The 1920s, often called the Jazz Age or the Roaring Twenties, gave rise to notable works of literature like F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby and James Joyce’s Ulysses. Just as important, though possibly somewhat overlooked, was Virginia Woolf. Her work, though, like that of many male authors of the era, helped to shape the course of literary style and history. Her novel Mrs. Dalloway, written in 1925, is one such novel whose narrative structure and use of literary devices changed the novel forever. More important than these characteristics is the unique way in which Woolf introduces two characters, Clarissa Dalloway and Septimus Smith, whose lives appear utterly unrelated. Ultimately, though, Septimus Smith comes to have a huge impact on the life of Mrs. Dalloway.
The narrative structure of the novel was unusual at the time. A third-person omniscient narrator takes us through a series of seemingly disconnected...
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events in the lives of various characters on one day. What makes the narration unusual is its focus on the inner thoughts, memories, and associations of the various characters. Mrs. Dalloway is an older woman preparing for a dinner party that evening, while Septimus is a soldier who served in the First World War and, like so many of his compatriots, has become so hopeless that he is contemplating suicide. While these two characters appear to be utterly dissimilar, they have much in common.
As we follow Mrs. Dalloway through her day, her thoughts reveal to us seemingly random memories. For example, in a relatively short period of time, the reader learns of what seems to have been a lesbian relationship in Clarissa’s past, the beginnings of a serious straight romance with a former beau who has come to visit, and the introduction of the man who would eventually become her husband. Clarissa also seems to worry about a friendship between her daughter, Elizabeth, and her teacher, Miss Kilman. It’s interesting that this should worry Clarissa when she herself had such a relationship. Clarissa recognizes that her concerns about and dislike of her daughter’s friend are a darkness in her own heart. She enters a flower shop and hopes that the beauty of the flowers will free her from her dark thoughts. At the end of this section, a car backfires, and this loud noise provides a narrative segue to enter the thoughts of Mrs. Dalloway’s parallel character, Septimus Smith.
For Septimus, the backfiring car is just another bit of trouble for an already troubled mind. Woolf was insightful in her creation of Septimus. He is the epitome of a former soldier who is haunted by his time on the battlefield. His doctor doesn’t think there is anything truly wrong with Septimus, but because we are privy to his thoughts and associations, we know how desperately unwell Septimus really is. When he begins to hallucinate the presence of his friend Evans, we sense that we are going to meet someone who will prove to be very important.
Our further encounters with Septimus reveal a friendship that developed during the war between Septimus and Evans. Their closeness, perhaps even love, is suggested more subtly than the relationship between Clarissa and Sally, who are seen to kiss. Perhaps this lack of detail is reflective of Septimus’s mental decline? In any case, it is clear that Septimus’s relationship with Evans parallels Clarissa’s relationship with Sally.
This parallel becomes even more significant as the novel comes to a close. Clarissa’s party comes to pass, and we watch her various interactions come to fruition. “Everyone” comes to the party—her old beau Peter, the Prime Minister, and even the long-lost Sally. Not surprisingly, everyone is a bit of a disappointment, as is the party as a whole, even though on the surface it appears to be a great success. Clarissa is surprised to learn that Sally has married and has “five enormous sons.” Is this part of the disappointment, that the literal woman of her dreams, the woman whose kiss she remembers with a certain eroticism, has turned out to be quite ordinary, quite in line with the norms and expectations of society?
Toward the end of the evening, Clarissa learns of Septimus’s suicide from Sir William Bradshaw, a person who is at least partially responsible for Septimus’s death, and his wife when they arrive at the party. Clarissa is affected deeply by the news of Septimus’s death. In a way, she admires him and his “courage.” She comes to believe that she took the easy way in life, followed along the path of least resistance, and she feels some shame in the life she chose. This moment of epiphany allows for genuine change, and as the novel ends, we see Clarissa joining back up with the two people who were truly the loves of her life, Peter and Sally.
Clarissa is not the girl she was long ago, but she realizes that she has time yet to enjoy the company of her two wonderful friends and to be less concerned with all that troubled her during the day we spent in her company.