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Unit 29: Virginia Woolf — Mrs. Dalloway: Detailed Study of Text

and narrative voice. As critic Irene Simon stipulates, “It is just the purpose of Virginia Woolf Notes
to abolish the distinction between dream and reality; she effects this by mixing images with
gestures, thoughts with impressions, visions with pure sensations, and by presenting them as
mirrored on a consciousness.” Thus the language too is moment to moment, short, and dense.
She writes in a flow of consciousness, floating from sensation to sensation and from the mind
of one character to the next.
Though often descriptive, every thought and phrase in Woolf’s writing has a distinct and
analyzable purpose. We learn that Clarissa was sick and now feels a deep, intense anger inside
which never seems to completely disappear. The enigmatic character of Miss Kilman brings
about the fury inside of Clarissa though Woolf’s description of why is confusing. Again, the
text mirrors the feeling within it. The sentences run-on in a rush of anger, sentences begin
with lower case letters, and adjectives and nouns are chosen such as encumbered, scraped,
brute, and hooves which spark harshness and hurt. Woolf constantly blurs the distinction
between dream and reality, both within the plot and the text itself. Clarissa enters the flower
shop overcome with embarrassment, trying to hush her anger, but she is soon overcome and
distracted by color. She opens up her eyes, an allusion to the first metaphor with the open
window, and takes in the flowers. She is transported back to the moment and we are reminded
of how transparent the present is within Woolf.

Did u know? The episode also foreshadows the theme of doubling, as Clarissa quickly
rushes between hatred and love, which will surface with the introduction
of Septimus.

Part I Section Two Summary

The loud noise had come from an important looking motorcar. Passers-by claimed to have
seen a distinguished face in the window. Even after the car had moved on, the disturbance it
created did not rumors that the face had belonged to the Prince or Queen flew about. The
street came to a stop and Septimus Warren Smith, an apprehensive looking man of thirty,
could not get by. Septimus, a veteran who had been mentally and emotionally devastated by
his experience in World War I, pictured that he was the cause of the stop and anticipated
horror. His wife, Lucrezia (Rezia), hurried him, angering Septimus. She could not help but
believe that others noticed his strangeness, his abruptness. She was so embarrassed and imagined
that they all knew that Septimus had wanted to kill himself. He tried to please her, since she
knew no one in England, but his efforts had become half-hearted.
Clarissa hoped that the face belonged to the Queen. The car was delayed until the chauffeur
spoke to a policeman, who allowed the car to pass. Clarissa felt touched by magic. She imagined
Hugh Whitbread at Buckingham Palace and her own upcoming party. The people on Bond
Street took a few moments to return to daily life. The car continued through Piccadilly. Meanwhile,
a crowd formed at Buckingham’s gates. Suddenly, Emily Coates, a woman watching the events,
noticed an airplane making letters out of smoke. The letters were hard to decipher and everyone
guessed at the words. Weaving across London’s sky, the plane’s trail mystified its observers.
In Regent’s Park, Rezia tried to show Septimus the letters since the doctor had suggested
distracting him with things outside of himself. Septimus believed the letters were signaling to
him. The beauty brought tears to his eyes. The voice of a nursemaid nearby vibrated in his
ears and brought the trees gloriously to life for him. Rezia hated when he stared into nothingness.
People must notice him, she thought. She wished he were dead. She walked to the fountain
and back to distract herself. She could tell no one about his state and felt alone. He was not

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