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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. Who became Virginia's surrogate mother when her mother died?

2. Who did Vanessa have an affair with?

3. What was Stella desperate to do for her family, according to Virginia?

4. Who cared for Julia's husband after her death?

5. What was the name of Virginia's mother?

Short Essay Questions

1. What was the normal breakfast routine in the house in Hyde Park?

2. How did Virginia define a snob?

3. Why was Sybil Colfax friends with Virginia?

4. What happened on the family vacation after Stella's death?

5. How is this story (The Memoir Club Contributions) not necessarily appropriate for a submission in the Memoir Club?

6. What does Virginia say her mother had experienced before she was even 24 years of age?

7. What happened at one point when Virginia was reading a poem to Vanessa after Julia's death?

8. What did Virginia feel shame about when she was young, and how did that affect her in adulthood?

9. Why did Virginia choose to write A Sketch of the Past?

10. What does Virginia say is the fundamental purpose of existence?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What did the title of this book mean? Why was it significant to Virginia's life and writings?

Essay Topic 2

Friendship is a strong theme throughout the book. Where are some places that this theme appears, and how did the people touched by it react? How did certain friendships change over the course of the book, and what caused these changes?

Essay Topic 3

What was Virginia's writing process, and how did she come to create this process for herself?

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