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Fiction

Notes entered his room, panicked, and called for Holmes. Upon seeing Holmes, Septimus screamed
in horror. The doctor, annoyed, advised that they see Dr. Bradshaw.

Task How was the married house maid who visited Bourton dressed?

Part II Section One Analysis

The archetype of the feminine maternal is represented by the woman seen by the solitary
traveler and now, the vagrant woman singing in the subway. She sings of eternal love. The
figure serves as a vehicle to transition the reader from Peter to Rezia Smith, two characters
lacking companionship. The theme of eternal love is examined within the theories held by the
love interests of Peter and Rezia: Clarissa and Septimus, respectively. Clarissa espoused a
theory in earlier chapters when she reflected on the idea that a piece of her remained in every
place she has been. As Manly Johnson, critic, notes, “...Clarissa’s theory is about the affinities
between people and how one must seek out those who complete one: the Œunseen part of us’
might survive, Œbe recovered somehow attached to this person or that.’”

Septimus’ theory of the beauty in the world does not differ greatly, and it is through their
similar approaches to the world about them that one begins to see the real similarities between
Septimus and Clarissa. He too notices the ever-present beauty of the moment. In fact, Septimus
can be said to fill the void of feelings that Clarissa lacks. Septimus first applauds himself for
not feeling sadness when his friend, Evans, is killed and then punishes himself for not feeling
it afterward. However, as critic, Isabel Gamble, asserts, “The real truth is, of course, that
Septimus has felt too deeply, has been shaken and numbed by shell shock and the war,
specifically by the death of his friend, Evans; his feelings have flowed through channels
deeper than any so far sounded by Clarissa. But he has never gone by the first paralyzing
numbness to see, consciously, the reality of his emotion.” Septimus believes that his initial
emotionless reaction to Evans’ death is real and progressively bases his construction of reality
on this miscalculation. Instead of facing his grief, he represses it until the remainder of his
reality is shattered. He pictures dogs turning into men (an inversion of the image he created
to represent himself and Evans, as dogs, playing in front of a fire) because the truth has
become demented in his mind to the point of delusion. One must applaud Woolf’s coupling
of the sane and insane as an advanced social commentary. She illustrates the humanity lacking
in a sane person and the depth of feeling possessed by an insane character, reversing the
stereotypes that plagued them both.

Septimus represents a Œlost generation’ of men following the end of World War I. As the
pomp and circumstance of British upper class society continues, a group of men return from
war unutterably changed but without a resource to ease their frustration. The politics of a
Britain still trying to dominate world politics cannot peacefully absorb a collection of men so
altered from the British civilization that had sent them to the war. The reflection of war and
its effect on postwar society, and the British infatuation with the memory of it are inseparable
from the main plot of the novel, though many readers try to diminish the postwar circumstances
within the book. However, as Lee R. Edwards, critic, mentions, nothing necessitated Woolf’s
inclusion of characters’ comments on the War, characters involved with the military such as
Lady Bruton and Miss Parry, Peter’s thoughts concerning Empire and the marching boys, or
Septimus’ mental anguish. The novel takes place five years after the war but exists within its
shadow. Simple contemplation transforms into social commentary when one realizes the import
of the many references to the post-war environment. For instance, Peter’s simple musing of the

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