Virginia Woolf was born in January 25, 1882, London, England, Virginia Woolf is a very famous English writer. Unfortunately, in 1941 she put a lot of stones on her body and drowned in deep water, she died in March 28, 1941, at the age of 59, near Rodmell, Sussex.
Virginia Woolf's novels"Mrs. Dalloway"(1925) is a love story, to criticizes the social system, also to criticize political society, which is denying to talking about World War II. Her story is showing the reader that the characters deny Septimus is in shock from the war. Because of this denial in the book, results in real life are even more damaging for the war soldiers. That’s the reason she uses the main character Septimus Smith. His mind is broken. It does not matter that the war has ended, Septimus represents a broken society that is continued.
Virginia Woolf’s story shows all her ideas throughout the plot, each character has their own identity. For example, the main character Clarissa has a very clear focus on her party. She comes from a low-class family, her husband Richard is an upper-class man, as we know people who come from different social classes do not easily match what others think and what others do. The problems in her marriage is that Clarissa feel isolated. According to Woolf’s story,
“Such fools we are, she thought, crossing Victoria Street. For Heaven only knows why one loves it so, how one sees it so, making it up, building it round one,tumbling it round one, tumbling it, creating it every moment afresh; but the veriest frumps, the most dejected of miseries sitting on doorsteps (drink their downfall) do the same; can’t be dealt with, she felt positive, by Acts of Parliament for that very reason: they love life” (Woolf 1109).
From this quotation, the reader can see that Woolf uses the main character Clarissa “crossing Victoria Street” it is means she is crossing social class. As she walks on the street, anything Clarissa sees will make her think about her past with Peter again. Also, she often wonders about her marriage and love between her and her husband Richard, they are always too individual, same as two trees, never can hug each other. In her mind are so many happy memories with her first love, Peter Walsh. Also, her unhappy marriage makes her think about her whole life.Clarissa represents Woolf’s idea of life, as opposed to Septimus who represents death. She struggles with her own identity. Maybe she does not belong to this class. She believes each class has its own social circle, and with her husband she feels like an outsider. Clarissa even feels like she is isolated from her husband.Marriage is about two persons who love each other, she feels a disconnect between her and her husband. Woof uses Clarissa’s cross class to criticize social system.
Mrs. Dalloway is partially a love story. Peter Walsh was her lover before Clarissa’s marriage. After many years when she is fifty-two years old, he revisits her, then he brings back all her sweet memories in her hometown. Woolf’s powerful writing works to bring readers between place and time in Clarissa’s young and old age. Unfortunately, this love story ends up more in a sad way. Clarissa and Peter were in the same class before she married Richard. The relationships between Peter and Clarissa’s husband Richard show how Clarissa is lonely in London. Peter is the loser. Clarissa rejected him to marry Richard. Richard is a politician. He, for Woolf, represents a negative social system that hurts people trying to change social class.
Additionally, even though she married in to a higher class, she is not welcome in their social circles. This make her lonely. Woolf’s story has two main things to go in on, the main character Clarissa is the one upper-class society wife who struggle with her life not fitting in to this class system. The other main character, Septimus Smith, is a veteran who suffers from World War II, he cannot go back to normal life, his mind always hears his dead friend’s voice.Woolf wrote a story, and created difference characters to criticize society’s problems, that’s the reason that in her story there are issues between the men and women, and rich people and poor people. Also, Clarissa and Septimusis represent two different personal identities, Clarissa means life, Septimus represents how society is broken because he is broken. The story ends up with both characters from life to death:
“The both Characters never directly meet in the novel, but the narrative weaves back and forth between theirs---'the world seen by the sane and the insane side by side’ in Woolf’s words. Showing Septimus to be a casualty of modern warfare, class stratification, and the mental health profession, her novel questions the solidity of the dividing line between the sane and the insane” (Greenblatt 1108).
Woolf uses this story to point out our world reality. Clarissa is unhappy in her marriage, but she cannot change anything for herself. It does not matter if she is happy or not happy, she cannot break the social class system. All the old friends coming to her party brings back her old memories. Septimius sacrifices for his country and peace, but he could not peacefully live after the war is over. Woolf’s story clearly gives readers a sense about problems in the social system, though her portrayal of life and death, which is to show the social problems. All the characters have their own meaning; all the characters in her story are the tool to criticize the social system. That’s the power Wool fuses to accomplish her bringing out of social problems in Mrs. Dalloway. As we know until right now the British class system is still very powerful. Clarissa marrying Richard does not means she is in the upper class.
Mrs. Dalloway is a tearfully sad love story, at this party all the characters are experiencing all kinds of joys and sorrows. Through each scene, Woolf gives readers a sense full of love and loss. Also, the character Septimius, a veteran World War II hero,lost his best friends in this war; he can not overcome the sadness in his mind, so he jumps from a window to end his life. Woolf uses Septimius dying as a good example to wake up people, but Clarissa’s party still continues, they are feeling better because they can once again pretend society is not broken.
Works Cited
Greenblatt, Stephen. “Mrs. Dalloway.”The Norton Anthology of English Literature, W.W. Norton & Company,2013.
Woolf, Virginia.Mrs. Dalloway. The Norton Anthology of English Literature, W.W. Norton & Company, 2013.
Virginia Woolf is a very famous English writer
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