Q1. Who is the author of "Street Haunting"?
Virginia Woolf is the author of "Street Haunting/The essay was written by Virginia Woolf.
Q2. What is the setting of the essay?
The setting is the streets of London in the early evening.
Q3. What time of year does the walk take place?
It takes place during winter.
Q4. What is the stated excuse for going out?
The excuse is the need to buy a lead pencil.
Q5. Why does the narrator really want to go out?
She wants to escape her own identity and observe the lives of others.
Q6. How does Woolf describe the self we leave at home?
She describes it as a "shell" that encloses our soul.
Q7. What time of day is described as "champagne brightness"?
The early evening (between tea and dinner).
Q8. What sense is most active during the walk?
The sense of sight ("The eye is not a miner, not a diver... it floats").
Q9. What does the "eye" gather while walking?
It gathers beauty, colors, and surface images of the city.
Q10. How does the winter street look?
It looks glossy, jeweled, and brilliant with artificial light.
Q11. Who is the "flâneur"?
A French term for an idle stroller or observer of city life; Woolf adopts this role.
Q12. What creature does Woolf compare the solitary walker to?
She compares the walker to an oyster or snail leaving its shell.
Q13. What happens to individual identity in the street?
It dissolves, and the walker becomes part of a "vast republican army" of anonymous people.
Q14. What is the first major encounter in the essay?
The narrator encounters a dwarf woman in a shoe shop.
Q15. What is the dwarf proud of?
She is extremely proud of her small, perfectly shaped feet.
Q16. How does the dwarf behave in the shop?
She behaves with confidence and arrogance, ordering the shopgirl around.
Q17. What breaks the dwarf’s happiness?
Stepping back onto the street and seeing normal-sized people, which reminds her of her deformity.
Q18. Who are the second group of people the narrator observes?
She observes two blind brothers.
Q19. What are the blind men doing?
They are stopping to ask for alms (money) before crossing the street.
Q20. How does the narrator feel about the blind men?
She feels a sense of pathos and admiration for their trust in the world.
Q21. What does the narrator imagine about the houses she passes?
She imagines the domestic lives, parties, and secrets happening inside.
Q22. What does the "glittering eye" fail to do?
It fails to penetrate deeply into the minds of others; it only sees the surface.
Q23. Where does the narrator go to "rest" her mind?
She goes into a second-hand bookshop.
Q24. What kind of books does she find there?
She finds old, forgotten books by obscure authors.
Q25. What do the second-hand books represent?
They represent the "shipwrecked" lives and failed ambitions of their authors.
Q26. Does she buy a book?
The text suggests she browses more than she buys, using the books to imagine other lives.
Q27. How is the Thames described?
It is described as dark, rough, and indifferent to the city.
Q28. What class of society does the narrator mostly observe?
She observes the working class, the poor, and the outcasts of London.
Q29. What contrast is drawn between Mayfair and the Strand?
Mayfair is wealthy and polished; the Strand is busy, commercial, and full of life.
Q30. What does the lead pencil symbolize?
It symbolizes a simple, tangible goal that grounds the wandering mind.
Q31. What is "street haunting"?
It is the act of wandering the streets like a ghost, observing without participating.
Q32. How does the narrator view the wealthy in their cars?
She views them as insulated and cut off from the vibrant life of the street.
Q33. What emotion does the winter evening hide?
The darkness and lights hide the poverty and "squalor" of the city.
Q34. What conversation does she overhear at the stationer's shop?
She hears a couple quarreling about something trivial.
Q35. Did she successfully buy the pencil?
Yes, she eventually buys the pencil.
Q36. How does the essay end?
The narrator returns to her home and her "shell."
Q37. What happens when she enters her house?
The illusion of being someone else fades, and her old identity returns.
Q38. What does "The Death of the Moth" have in common with this essay?
Both are famous essays by Woolf observing life and death, though "Street Haunting" focuses on city life.
Q39. Is the narrator male or female?
While implicitly female (Woolf), the narrator adopts a gender-neutral, observing gaze.
Q40. What is the tone of the essay?
The tone is lyrical, reflective, and slightly melancholic.
Q41. What does the "shell" metaphor suggest about personality?
It suggests that our possessions and habits define and restrict who we are.
Q42. Why is the pencil "lead"?
It refers to a standard graphite pencil (commonly called lead).
Q43. What does the street offer that the home does not?
The street offers freedom, anonymity, and the chance to be "part of the army."
Q44. How does Woolf describe the number of books in the shop?
She describes them as "wild books" and "homeless books."
Q45. What does the Jeweller's shop represent?
It represents the allure of material wealth and fantasy.
Q46. What does the "pearl" represent in the essay?
It is a metaphor for the treasures (images/stories) the eye finds in the street.
Q47. Does the narrator speak to the people she meets?
No, she remains a silent observer throughout.
Q48. What is the central theme of the essay?
The fluidity of identity and the joy of observing the spectacle of life.
Q49. When was "Street Haunting" published?
It was published in 1927.
Q50. What is the final realization of the narrator?
That while it is good to explore, it is also comforting to return to the familiar "shell" of home.
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