Biology

History

Literature

Shakespeare

SparkNotes

Literature Study Guides

To the Lighthouse

Quiz

Context

Plot Overview

Character List

Analysis of Major Characters

Themes, Motifs & Symbols

The Window: Chapters I–IV

The Window: Chapters V–VIII

The Window: Chapters IX–XI

The Window: Chapter XVII

The Window: Chapters XVIII–XIX

Time Passes: Chapters I–X

The Lighthouse: Chapters I–III

The Lighthouse: Chapters IV–VII

The Lighthouse: Chapters VIII–XIII

Important Quotations Explained

Key Facts

Study Questions & Essay Topics

Quiz

Suggestions for Further Reading

◄ PREVIOUS
Study Questions & Essay Topics

NEXT ►
Suggestions for Further Reading

To the Lighthouse

Virginia Woolf

Quiz

1. What will outlive the memory of Shakespeare, according to Mr. Ramsay?

(A) A small stone

(B) A grain of sand

(D) His love for Mrs. Ramsay

2. As the novel begins, how does young James Ramsay occupy himself?

(A) He stares out the window at the lighthouse

(B) He hunts rabbits

(D) He plays with the skull that hangs on the nursery wall

3. To whom does Lily show her painting?

(A) Mrs. Ramsay

(B) William Bankes

(D) Charles Tansley

4. How does Andrew Ramsay die?

(A) He is shot by Jasper

(B) He falls from a train

(D) He is killed in World War I

5. To what does Mr. Ramsay liken the progress of human thought?

(A) An alphabet

(B) An abacus

(D) A lighthouse

6. Who originally asks to go to the lighthouse?

(A) Prue

(B) Andrew

(D) Nancy

7. Why does Paul Rayley feel dissatisfied by his marriage proposal?

(A) He stumbled over the words

(B) He feels tricked by Mrs. Ramsay

(D) Minta said yes to him but refused to kiss him

8. What article of clothing does Mrs. Ramsay make for the lighthouse keeper's son?

(A) A shirt

(B) Long underwear

(D) A stocking

9. How did Virginia Woolf die?

(A) She drowned herself

(B) She had a fatal stroke

(D) She died in a car accident

10. Who tells Lily that women can never paint or write?

(A) Mr. Ramsay

(B) Charles Tansley

(D) Mrs. Ramsay

11. What poem does Mr. Ramsay recite to himself on the beach?

(A) “Dover Beach”

(B) “The Collar”

(D) “Maud”

12. Who chooses Mrs. Ramsay's jewelry for the dinner party?

(A) Emily

(B) Rose

(D) Clarissa

13. What was the name of the group of artists and intellectuals to which Woolf belonged?

(A) The Bloomsbury Group

(B) The Soho Group

(D) The Whiteacres

14. In what year was To the Lighthouse published?

(A) 1882

(B) 1905

(D) 1941

15. Which character does Mrs. Ramsay hope Lily will marry?

(A) Charles Tansley

(B) Augustus Carmichael

(D) William Bankes

16. What revives interest in Mr. Carmichael's poetry?

(A) His reading of a poem on BBC radio

(B) His new volume of poems published during World War I

(D) His death

17. How does Prue Ramsay die?

(A) She is a civilian casualty of the war

(B) She is stricken by cancer

(D) She falls from a train

18. What does Mr. Ramsay most often want from Mrs. Ramsay and why?

(A) Sympathy; he is full of professional anxiety

(B) Food; he has an enormous appetite and she is a masterful cook

(D) Advice; he trusts Mrs. Ramsay to guide his career

19. Critical consensus holds that the character of Mrs. Ramsay is based on whom?

(A) Woolf's sister

(B) Woolf's friend Clarissa, from Cambridge

(D) Woolf's mother

20. Who accompanies Mr. Ramsay to the lighthouse at the novel's end?

(A) James and Mrs. Ramsay

(B) James and Cam

(D) James and Lily Briscoe

21. How many years pass in the second section of the novel?

(A) 5

(B) 10

(D) 20

22. Who rescues the house from the disastrous effects of time?

(A) Mrs. Ramsay

(B) Mr. Ramsay

(D) Mr. Macalister

23. What does Mrs. Ramsay read when she joins Mr. Ramsay after the dinner party?

(A) A Shakespearean sonnet

(B) The Army and Navy Stores catalogue

(D) A novel by Sir Walter Scott

24. What does Minta Doyle lose on the beach?

(A) The engagement ring that Paul gave her

(B) James's favorite seashell

(D) Her grandmother's brooch

25. When Mrs. Ramsay discovers the children awake in the nursery, what does she do to help them sleep?

(A) She sings a lullaby

(B) She mixes sleeping powder in their milk

(D) She uses the stocking she has been knitting to give a puppet show

Help | Feedback | Make a request | Report an error | Send to a friend

◄ PREVIOUS
Study Questions & Essay Topics

NEXT ►
Suggestions for Further Reading

Message Boards
Ask a question or start a discussion on the community boards.

To the Lighthouse

World War I (1914-1918)

Modernist Literature

Printable PDF
Download a printable version of this SparkNote.

SparkCharts
A textbook's worth of information on an easy-to-read chart.

Literary Terms