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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 character closes Section 2?

2. How is the singing of the birds described in Section 3's opening?

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

4. Who arrives to pick up Rhoda at the end of Section 1?

5. What are the boys doing when the monologues in Section 2 return to their perspective?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe the differences in Jinny and Rhoda's experience's while at school in Section 2.

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

3. Which of the boys seems to have the strongest attachment to Percival? Please provide some evidence in your answer.

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

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

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

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

8. Describe how Neville and Bernard are different as they appear in Section 3.

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

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

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

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 3

Write an essay that details the significance of setting in this novel. We are exposed to both the country and the city, the classroom and the church, and spend a fair amount of time in cafés and restaurants. The setting in the introductory vignettes are also of particular significance. Examine the discrepancies in descriptions of settings between the monologues and the vignettes, and evaluate who, if any, of the characters have a particular fascination with setting.

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