Orlando

These book club questions are from the Biblioteca Tecla Sala.

Book club questions for Orlando by Virginia Woolf

Use these discussion questions to guide your next book club meeting.

What is unusual about the way time flows in Orlando?

What is the narrator's role in Virginia Woolf's Orlando?

What is the nature of the relationship between Orlando and Queen Elizabeth I?

How is Orlando's relationship with Sasha a strike against conformity?

What is the impetus for Orlando's recovery from heartbreak in Chapter 2?

What are the benefits of cross-dressing as evidenced in Orlando?

How do Orlando's long stretches of sleep advance the narrative?

How does Orlando's reaction to her transformation in Chapter 3 reflect Virginia Woolf's own view of gender and identity?

How does Orlando's transformation into a woman help her better understand Sasha?

How does Virginia Woolf satirize racial and religious intolerance in Chapter 3 of Orlando?

How do Orlando's views about poets change after she meets the literary giants of the 18th century?

How do Orlando's thoughts about fame change over time?

Why does Orlando end up retaining all ownership of her property in Chapter 5?

How are Virginia Woolf's feelings about Victorian culture reflected in Chapters 5 and 6 of Orlando?

What does the oak tree on Orlando's country property symbolize, and what does Orlando's poem, "The Oak Tree," represent?

What is the importance of the chiming of clocks in Orlando?

What do light and darkness represent in Virginia Woolf's Orlando?

Why is Orlando more receptive to a relationship with Shel than one with Harry?

How does the narrator's reaction to the year Orlando spends writing reflect the sexism of the Victorian era?

What is significant about the birth of Orlando's son and his subsequent disappearance from Orlando?

What is the root of Orlando's obsession with poets?

Click here for a printable PDF of the Orlando discussion questions