NW

Question 1

What does NW stand for?

Answer 1

The “Northwest” section of London

Question 2

How does this work resonance with modernism in general and Mrs. Dalloway in particular?

Answer 2

• Stylistic similarities: melding of internal thought and dialogue, multiple narrators, sudden shifts in point of view
• The work required of the reader. We have to piece together the characters and their relationship with each other given varied amounts of information.
• Fragmentation: both in perspective and form. Many different styles of presenting information are drawn in.
• Modernism’s tendency towards allusion (though Smith tends to pop-cultural allusion more often than literary or historical)
• Mrs. Dalloway is concerned with upper-class white people, this book applies many of the same techniques to a racially and economically diverse cast
• Both explore life in London (very specific geographic knowledge and landmarks; will never be fully decipherable to an outsider).
• Both primarily interested in the experiences of women

Question 3

What two friends are at the center of this story?

Answer 3

Leah and Natalie (Kiesha)

Question 4

What section of the book most resembles Mrs. Dalloway?

Answer 4

Felix’s chapter

Question 5

Who commits the murder? Why?

Answer 5

Nathan; He gets in a chance disagreement with Felix on the train. Later he tries to mug Felix, and ends up killing him.

Question 6

Who cons Leah out of 30 pounds?

Answer 6

Shar

Question 7

What is the name of Leah’s husband? What does he do?

Answer 7

Michel; he is a hairdresser

Question 8

Who dies?

Answer 8

Felix Cooper

Question 9

How do Leah and Natalie know Nathan?

Answer 9

They went to school with him. He was handsome, talented, and well-liked, but never made it out of the low-income neighborhood and has now become a pimp.

Question 10

What is Natalie’s occupation?

Answer 10

Barrister

Question 11

What book is Felix’s father reading?

Answer 11

The Autobiography of Malcolm X

Question 12

What line is a red herring of an allusion?

Answer 12

“There was an inevitability about their road toward each other which encouraged meandering along the route.”

Question 13

What are some of the cultural references in this book?

Answer 13

• Mrs. Doubtfire
• Friends
• Autobiography of Malcolm X
• Brideshead Revisited
• Nirvana/death of Kurt Cobain

Question 14

What is the name of Natalie’s husband?

Answer 14

Frank

Question 15

What are the five sections of this novel?

Answer 15

1. Leah (mostly present day)
2. Felix (present day)
3. Keisha (her whole past up until now)
4. Keisha/Natalie with Nathan as she wanders around the streets after walking out of an argument with her husband
5. Keisha and Leah reunite, Keisha re-inhabits her old identity to give the police a tip about Nathan

Question 16

What is Leah’s main conflict in the novel?

Answer 16

She doesn’t want children, but her husband does. She has been hiding from him that she is taking birth control.