Mrs.

Dalloway Virginia Woolf

Practicas 3a

The presented fragment is an episode comprising Mrs. Dalloways
reaction to hearing the news of Septimus Warrens suicide. Mrs. Dalloway feels
herself responsible for the young man who has chosen to put an end to his life. Her
guilt goes beyond limits as she despises herself for standing at her fancy party
while other people face real life problems. The tumultuous thoughts make her think
instantly about the place where she grew up, Burton, where life was simpler and
when she had the courage to want more from life, from her own, than just throwing
parties for people she didnt quite understood.

Even though, she remembers that her happiness now is due to Richard,
her husband, the man who always stood by her side no matter the circumstances. It
is grace to him she is now somebody important in society, an admired woman for
her grace and for her talent to comprise so many different characters, for one time
a year in a room perfectly decorated with the most astonishing flowers and
silverware.

The 3
rd
person narrator is able to describe concisely the feelings of
Mrs. Dalloway, using its omniscient narrative voice. Thus the reader is introduced
to a closer view of the characters thoughts and attitude regarding her life within
the rich middle class. A respectable woman in that times society must not think
out loud, that being considered, still, a mans job. That is why Mrs. Dalloway
believes that her duty is to organize attractive parties, to be the perfect host and not
to think about themes such as that young mans death.

Modernism implies a break from the tradition. It refers to some sort of
discontinuity, treating characters as 'thinking' individuals, emphasizing the
unconscious rather than the outer, visible self; plot is more of a collection of
incidents and their effect on the individual than the advance towards crisis and its
resolution; imagination and internal thought processes form the substance of the
literary work characterized as 'modern'
The fragment stands for a good example of modern text proven by the
lack of action, as the traditional novels presented. The emotions of the characters,
their thoughts seem to be more important than their actions because t is considered
that the action itself must be triggered from an intense state of mind, a thought or
an impulse. Also, the fact that the narrator takes a step back from the original
position, that of a narrator which describes objectively the characters, the setting,
using its own voice, and now everything seems to be narrated from one characters
point of view. He fact that the action is not organized chronologically stands for
another trait of a modern text, category which best describes Virginia Woolfs
novel. The life of the characters is presented in a relative connection with the main
characters, Clarissa Dalloway, memories of her youth, situations of her life and or
the thoughts of the novels nowadays woman.