Please select a passage that you find particularly important / interesting / central to meaning.
Type the passage (give the page number too) and then analyze it.
Look at the language and overall connections to the text. What questions
does it bring up? What Modernst themes
are present? Is there a significant motif? Do you see any parallels with
other Modernist texts we've read?
Don't use the same passage as someone else. Feel free to respond to some of your classmates' posts.
Don't forget to sign your name!
“She felt somehow very like him – the young man who had killed himself. She felt glad that he had done it; thrown it away. The clock was striking.” (p.204)
ReplyDeleteThis quotation appears during Clarissa’s party, when she receives the news of Septimus’s death by Lady Bradshaw. In my opinion, this is the climax of the book. The narratives of the two main characters – Septimus & Clarissa – finally meet.
What’s very modernist about this extract is that Clarissa experiences a moment of clarity: the so-called “moment of being” of the modernists; she strongly identifies with Septimus, feeling “very like him”; in a way, they are soul mates. Indeed, his dramatic action echoes her thoughts and inner feelings. Septimus’s suicide allows Clarissa to see the beauty of life. This question of choosing life over death is central to the novel and to modernist thinking. Septimus’s death hence means Clarissa’s rebirth; surprisingly, it gives the reader an optimistic feeling regarding the end of the story. The choice of “it”, meaning life, is for me the final message given by Virginia Woolf.
However, Clarissa respects the fact that Septimus has preserved his soul in this post-war civilization by killing himself: death is therefore seen as a path to moral freedom, thus a way to escape isolation.
The last part of this quotation can appear unimportant but in fact has a pretty great significance. As you all know, the issue of time is crucial for the modernists and recurrent throughout the novel, as it has been relentlessly structuring the day. As Big Ben strikes for the last time in the book, Clarissa identifies completely with Septimus. The strikings of Big Ben are constant reminders of the pulse of life itself. Moreover, the human condition is explored through the medium of time. The fact that the “clock [is still] striking” could confirm that Clarissa has chosen life over death. It suggests that time also exists in the internal world, as a “moment of being”. In this respect characters are defined by their response to time.
Overall, this small quotation reminds us of the central modernist issues of the novel, namely isolation, the choice of life over death and last but not least, time.
Fantastic job Alice. Thanks for being the first to post!
ReplyDelete« Holmes would get him. But no ; not Holmes; not Bradshaw. Getting up rather unsteadily, hopping indeed from foot to foot, he considered Mrs. Filmer’s nice clean bread knife with “Bread” carved on the handle. Ah, but one mustn’t spoil that. The gas fire ? But it was too late now. Holmes was coming. Razors he might have got, but Rezia, who always did that sort of thing, had packed them. There remained only the window, the large Bloomsbury-lodging house window, the tiresome, the troublesome , and rather melodramatic business of opening the window and throwing himself out. It was their idea of tragedy, not his or Rezia’s (for she was with him). Holmes and Bradshaw like that sort of thing. (He sat on the sill.) But he would wait till the very last moment. He did not want to die. Life was good. The sun hot . Only human beings — what did THEY want? Coming down the staircase opposite an old man stopped and stared at him. Holmes was at the door. “I’ll give it you!” he cried, and flung himself vigorously, violently down on to Mrs. Filmer’s area railings. »
ReplyDelete(I don’t know what the pages of this extract are as my edition is not the same as most of yours. In my edition this extract is on pages 163-164)
I really find this extract interesting because he is very important in the novel and because it conveys in a remarkable way some interesting pieces information about some Modernist themes.
To sum it, Septimus was talking with his wife Rezia when Dr Holmes came to see them. Rezia tried to prevent him from seeing Septimus but she failed and Septimus decided to commit suicide. This passage is the stream of consciousness of Septimus just before committing suicide. In this interior monologue, Septimus considers different ways to kill himself, and after having thought of killing himself with a knife, gas fire, or razors he decided to throw himself out of the window.
This extract has a very important role in the story, as it tells us about one of the major character’s death and it has an important impact on Clarissa Dalloway when she receives the news of Septimus’ death (Alice already talked about it).
In this extract, one of modernist most explored themes is present: Death. The fact that Virginia Woolf used Septimus point of view and internal thoughts to describe this event really enlivens this extract and makes readers’ reflection about the death of Septimus more intense. (It also made me think of all the poems written by Emily Dickinson over Death we read as she used many different narrative voices to explore Death in all its aspects). This reflexion is even more intense because Septimus committed suicide although “He did not want to die”. I had a hard time understanding the reasons of his suicide but I personally think that he committed suicide to escape doctors and all their treatments but also to shake off his nervous breakdown.
I hope you enjoyed this extract and I would be glad if some of you gave me their interpretations of Septimus reasons for committing suicide, or more generally if you gave me your impressions about this extract (or about what i wrote).
Interesting connection to Emily Dickinson, who could be considered a precursor of Modernism.
DeleteWhatever the reasons for Septimus's suicide, there is certainly irony in that he threw himself out the window to get away from the doctors trying to cure him. We know the Modernists loved to use irony!
To my mind, Septimus did not commit suicide because of his doctors, because they seem really unimportant to him. I personally think that he killed himself because of his isolation; indeed, his wife Rezia seems unable to understand him. I guess it might be terrible if even the people you love the most think that you became mentally ill and reject you, don't you think?
ReplyDeleteI thin k it's hard to find a precise reason for Septimus' suicide since he was suffering post-war disorders and was not able to think clearly anymore. When the readers are in his thoughts, it's possible to find a logic in his ideas but this logic doesn't correspond to the common world's logic.
DeleteAs he's the only one to be able to understand himself, I tend to agree with you Alice and say that he committed suicide because of his isolation and his unability to be understood by others.
Lets just say the doctore might have been a push factor.
Delete"Then came the most exquisite moment of her whole life passing a stone urn with flowers in it. Sally stopped; picked a flower; kissed her on the lips. The whole world might have turned upside down! The others disappeared; there she was alone with Sally. And she felt that she had been given a present, wrapped up, and told just to keep it, not to look at it - a diamond, something infinitely precious, wrapped up, which, as they walked (up and down, up and down), she uncovered, or the radiance burnt through, the revelation, the religious feeling!" p.40
ReplyDeleteIn this extract, at the beginning of the novel, Clarissa remembers her young years and the moments she spent with Sally Seton. The reader doesn't only learn that Clarissa has homosexual tendencies but also that she experienced a kind of homosexual relationship with her close friend Sally. It is the most important extract as far as themes of homosexuality, feminism and women-based society are concerned.
Clarissa describes this kiss as "the most exquisite moment of her life" whereas at the beginning of the 20th century, homosexuality was taboo. Instead of being shocked by such an act, she presents it as "a diamond, something infinitely precious" and therefore stands against the moral values of her time.
This position reflects Woolf's position about this matter, and she even goes further. Indeed, at the end of the passage, the kiss is compared to a "religious feeling". It shows a kind of provocation from woolf since the Church has always been against homosexual acts.
Several modernist themes are linked in this extract which make it very interesting.
As for the form, it also has modernist aspects. The extensive use of semicolon emphasizes the singularity of the moment, the excitation of Clarissa and how she can hardly breathe with such emotions inside her. Her confusion is also shown by the repetitions of "wrapped up" and "up and down". Even the memory of this moment is very intense and Clarissa is not able to think and to express herself clearly about it.
By the way, we can also notice the motif of flowers which appears as soon as the very firts sentence "Mrs Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself".
Thus this extract presents modernist aspects in form as well as content.
Very good job Yasmine, focusing on both content and form.
DeleteThe quotation I chose to focus on is "First a warning ; then the hour, irrevocable. The leaden circles dissolved in the air"
ReplyDeleteThis sentence is about the effects of the evolution of time on people. During their youth, which is refered to with the word "first", they had high hopes and ambitions about the future (which could explain the use of the adjective "musical", that has a positive connotation), whereas when they get older, time becomes a synonym of the fact that death is slowly coming to get you, regardless of who you are or what you do ; it is "irrevocable".
In the second part of the quotation, there is a contrast between "leaden", which gives an impression of heaviness, and "air", a symbol of lightness and of liveliness.
I think that it could be explained by the universality of "air" ; obviously, everyone breathes. Time, which is referred to as the "leaden cirles" of Big Ben, is as universal as air, meaning that everyone, no matter who they are, is influenced by time, and therefore by the approach of death.
This contrast could also show that there is a difference between "objective" time, the one that Big Ben gives to everyone, and what people really feel about time : indeed, most people dwell on past times, regrets and nostalgia, which are really subjective.
This contrast is witnessed thanks to the final words of the quotation, "dissolved in the air" : people, being in touch with past memories, tend to forget about the actual, objective time, which, thus, fades away.
I think that this idea of death being omnipresent and universal is a Modernist theme : World War I made people lose their illusions ; they realised that death was closer than what they thought, and that the world wasn't as safe as they thought. Moreover, people began to lose their faith in God during the Modernist period (beginning of the 20th century, probably because of the scientific discoveries), and fear of death developed.
Besides, the world was changing a lot, especially because of industrialisation, urbanisation and globalisation : people were lost, because their previous values and ways of life changed so quickly ; it could explain the fact that they were so attached to their past memories.
I find your choice of quotation very interesting; in fact, I hesitated a long time between my quote and yours...
DeleteAs you said it, the issue of time is crucial in Mrs Dalloway: here, the reader is aware of the importance of clock time, represented by Big Ben. Indeed it structures the day, and in particular is a reminder, both for the characters in their actions and for the readers, for whom it appears as an "anchor point" from the various travels in the past.
It made me think of another quote by Jill Morris, the author of "Time and timelessness in Virginia Woolf", who said that "when Big Ben strikes, those who hear are lifted out of their absorption in daily living to be reminded of this moment out of all the rest".
In my opinion, this is a good assessment of the importance of time in modernist literature, especially in Mrs Dalloway.
Very good close reading of this short but extremely important passage Audrey.
DeleteWhat an interesting quotation you've added Alice.
“One cannot bring children into a world like this. One cannot perpetuate suffering, or increase the breed of these lustful animals, who have no lasting emotions, but only whims and vanities, eddying them now this way, now that.” (P.98 in my edition of the book)
ReplyDeleteThis extract is one when Rezia is thinking about the fact that she promised herself she would have children, especially since her and Septimus had been married for 5 years. More precisely, she wants a boy and one like Septimus. We switch to Septimus' point of view and we understand why he doesn't want one: he thinks that it would be of the utmost cruelty to bring another child into this world where "human beings have neither kindness, nor faith, nor charity beyond what serves to increase the pleasure of the moment" (a couple of lines later).
Modernism is clearly present here with Septimus' denunciation of what was wrong with society. This is a point of view that he gives all along the book; it best illustrates his way of thinking, his so-called “disease” or “nervous breakdown”, which is what makes the extract quite important. To him, all humans are vain and can feel nothing but “lustful” emotions, that is to say feelings that don’t ever last very long, that appear and disappear just as quickly. Human nature appears to be horrible and unforgivable through his eyes. In my opinion, this is even what is going to lead to his suicide later on in the book, the fact that he can no longer stand the human race.
In this sense, I guess we could say it is also a denunciation of the horrors of the war since this “breakdown” is due to a trauma from the war he participated in and the death of one of his closest friends. This goes to show just how horrid the war made people seem.
Indeed, war, death and the crumbling away of civilization are recurring themes in the book, especially with Septimus. To this we could add that of alienation and loneliness, seeing that he is the only one with such a horrified point of view and repeats that nobody understands him, as well as insanity or illness, of course, because these thoughts are supposed to be the result of a nervous breakdown.
I think that we could definetly make a link with Ezra Pound's poem and his point of view on useless deaths during the war, slaughter for a society being far from worth it.
Feel free to give me your thoughts and opinions on the extract!
Good link with Pound's poem Rebecca.
DeleteI think Woolf's use of the word "eddying" in this passage is interesting... what does it imply?
From what I understood, to eddy means to move around in a circle and it is usually a verb used for such things as air, dust or water. Thus, I think that it is another way for Woolf to accentuate these non-lasting emotions of ours, that just float around very easily, that go back and forth and in a circle, like water or air.
DeleteVery interesting!
DeleteI would also make a link with the poem "Break of day in the Trenches", speaking of the lack of humanity of the humankind and of the war.
« Do You remember the lake ? » she said, in an abrupt voice, under the pressure of an emotion which caught her heart, made the muscles of her throat stiff, and contracted her lips in a spasm as she said « lake ». For she was a child throwing bread to ducks, between her parents, and at the same time a grown woman coming to her parents who stood by the lake, holding her life in her arms which, as she neared them, grew larger and larger in her arms, until it became a whole life, a complete life, which she put down by them and said, “This is what I have made of it! This!” And what had she made of it? What, indeed? Sitting there sewing this morning with Peter.”
ReplyDeleteThis extract (p.48) appears during the discussion between Clarissa and Peter Walsh. Peter Walsh has just unexpectedly arrived at Clarissa’s as she was mending her party dress. A tension is palpable between the two characters as they are remembering their evenings at Burton. In my opinion this is a very important extract of the novel, it recalls indeed recurrent themes of the story, such as nostalgia and regrets. Moreover, it perfectly sums up Clarissa’s perception of her own life, a life which she wished “she could have had over again”. Concerning the modernist aspects, the most obvious is perhaps the fragmentation of time, the fact that a whole life is resumed to a single moment, a single souvenir. This feature is typical of Virginia Woolf’s novels and other modernist works in general.
What is striking with this extract is how strongly and deeply a simple and short memory affects Clarissa. The words “abrupt”, “pressure”, “caught”, “stiff”, “contracted” and “spasm” convey the idea of a real torture. Clarissa seems weak facing her memories; she’s suffering; and this is this memory in particular which is affecting her. (As reader it is also a way to understand how strong was her love to Peter).
A single moment, a single word, “the lake”, brings her back to a time of happiness, now over. This moment of fleeting joy has nearly as much importance as her entire life. And this is from this moment on that she recalls her whole life. This single sentence as a portrait of a human life illustrates how fast does time slipping by. With this comparison Virginia Woolf offers us a very pessimistic vision of time and life in general. Especially with the pronoun “This!”, very neutral, very short: our life comes down to few things. We have no hold over it. And finally, Clarissa’s life seems to be reduced to a very common activity, “sewing” (perhaps a bit trivial, characteristic of “the perfect hostess” as Peter would say). And indeed Peter is here, facing Clarissa again, as a witness of her failure, a “Death of the Soul” he had yet predicted…Clarissa realizes too late she had failed.
I think this extract definitely echoes Virginia Woolf’s own life, a life she considered so unbearable she killed herself. According to her, humans are unable to grab happiness, to catch the essential, and even when they realize it, it is too late. And this kind of lateness between our conscience and time is part of our fate…
Feel free to add any feedback…
Very perceptive Emma
Delete“Such are the visions which ceaselessly float up, pace beside, put their faces in front of, the actual thing; often overpowering the solitary traveller and taking away from him the sense of the earth, the wish to return, and giving him for substitute a general peace, as if (so he thinks as he advances down the forest ride) all this fever of living were simplicity itself; and myriads of things merged in one thing; and this figure, made of sky and branches as it is, had risen from the troubled sea (he is elderly past fifty now) as a shape might be sucked up out of the waves to shower down from her magnificent hands, compassion, comprehension, absolution. “
ReplyDeleteThis extract is taken from page 64, when Peter Walsh is sleeping on the bench. This passage brings up few questions, such as “who is the solitary traveller?” and “what power do we have over the world”? To the first question, we would be tempted to answer that the mentioned traveller is Peter Walsh but to my mind, it characterises all the characters of the story and even more: it characterises everybody. The impersonal way of writing and the only mentions of Peter put between parentheses emphasize the fact that these thoughts are not only his. We all are travellers on the Earth and we all are more or less solitary. We walk along, alone or with somebody by our side, but anything lasts for ever.
Then to the second question, I have personally no answer. Some modernist writers tend to answer “none” and that it is the world that has the power over us, with this idea of death behind it. It is maybe the reason why the phrase is turned in such a shape: “overpowering the solitary traveller”. We think that we control our lives, but “memento mori”: remember that you must die. Thus it can be linked with Villon’s poem Basil Bunting, with this idea of death coming. No matter how we live (like a solitary traveller, simple, or piteous) or what power we have, we will pass on one day.
Moreover, this extract is meaningful to the story through the intervention of Walsh. This stranger, who came back to London, is sleeping on this bench in the middle of the city, in the middle of the crowd. Even in this situation, he continues to have a critical view on everybody (use of the stream of consciousness). He is one of the numerous links between all the characters of the novel. He is the solitary traveller who takes the time to reflect about the world. He seems to be a typical modernist character. We can wonder if Walsh’s thoughts are really his personal ones, or maybe the author itself uses this character to describe the world as she sees it.
Furthermore, “Such are the visions” is repeated along the pages 64 and 65 like an anaphora. In the novel, we know that Septimus is the one who has visions due to his shell-shock. It can bring us to think about the visions the other characters might have. In fact, the word “visions” can mean something else; not some visions as Septimus’ ones, but it can be about a point of view. Everybody has visions, his own visions about the world. Through this, we can see once again that the passage is significant to the novel because of its double-meaning, which makes links between all the characters of the novel.
After all, this extract is not central to meaning, but I think it very interesting. I didn’t develop all the points I wanted to make (about nature, the connection of Walsh with the sea, etc), so don’t hesitate if you find some interesting points! And feel free to give your opinion or/and your impressions!
Myriam
I chose one of my favourite quotes : "She sliced like a knife through everything; at the same time was outside, looking on. She had a perpetual sense, as she watched the taxicabs, of being out, far out to sea and alone; she always had the feeling that it was very, very dangerous to live even one day."
ReplyDeleteIn this extract, page 10-11, Mrs Dalloway is walking on the streets of London, heading to the florist for the preparation of her party and is observing life, people, in "this moment of June". At the beginning of the extract, Clarissa reckons that she "sliced like a knife throught everything", which means that all her life she passed through things, and different experiences. However at the end of the sentence she also expresses her feeling of "being outside, looking on" and just being a spectator of her own life. In a way she is maybe realizing that she has not really "lived" her life and that after all her existence has been quite meaningless. Therefore, we find this feeling of loneliness, one of the main modernist theme,in the next sentence when Virginia Woolf uses the sea imagery, another recurrent theme in this novel, to describe Clarissa's despair :" She had a perpetual sense, [...], of being out, out, far out to sea and alone." Here I think we get the image of her "out to sea" and trying to fight for her life in an hostile environment but always being alone in this "battle". Besides, this repetition of the word "out" emphasizes this even more. In my view I think that it reminds us of Septimus, Rezia or even Peter,who, ultimately, are all alone in this world.
Finally I think that the last part of the extract " she always had the feeling that it was very, very dangerous to live even one day" is more abstract, but since Mrs Dalloway is a modernist novel, I guess everything is more or less obscure. According to me, it could imply that although she feels quite good in this liveliness, in London, living one more day is making a step towards death, and realizing the failure of her existence.
Feel free to make comments and give your interpretation of this quote!
Juliette C.
" “I prefer men to cauliflowers”— was that it? He must have said it at breakfast one morning when she had gone out on to the terrace — Peter Walsh. He would be back from India one of these days, June or July, she forgot which, for his letters were awfully dull; it was his sayings one remembered; his eyes, his pocket-knife, his smile, his grumpiness and, when millions of things had utterly vanished — how strange it was! — a few sayings like this about cabbages. " p.5
ReplyDeleteI chose this extract which is on the first page of the book, because according to me it concerns one of the main points of the novel. Indeed thanks to the use of stream of consciousness we can find out the thoughts of the protagonist; In this extract, Clarissa is remembering her youth at Burton and the first person she she thinks of is Peter Walsh.
The fact that Clarissa thinks about him at the very first page of the novel and that she recalls all these details like "his pocket knife", "his smile" or "his eyes" made me understand that Peter Walsh would be at the center of the story. Moreover when she says that "his letters were awfully dull" and that " millions of things had utterly vanished" the reader has the impression that she forces herself to criticize him in order to convince herself he is not important to her anymore. Actually, all along the book there are a few details like this that can make us imagine the both of them still consider each other and but they don't completly admit it.
Finally I think this extract could be linked to the very last phrase of the novel "For there she was". Here we understand that Peter Walsh still loves her, despite everything he said before to convince himself that he did not anymore. This is an other modernist aspects since the novel gives clues to the reader about what the characters think and feel so that the reader can try to find himself what will happen next.
M. Chul
« The sound of Big Ben striking the half-hour out between them with extraordinary vigour, as if a young man, strong, indifferent, inconsiderate, were swinging dumb-bells this way and that.”(pages 53 and 54 in the penguin edition)
ReplyDeleteThis line appears during the first discussion between Clarissa and Peter, soon after Elizabeth enters in Clarissa’s room. I thought this quotation very interesting as here, Big Ben, like Elizabeth, interferes in their discussion when the tension between them was at its climax as Peter was about to ask Clarissa whether she is really happy with Richard or not.
Big Ben is often referred to throughout the novel and reminds the characters of the time passing by. As always Big Ben and the issue of Time are a central element of the novel- the novel was originally entitled "the Hours"- as the characters often wonders what it really is like Rezia who asked Septimus “What is the time?”(p.78). Here, it is represented by a young “indifferent” and “inconsiderate” man “swinging dumb-bell” as if he was carelessly, and without taking other people into account, shouting out what time it is thus breaking the tension between Clarissa and Peter, and freeing them of a very awkward situation. Even though time is described as a cold, indifferent and a bit stupid, in the sense that it keeps running without interruption, character, it procures relief to Clarissa and makes the action get going again as Peter rushes out of the house.
In "Mrs Dalloway", the Time is an important aspect as each character is lost between present and past time, between their lives going on and their memories holding them back. Sometimes it appears to slow down or stop like toward the end of Clarissa and Peter’s discussion where the tension was at his apex between them, but in the end it always follows its course so that any event is unavoidable.
“One of the triumphs of civilisation, Peter Walsh thought. It is one of the triumphs of civilisation, as the light high bell of the ambulance sounded. Swiftly, cleanly the ambulance sped to the hospital, having picked up instantly, humanely, some poor devil; some one hit on the head, struck down by disease, knocked over perhaps a minute or so ago at one of these crossings, as might happen to oneself. That was civilisation. It struck him coming back from the East — the efficiency, the organisation, the communal spirit of London. Every cart or carriage of its own accord drew aside to let the ambulance pass. Perhaps it was morbid; or was it not touching rather, the respect which they showed this ambulance with its victim inside — busy men hurrying home yet instantly bethinking them as it passed of some wife; or presumably how easily it might have been them there, stretched on a shelf with a doctor and a nurse.”
ReplyDeleteThis passage of Mrs. Dalloway is a particularly interesting point of view on London in Virginia Woolf’s days. The reader follows Peter Walsh’s thoughts, as the latter discovers London in a way he has never seen it before. He witnesses the passage of the ambulance that carries Septimus and considers it as a “triumph of civilization”. This expression is repeated several times, which emphasises it and might show Woolf’s own fascination for London. The fact that we discover this scene in the eyes of a “stranger” makes it even more interesting, as we are aware of every single detail.
Peter Walsh is actually struck by the ambulance, for several reasons. First of all, because of its rapidity. There is in fact this feeling of speed and efficiency: “sped up”, “instantly”, “swiftly”. In the text, the rhythm accelerates thanks to long sentences cut with commas, and the reader can feel the speed and the fluidity of the movement of the ambulance. Secondly, Peter Walsh is impressed by the tacit agreement that seems to be taking place so as to let the ambulance pass. He is almost in awe as every “cart”, “carriage” and “busy men” draws aside in empathy.
This clearly contrasts with what he used to know in India. He thinks that nothing but this “is civilisation”. This statement is rather ambiguous, as the reader understands that, for Peter Walsh, civilization represents all the things that can make people need an ambulance. However, he appreciates the way in which humans cope with the problems of civilisation: “efficiency”, “organisation”, “communal spirit”… There is an impression that people are all united against some all-powerful devil – civilisation.
Towards this new “system”, Peter Walsh’s reaction is like that of an innocent child. He actually has a dichotomous view of the world. For him, the ambulance is an unquestionable saviour having to rescue all the “poor devil[s]”. He is bewildered and does not know what word to use to describe what he sees: “morbid”, “touching”… Woolf uses strong words like “struck” to show his astonishment.
In a word, this passage manages to show sweeping changes that were taking place in society in those days, and how they could impress strangers like Peter Walsh. The reader sees a new aspect of London, transforming into a modern after-war city. In the light of these statements, this excerpt is particularly characteristic of Modernism and holds an important role in Mrs. Dalloway.
Agathe
“Did it matter that she must inevitably cease completely; all this must go on without her: did she resent it; or did it not become consoling to believe that death ended absolutely?”
ReplyDeleteP.7 Wordsworth Classics
We learn at the beginning of the novel that Clarissa Dalloway is a socialite who will be hosting a party of great importance on this particular day; moreover her thoughts in these first few pages already suggest that she is going through what might be described as a “mid-life crisis.” Horrified of death, but in some inner sense, seeking it, she hopes that something fundamental will remain of her, something that will live on forever. Concerned about her own aging, she wrestles with the meaning of life and death. Indeed, life and death are two dominant themes of this novel. Here it seems that Clarissa secretly wants to live forever and she fears that if she passes away nothing of her will remain in this world and that no one will know how much she truly loved life. At the same time she desires death; this desire for death would then reveal a longing to defy life. Would death be better than life? Unable to grasp the meaning of existence (which always slips away right before we understand), in death one may refuse to play the game anymore. This novel forces the reader to think about the realities of death, and how people must deal with this knowledge on their own.
The desire for death is strong in Septimus Warren Smith as well, the “madman” and the
poet of this story. This poet is not satisfied with his life, which appears to be meaningless. He searches for significance, asking the doctor, “Why live?” only to receive the inadequate answer that, “life was good”. I don't know for you, but for me that is an awful reason...In the end, Septimus defies life by ending it, jumping out a window hours before the party.
Life and death. The beginning and the end. What significance would you give?
Forgot my name: Charlotte
DeleteI think Clarissa is indeed a bit lost because while she loves living and making people happy - and is terrible afraid of time moving on (she is always askink herself what time it is and thinking as in this extract you chose of her deah)- as soon as she learns about Septimus's death she has a kind of fealing of jealousy? She had once said to herself if " If it were now to die, 'twere now to be most happy". She says "she must have perrished " but she would grow old and I'm not sure she is satisfied about that in that "[d]eath was an attempt to communicate" and she keeps on failing to communicate (with her husband, her daughter, Sally, Peter)....
DeletePs : If you choose "Reply as : Name/URL you can type in Charlotte instead of anonymous. (I took some time to figure it out myself so just saying, in case :) )
“So there was no excuse; nothing whatever the matter, except the sin for which human nature had condemned him to death; that he did not feel. He had not cared when Evans was killed; that was worst; but all the other crimes raised their heads and shook their fingers and jeered and sneered over the rail of the bed in the early hours of the morning at the prostrate body which lay realizing its degradation; how he had married his wife without loving her; had lied to her; seduced her; outraged Miss Isabel Pole, and was so pocked and marked with vice that women shuddered when they saw him in the street. The verdict of human nature on such a wretch was death.” (Page 101).
ReplyDeleteIn this excerpt, Septimus is in his bed while Dr. Holmes is visiting him. Dr. Holmes tells Septimus and Lucrecia that “[t]here [is] nothing whatever the matter” and that they shouldn’t worry, which leads to a stream of consciousness in which Septimus gives a quite harsh description of the way he sees himself.
Throughout this passage, the lexical field of guilt, crime and judgment is quite present (“excuse”, “sin”, “condemned”, “crimes”, lied”, “vice”, “verdict”), which conveys the image of Septimus being at court of justice and judged by “human nature” for having committed a crime. At this statement, we can wonder which crime he committed. Then he makes a list of all his crimes, “realising” how he became like that, “a prostrate body” unable to feel, “the sin for which human nature had condemned him to death”. First, about Evans’ death; he should have felt, expressed and showed more emotions and sadness at his death if he had a sincere relationship with his war comrade. Moreover, the fact that he had married Lucrecia without deep and sincere feelings, the feelings a man should have when he wants to marry a woman he is in love with. He had lied to his wife and seduced her whereas he had not profound and intense romantic feelings towards her. Finally Septimus had outraged Miss Pole, a Shakespeare lecturer in London whom he felt in love with when he came to London as a young man. Besides, even unknown women he meets in the streets are afraid by him because he is full of vice and sin.
In fact, his vice, his sin, the crime for which he is condemned is his inability to feel and the fact that he had lost this ability. Septimus “had not cared” when he learnt that Evans died just after the war; he didn’t love his wife when he married her and he still doesn’t love her; he angered Miss Pole, a woman he loved and made her resentful. The idea that Septimus cannot feel is recurrent throughout the novel and especially in this passage and the pages before (pages 96, 97, 98: “he could not feel”; page 100 “But he felt nothing.”). It is what terrifies Septimus, the fact the he cannot feel. He can easily read books, describe people, their emotions, but he is unable to feel and even worse, he feels nothing. This goes with the idea of a meaningless world, developed several times by Septimus. The world itself being without meaning, he can’t feel and he doesn’t understand why, which is very frustrating. It could be one of the reasons for which he committed suicide. Indeed, as Septimus describes himself as a sinner and a “wretch”, a person of despicable character, someone incapable to feel, a condemned criminal, he accepts the death sentence and thinks even that he deserves it. Death sentence is his condemnation, the inevitable consequence of his stoic lack of feeling.
To my mind, this passage is quite important and central to meaning because it is a turning point in Septimus’s decision to kill himself since he realises that he doesn’t have feelings and that he can’t feel.
I think that we could also reflect on page 74 when everything is calm and he and his wife "were perfectly happy" and he quietly and "perfectly [reasonably argues] with her about killing themselves". Maybe his death is not such a condemnation not even a relief because "scientifically speaking, the flesh was melted off the world.His body was macerated until only the nerve fibres were left.". And he "went under the sea. [he has] been dead and yet is now alive". So this idea of death is in fact maybe not such a great deal to him as he is already far more dead then alive? Even if he wonders why he should die for "them" ("them" being humans, as if he were not...)and does enjoy life, maybe he knows he just doesn't belong to this world after all...
Delete“They don't know the troubles of the flesh yet, he thought, as the marching boys disappeared in the direction of the Strand -all that I've been through, he thought, crossing the road and standing under Gordon's statue, Gordon whom as a boy he had worshipped; Gordon standing lonely with one leg raised and his arms crossed,- poor Gordon, he thought.
ReplyDeleteAnd just because nobody yet knew he was in London, except Clarissa, and the earth, after the voyage, still seemed an island to him, the strangeness of standing alone, alive, unknown, at half-past eleven in Trafalgar Square overcame him. What is it ? Where am I ?” p 58
I chose to analyse this extract because it shows Peter Walsh's thoughts about the purpose of his travel to London, and more generally his thoughts about the meaning of his life.
First of all, in this extract, Peter Walsh seems to be searching for identity. Indeed, he feels “unknown” but seems to be wondering if it is worth to accomplish great things in a life, showing how the once famous General Gordon has been forgotten, as his statue is “standing lonely” in the crowded Trafalgar Square, just like him. In fact, he doesn't recognize the city, having dramatically changed after the shock of World War I. This leads him to search for the meaning of his existence, wondering if it is worth to be “alive” but “alone” within the impersonal crowd. In fact, like the reader, Peter Walsh does not really know why he came back to London, seeming to wake up just after a dream as he wonders : “What is it ? Where am I ?”. Through this aspect, we can notice that there is the theme of the urbanized world, one of the main Modernist features, as Peter Walsh wanders lonely in a crowded but impersonal city. However, the reader guesses that the purpose of Walsh's travel to London could be to see Clarissa again as “nobody knew he was in London, except Clarissa”, leading the reader to understand that he has ambiguous feelings for her. We can also notice that a contrast is made between Peter Walsh's confused thoughts -seen through stream of consciousness and question marks- and a detailed description of reality, as it is said that Peter is standing “ at half-past eleven in Trafalgar Square”. This opposition between consciousness and reality time is a typical feature of Modernism, and perfectly shows Peter Walsh's confusion when confronted to this changed London.
Louis Thivent
« It was a dreadful pity. For that made Septimus cry out about human cruelty ‒ how they tear each other to pieces. »
ReplyDeleteThis quote appears on page 155, when Septimus remembers all these things he has made Rezia write on amounts of papers, incomprehensible to her, and which were read once by « the girl who did the room ». He and his wife had discovered her laughing at his thoughts, at his feelings, a scene which made him cry.
I found this passage interesting, because it reveals the inner and deepest grief of Septimus, which is in fact not an absurd one, contrary to one would tend to think. At this point of the novel, what this character reproaches to the world is made plain, that is to say « human cruelty ». Septimus is in fact shown as a very lucid person here, who is perfectly able to perceive which evil haunts human nature ; in the first place, he is not a victim of madness but a victim of lucidity, which has secondly made him go mad. Here is shown the true reason why such a feeling of being misunderstood overwhelms him all along the book until he commits suicide, which is in his case a clear way out. To him, there is no solution to this human flaw, this is the very single thing human beings are capable of, consciously or not. Besides, we can notice Septimus expresses here the profound evil of nearly every character of the novel. Indeed, the majority of them suffer from harmful relationships or memories, without being able to put words on it, nor being even conscious of it.
Secondly, this passage is very important to me, seeing how it can make the reader feel, reading these lines. At first sight, don't we think : "it is very him to think such a thing" ? Don't we say : "Septimus sees harm everywhere, in people who want to help him, in ordinary everyday life scenes. Septimus is mad." ? At this point, a second reading is called for, and surprisingly it is made obvious that Septimus is perfectly right, whether we like it or not. Human nature is cruel. Furthermore, in this passage, the worst is the fact that the reader can completely identify to the girl who does the room and who, discovering Septimus' thoughts and sayings, laughs with « a dreadful pity ». Indeed, all along the book, the reader is led to feel pity and to file Septimus away, in the "mentally ill persons" category, to finally feel nearly guilty of being exactly like these people who misundertand him, who « tear him to pieces » and who, in the end, push him away, through the window.
To conclude, this Septimus' piece of thought is important, seeing the (modernist) idea of isolation and alienation it depicts, the representation of other characters' feelings it gives and finally the changing feelings of the reader it provokes, leading him to wonder whether, in the end, Septimus is as mad as he seems to be, as we want him to be.
Very interesting reading Alix
ReplyDelete“It rasped her, though, to have stirring about in her this brutal monster! to hear twigs cracking and feel hooves planted down in the depths of that leaf-encumbered forest, the soul; never to be content quite, or quite secure, for at any the brute would be stirring, this hatred, which, especially since her illness, had power to make her physical pain, and made all pleasure in beauty, in friendship, in being well, in being loved and making her home delightful, rock, quiver, and bend as if indeed there were a monster grubbing at the roots, as if the whole panoply of content were nothing self love! this hatred!” (p.15)
ReplyDeleteI felt like this passage, at the beginning of the book, was one of the most beautiful extract. I guess the words appeal something in me ; don't you hear the strange monster in her? In this extract, Virginia Woolf perfectly succeeds in mixing to different thing : a feeling, and Nature. I believe this strange monster which “eats” Clarissa is hate, or selfishness. This first sentence is really efficient, as a description : the sounds in the words “cracking” “encumbered” evoke something difficult to find, it is like you have to search deep in the “forest”. And how the comma emphasizes the meaning of the phrase : you have the entire description, a pause to make you figure the black forest, the twigs and the hooves, and finally the revelation : the soul. A beautiful metaphor, very concrete indeed, as the soul is something very vague and hard to define !
I also found that this passage was “lost” in the middle of Clarissa thoughts : suddenly the woman who only wants to give a party appears as human, and even more as injured, secret. After this passage, the character of Clarissa is deeper and more complex. She is no more a “lady” but a soul, and inside of her, a monster is trying to erase her. This extract also introduces some modernist themes, such as mental disease, but also loneliness. How Clarissa feels abandoned in front of her monster, how she looks disarmed while seeing her entire life spoiled by this creature. The last words, with the exclamation marks, symbolize her rebellion towards this powerlessness, and Woolf's one too. On the top of that, Virginia Woolf really makes a point in describing each aspect of Clarissa's life and how it was good, before the apparition of the monster ; how she had “pleasure in beauty”, and friends, and love, and how she is the perfect hostess (after all, having “her home delightful” makes her so happy). The author may wanted to demonstrate how illness can be rude, and hard to fight. But still, Clarissa does not fail and still has some forces to go over it.
Finally, and to link with passage with poetry, I deeply believe that the “brutal monster” hidden in Clarissa's soul can be compared with the rat in “Break of Day in the trenches”. Above the first link with Nature, it is more the powerlessness of man in front of something so small which reminds me of Clarissa's beast. The rat is running through the no man's land like the monster is inhabiting Clarissa's soul. An animal you can not touch, only watch, and which survives in the deepest and darkest places. War in lands or in souls, what difference?
(sorry for being late)
« Boys in uniform, carrying guns, marched with their eyes ahead of them, marched, their arms stiff, and on their faces an expression like the letters of a legend written round the base of a statue praising duty, gratitude, fidelity , love of England. It Is, thought Peter Walsh, beginning to keep step with them, a very fine training. But they did not look robust. They were weedy for the most part, boys of sixteen, who might, tomorrow, stand behind bowls of rice, cakes of soap on counters. Now they wore on them unmixed with sensual pleasure or daily preoccupations the solemnity of the wreath which they had fetched from Finsbury Pavement to the empty tomb » p.57
ReplyDeleteIt was pretty tough not to quote the more than this extract for it is the most relevant about Peter Walsh’s thoughts on the topic of the war and more precisely on the official reminiscence of it. In this extract Peter gives way to young boys who are going to pay a tribute to the people who have died during the war in the empty tomb. Whilst they are doing so, Peter train of thoughts gave us informations about them, particularly about what they look like. Moreover one can say hat it’s a cold subjective point of view for Peter seems to dehumanize these youngsters. Indeed the first thing he notices is that they are carrying guns and then that their eyes are ahead of them. That is to say that they are overlooking what surround them. Their gait is qualified as « stiff » and « strict » as if they were robotized. Furthermore they bear a stoical facial expression « like the letters of the legend […] praising duty, gratitude, fidelity, love of England ». This simile emphasized the fact that they look preset. Everything at this point of the description is gathered to believe that these boys are adequately (physically and mentally) prepared for this specific day. But as Peter Walsh pointed it out « they do not look robust » . They are « weedy » sixteen-year-old boys who could be found in common places. To Peter, they were randomly selected and are not really realizing what they are parading for. To them is only a « sensual pleasure or daily preoccupations » . While they are crossing Trafalgar square, Peter and everyone around them (mind that these people are referred to as « traffic » or « vans » and not individuals) are staring silently. But actually this silence is more due to the respect for the plague their relatives have suffered during the war than for the courage of these young boys. And it is this contrast that doesn’t prevent Peter from smirking at them. In the following sentence the use of the verb « fetch » reinforces the idea of people who are asked to go somewhere without knowing exactly why because this verb is also often used by masters as an instruction given to their dog…
This extract of Mrs Dalloway could be linked to Ezra Pound’s Hugh Selwyn Mauberley if we dig into what he wanted to condemned when addressing to these men who were fighting for no valid purposes. Here Peter Walsh’s train of thoughts reveals to the reader the superficiality of the war and unrealistic reminiscence that is made of it as well as the uselessness of the war -one of the main aspect of modernist writing-.
Swiftly, cleanly, the ambulance sped to the hospital, having picked up instantly, humanely, some poor devil; some one hit on the head, struck down by disease, knocked over perhaps a minute or so ago at one of these crossings, as might happen to oneself. That was civilization.
ReplyDeletePage 166
In this extract, Peter Walsh gives us insight on many things relevant to his time, and now.
It is a very modernist quote, be it from the theme of death and its unbiased and sometimes seemingly random strikes to the almost nonchalance with which it is described.
First of all, the way the sentence is structured makes us think of the reaction to the person carried by the ambulance as a sort of highly efficient mechanism, lacking in life and feelings. It slightly resembles clockwork, working “swiftly, cleanly” and “instantly”.
The tone seems almost cold, clinical in its approach. There is a sort of loss of humanity in the process.
The person in the ambulance is very ambiguously described as “some poor devil”, or even more simply as “some one”. This serves as a reminder that almost anyone, at anytime is in harm's way. No matter who you are, death and illness are thrust upon you equally, without discrimination. No one is safe and neither is anyone special.
These musings seem very melancholic, as well as slightly bitter. This bitterness is seen through the list of possible reasons as to why an ambulance would have to come. It could be anything. From a “hit on the head” to “disease”. The tone seems really light, considering the topic. But none of it really matters in the end. And that is what is so troubling.
Of course, one might say that things aren't all so bad, as there seems to be some feeling for the victim, some pity. But that is it. The victim is only “humanely” considered as some “poor devil”. A bit of pity and one moves on. And this is what strikes Peter Walsh about civilization.
The representation of illness, and especially death in this passage can make us think of Isaac Rosenberg's poem, Break of the Day in the Trenches. The same sort of resignation seems to fill both narrators, that there are forces that one cannot control and adapt to, no matter what mankind may try.
Mathilde
A terrible confession it was (he put his hat on again), but now, at the age of fifty-three, one scarcely needed people any more. Life itself, every moment of it, every drop of it, here, this instant, now, in the sun, in Regent’s Park, was enough. Too much, indeed. P. 88
ReplyDeleteHere is another example of Peter Walsh thinking to himself about what he can expect from his life from now on in. Overall his point of view is quite sombre and could almost be interpreted as suicidal; to be fair the sentiment expressed is akin to Septimus’. The use of “Too much, indeed” in its own fragment certainly emphasizes Peter Walsh’s weariness of the world. It would seem that he is ready to give up on life and let go. Moreover hi s statement that “one scarcely [needs] people anymore.” shows that he is not even sure whether he actually needs Daisy at all, for all the bother that she could bring him. Interpreted in this way it is almost ironic that now Peter has finally found a potential wife he is not exactly sure whether or not he really wants her around.
Simply the thought of being alone brings us back again to Septimus and the theme of isolation. To my mind Peter Walsh feels this way and has subconsciously decided that since he did not manage to marry Clarissa no-one else will do. From the point at which Richard Dalloway entered their lives Peter has been, to all intents and purposes, alone. As he predicts Clarissa’s marriage with Dalloway it is clear early on that he then saw his life as being to some extent, dead. Furthermore, the passage I have selected illustrates that Peter knew this to be true deep down as he terms it “A terrible confession”. A confession: knowledge that you do not want to divulge to anyone, and in peter’s case he had not wanted to admit it to himself.
DeleteSorry I posted one half without the other!
"His wife was crying, and he felt nothing; only each time she sobbed in this profound, this silent, this hopeless way, he descended another step into the pit" (p.100)
ReplyDeleteI chose this passage because I thought it was a very expressive one, it deals with two of the most important subjects in the novel : relationships and the effects the war had on Septimus's mental health.
In this extract, Septimus hears his wife crying, she is crying because she knows that septimus's condition won't allow her to become a mother, which is something she has her heart set on. Spetimus knows the reason, at least he knows that she is crying because of him, but he can't bring himself to feel anything, not guilt, not sadness, nothing!
Septimus is living in a different world, and day by day, his mental condition gets worse, he is being consumed by his past, and all we can see in their marriage is the fadded, distant picture of two people who were, once upon a time, in love. This passage really gives us the feeling that long lasting love is unatainable, and trough out the entire novel, all we see are miss-matched couples; there is an omnipresent feeling of "socialy acceptable" love. The whole novel is baised physical appearances, ones place in society, and in this passage, we feel that all this worrying about people think of you, what you should do, what you shouldn't do, is driving Septimus ever so slowly to his tragic end, he is caving in.
I thought this had some similar points with Charlotte Mew's poem "Fame", this idea that everything is so futile and superficial, this idea that the individual is being cast aside, ignored, that everyone should look like everyone, there is a certain feeling that being different is forbiden.
Although Septimus says "he felt nothing" when he heard his wife cry, he does notice that it sinks him deeper into dispare, into this pit, it could mean that he does feel something, which is probably guilt, and he can't seem to express it.
This passage is a strong critic of the society these people live in, it tackles in just a few lines, the problem of superficiality and what is really important in life.
Sorry for being so late (again) and for the spelling mistakes, Daire
"[A]n immortal ode to Time. He sang. Evans answered from behind the tree. The dead were in Thessaly, Evans sang, among the orchids. There they waited till the War was over, and now the dead, now Evans himself--
ReplyDelete"For God's sake don't come!" Septimus cried out. For he could not look upon the dead." p.78
Why did I choose this quotation ? First of all, I think that every time Septimus speaks, or rather thinks, we can learn such interresting things! His mind is so complicated, like a maze that one must understand, a riddle to me. Secondly this extract can make us reflect on many different modernist themes or aspects.
At this moment in the book, Septimus and his wife are sitting on a bench in Regents Park and Septimus had just been admiring the beauties of nature in the previous page when his wife interrupted him and said : “It is time”. This extract therefore beginns with an “ode to Time”. Time is personnified and has become a god, or in any case a superior being with a capital letter to its name. Then we have a sort of concert, Septimus sings and then... Evans, his friend who died in the war joins in... We have an insight not only into Septimus's thought but into his own world. Continuing this musical-type dialogue with his friend and nature he learns that the dead rest in Italy and then, this universal fact is reversed. Now the war is over, the dead are coming back to their friends and family but Septimus, “[who has]been dead, and yet [is] now alive] cannot bare the sight of it.
We can see that his thoughts hop from one to another and once again, this shows the importance of the streem of consciousness. Septimus first bounces off his wife's remark and then goes back to his state of amazement and finally falls back into the past. With a more classical style of writing, nobody could have managed to characterize such a personnality so well but Woolf has found the way to do so, in a very modernist fashion, she has shown us that classical type narration is not enough.
In such a small passage, and in only one stream of thought, we find the theme of death, war, religion and time which are characteristic of modernist writing. Of course, everybody is shocked by the war yet it seems that most have gotten over the loss of love ones rather quickly. Septimus is at an other level since he has actually lived through it. He has a greater horror of what has happened which is reverberated through his state of mind. All he was sure of has fallen to pieces. The only element that never changes, never lets him down is Time, that seems much fairer, more regular, than God. We can see this confusion towards religion in the fact the he sings to Time and cries out “For God's sake!” moments later. Moreover, Septimus has just had a revelation and he feels a bit as if he were God or at least much closer to him....
The fact that Evans is now walking towards him can be disturbing and we could think that really, Septimus is completely mad. I think that it is not the man that he sees coming to him but more the thought of him, the rememberence of those horrible times in Italy. In this, Septimus is alone again he sees things other people will never see because they cannot. So one might think his brain is utterly damaged? No, he still has the human reflex to tell the dead to stay where they are : and this is my proof that Septimus is not crazy, he has much more sense than most of the others and it is because he sees through human nature that human nature willl destroy him.
« [...] some pressure of rapture, which split its thin skin and gushed and poured with an extraordinary alleviation over the cracks and sores. » p36
ReplyDeleteFirst, I should explain the context of this quote, otherwise it does not really make sense. Mrs Dalloway is speaking, and she tries to express her attraction to women and in a more general way she tries to define love. This quote is the result of her analysis.
To me, the theme of love is over present in this novel, and the quote I chose expresses perfectly why all the characters are looking for it. As Clarissa expresses it, love has the power to cure every ill. Love makes people happier, prettier, and more alive. Moreover, thanks to love, no feeling of loneliness can be felt, because love is something that involves two persons. What is more, here Clarissa describes at as being something extraordinary, even magic, which explains why without love, life seems devoid of interest. This could explain why Lucrezia is feeling so lonely; because her husband does not look at her any more and she has an illness to be cured -loneliness. This could also explain the fact that Peter followed a girl in the park in order to feel desired instead of being rejected by Clarissa. Here, she points the effect that love has on the body, almost in a medical way, really trying to explain the result love has one someone. In a way, we could say that this is a modernist version of love, because Virginia Wool rejects the romantic version of love by being something only spiritual –here it has real effects on the soul and the body. It is a sort of rationalisation of love; Clarissa tries to put words on feelings by giving her impressions. We could link this to impressionism where painters were trying to catch the light on a canvas; light is something moving, changing, evolving, exactly as love is.
I chose this quote because it found it extremely poetic and with a very strong meaning. It is a good over view of how the book is written: finding explanations to life, trying to analyse your inner feelings and emotions. It expresses the difficulties to link yourself to the others, the past to the present, the language to the silence.
« (…) in the room opposite the old lady stared straight at her! She was going to bed. And the sky. It will be a solemn sky, she had thought, it will be a dusky sky, turning away its cheek in beauty. But there it was--ashen pale, raced over quickly by tapering vast clouds. It was new to her. The wind must have risen. She was going to bed, in the room opposite. It was fascinating to watch her, moving about, that old lady, crossing the room, coming to the window. Could she see her? It was fascinating, with people still laughing and shouting in the drawing-room, to watch that old woman, quite quietly, going to bed. She pulled the blind now. The clock began striking. The young man had killed himself; but she did not pity him; with the clock striking the hour, one, two, three, she did not pity him, with all this going on. There! the old lady had put out her light! the whole house was dark now with this going on, she repeated, and the words came to her, Fear no more the heat of the sun. She must go back to them. But what an extraordinary night! She felt somehow very like him--the young man who had killed himself. She felt glad that he had done it; thrown it away. The clock was striking. The leaden circles dissolved in the air. He made her feel the beauty; made her feel the fun. But she must go back. »
ReplyDeleteI’m concious that this extract is quite long but I couldn't shorten it as this seems, to me, the most important extract in the book.
In fact, this extract is very representative of the modernist technique used all along the book : stream of conciousness. Here Clarissa's flow of thoughts is shown by her mind going back and forth, in a very short period of time, between the old lady, the sky and then Spetimus. This stream of conciousness is also put forward by the question mark at line 7, and this subjective question « Could she see her? » that stays unanswered.
This extract is also very important regarding the modernist apsects because it brings two essential themes (introduced earlier in the book) : Death (with Septimus' suicide) and Time (with Big Ben striking the hour). We can remark that recurrent quote "fear no more the heat of the sun" which here takes all its sense. Indeed this quote comes from one of Shakespear's poem refering to death and this quote is a consolation for a beloved one's death, a way to reasure the one that seems dead about it because death implies the removal of extremes of weather, wether it is the hot sun or the severe winter ( "nor Winter's rage" next verse)
This moment can also be considered as the climax of the book. First because by this time we are at the Daloway's party, thing that we've been waiting all day long, and then because Clarissa and Septimus' strories finally come across each other. Indeed more then coming across, a similarity and a link between the two main caracters appear, Clarissa "felt very like him".
Moreover Septimus' suicide even helped Mrs Dalloway because at this precise instant he « made her feel the beauty; made her feel the fun ».
« She felt glad that he had done it; thrown it away », she needed it to realise how lucky she was and how life was beautiful, even the most simple things such as the sky above Westminster, or even that old lady going to bed, but it was « new to her » and this thanks to that young man's suicide. She doesn't question herself about death anymore, she simply has to live and go ahead (which makes the very last line important because "she must go back". We don't know if she just has to go back to her party or, more important, to her life).
“She thought there were no Gods; no one was to blame; and so she evolved this atheist's religion of doing good for the sake of goodness.”
ReplyDeleteAs we already know, in the area of religion, modernism has examined and re-defined traditional belief-systems in light of contemporary values, principles but also trends.
In this passage, Mrs Dalloway definitively rejects the tradional convinctions concerning religion and more precisely-the Christianity. According to her, there are no gods ; no superior being which would watch over theirs creations-human beings. What is more, she decisively confirms that there is « no one to blame », what means that people (as a simple unity) with their behaviour and actions cannot be judged and condemned by this All Powerfull or other kind of absolute, omnipotent being .In fact , the atheism was a religion of Modernism. Many who rose the objections and opoposed the Christianity (by questionning its dogmas) probably took an atheistic or agnostic religious position, whereas some of them would opt for Deism. This kind of 'revolt' was provoked by new scientific methodology which offered explanations for natural phenomena which primitive people explained religiously... In consequence, the ''fresh'' wave of modernism also influenced Clarissa ; she became atheist. It seems a bit paradoxal and Virginia's Woolf allusion to her being like a nun is also ironic. De facto, Clarissa is an obliging person ; she does what is expected of her and whatever she does, she is very orderly. Her daily acts are ''performed'' with some kind of religious devotion. And it is well revealed in this passage : the heroine, despite the fact that she rejects all of the christian dogmas, is guided by « goodness » in her entire life.
According to me, this extract is a good exemple Modernism’s view of traditional religion (including the traditional understanding of Christianity). It proves, that even an atheist can be a good person, guided by kindness and other high moral values, such as Clarissa...