The New Dress | Themes

Alienation and Loneliness
Mabel Waring’s feelings of alienation surface when she attends a party given by Clarissa Dalloway. The reader first sees her insecurity when the Dalloways’s servant, Mrs. Barnet, immediately recognizes Mabel’s humble origins from the new dress that she has had made for the party. The servant’s behavior affirms Mabel’s belief that she is an outsider and does not belong in this society. Social interactions at the party further verify her estrangement. Although the other guests engage Mabel in conversation, an acute self-consciousness about...

[The entire page is 568 words long]

Join eNotes

The above is a free excerpt. Get total access to this content with the:

eNotes Pass

Summary and Analysis – Themes – Characters – And much more...