as described in Section 3.

9. Why is Susan so distressed after she saw Jinny kiss Louis?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Using ample textual evidence, agree or disagree with the statement that Woolf succeeds in authentically depicting the individual's quest for understanding of both self and the world around him or her. Develop an argument supported by the text.

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay which compares and contrasts any two of the sections' introductory vignettes. Pick one vignette which is typical of the whole novel, and one which is atypical (there are two in particular). What separates these vignettes? Include as many reasons as you can think of as to why Woolf would change her method at such a point in the text.

Essay Topic 3

What is the role of a narrator in a typical novel? Is there are narrator in this text? Are each of the six characters a "narrator" because they "narrate?" How do you characterize the speaker that relates the introductory vignettes? Is Woolf the novel's narrator, or merely its architect? Explain what a narrator is, what kinds of narrators there are, whether there are any in this text, and if not, how that affects its reception by the reader.

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