Mrs. Dalloway

Mrs. Dalloway, a novel written by Virginia Woolf, explores the life of Clarissa Dalloway and Warren Smith who live two completely separate lives in the post-World War I era and seemingly find themselves crossing paths throughout the story. Dalloway, a woman of high class and Smith, a veteran with mental health obstacles do not seem like two individuals whom find their lives intertwining. As one's life and experiences shape their reality and the class of which they live within, the novel explores and critiques these differences in impact through the narration of characters and their complexity. Social class, experiences, mental health, roles, and connections are just a few key points Woolf embarks through her writing. All of which flood into the narrative of melancholy and and human life. Smith experiences many hardships as a veteran including psychological obstacles on top of the loss of a dear friend. Additionally, his wife is not in the best condition either. Due to the depletion of his mental health, he begins to experience melancholy as does his wife because their connection has simply been lost. Their lower social class narrates their life more than a story could ever tell. Dalloway has her fair share of struggles being a woman of higher class by being portrayed as blind of oblivious, maybe even nostalgic to love and being too wrapped up in the past. She is mocked and questioned for her thoughts and opinion and one may argue her attempts to even overcome challenges she faces. Being in the presence of consistent commentary paves a path for melancholy that she cannot escape. Overall, melancholy can be experienced throughout all classes in society. Feelings of being disconnected, alone, and depressed are all constitutes of melancholic experiences. Woolf writes her novel to critique and challenge the values of society through exploration of characters in her writing. The role melancholy takes in a human being, and one could argue level of intensity, is dependent on the class of your social status. 


https://www.bloomsbury.com/au/mrs-dalloway-9781847494009/


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Inevitable Innovation

Image
 T.S. Eliot was a writer who dove deep into the questioning of modern thoughts versus traditional doings of which are normally societal as all came with innovation around the world. The Love Song of J. Alfred   references the complex and fast-changing society he is within. Additionally, technologies, movements, ideas, and structure all around are changing faster than one single person can keep up with. Some phrases in the poem are relatively cut short. This technique of bits and pieces ties back into the quick paced society allowing the reader to be fully within the feeling the poem is conveying instead of just a read.  The poem explains emotion and feeling anxiety and interaction in lieu of the pursuit of personal desires. Hysteria references the behavior of such and how the line between sanity and madness can be a bit blurred. Likely enough, sometimes these can be blended together leaving rigidity and defining features to drift into the distances. With that being said,...
Read more

Knock Down and Rebuild

Image
 Sylvia Plath, the writer well known for her deeply personal and striking themed pieces caught fire across the world for effortlessly yet intentionally drawing close vivid images to real occurring struggles in the mind of many. Initially, Plath was intrigued and inspired by multiple other poets such as Virginia Woolf and Emily Dickinson but experimented with multiple techniques until she found her own that allows her poetry to "escape ordinary analysis".  She wrote and published a series titled Ariel , consisting of multiple poems within the realm of mental health with focuses in illness, suicide, and oppression of which was conveyed through a unique style. Ariel is "a unique book..., cold gust of reality as though somebody had knocked out a window pane on a brilliant night" as Robert Penn Warren refers to it as. Lady Lazarus  has a great plethora of metaphors encompassing her perspective and experience with suicide. Her life is similar to a cat with nine lives all...
Read more

Wheatley's Imagination

Image
 Phillis Wheatley, a poet from West Africa, had a story that transposed into her writing allowing her to become the first African-American woman in London to have a book of poetry published. Her backstory consists of growing up in West Africa and by the age of seven, she had been moved to Boston due to slavery, working for a man of the name of John Wheatley. He was wealthy but soon realized Phillis' capabilities including her wide range of intellect. With this now coming to the surface, education was in Phillis' path of life. At a young age, Wheatley was creative and driven by writing as she found joy in the activity. Her hobby soon became her life and she became a publisher of her own work to share with the world. After publishing, Wheatley became praised and recognized for her work. Her stories, messages, and connections reached more than she could have dreamed, such like George Washington. her poems often related back to her life with one being, On Imagination . It describes...
Read more