Answers pag 534-535: What a morning! by Virginia Woolf 

>> Where is Mrs Dalloway going?

Mrs Dalloway is going to buy flowers for her party.

>> What is her mood?

She feels practically the same as she felt when she was eighteen at Bourton into the open air.

>> The passage mixes two different time dimensions. Which are they? What sound evokes the past in Clarissa's mind? Sideline with different colours the parts dealing with the two dimensions.

The passage mixes two different moments of Mrs Dalloway's life: one is when she is fifty-two years old and organizes the party, the other is when she is eighteen years old at Bourton. In my opinion the past in Clarissa's mind evokes a feeling of homesickness because she often things about that time and the memories linked to her birthplace.

The first dimension → present → Mrs Dalloway said... on a beach; She stiffened... moment of June.

The second dimension → past → What a lack!.. about cabbages.

>>Who do you think is Peter Walsh? What does Clarissa say of him?

Peter Walsh was one of her suitors in Bourton, the place where she lived when she was eighteen years old. In the past she rejected his marriage proposal for Mr. Dalloway's one. Richard Dalloway, her current husband was richer and more well-mannered than Peter Walsh. The thought of Peter accompanies almost every day Clarissa while she is walking through the streets in London.

>>What does Scrope Purvis think of Clarissa?

Scrope Purvis, a charming woman, thinks her a little like the bird about her, blue-green, vivacious though she was over fifty.

>> What are Clarissa's thoughts while walking through the streets in Westminster?

While Clarissa is walking through the streets in Westminster she believes that life is beautiful and worth cherishing and living. During the walk she also thinks about London: its carriages, motor cars, omnibuses, vans, sandwich men but in particular about that moment of June.

>>Focus on point of view. What kind of narrator is used?

- 3th person

- omniscient

- reliable

- not coinciding with the main character

- not intrusive

>> Focus on style. Critics have often used the term “poetic prose” with reference to Woolf's style which features an abundance of repetitions, similes, imagery, lists and alliterations. Find at least one or two examples of each.

abundance of repetitions → - was that it?- … - was that it?-

similes → as if issued to children on a beach

imagery → like the flap of a wave; the kiss of a wave..

lists → .. his eyes, his pocket-knife, his smile, his grumpiness

alliterations → What a lack! What a plunge! ; How fresh, how calm..

>> Focus on character. How is Clarissa's character created? Through (more than one answer is possible):

- statements of the author

- Clarissa's thoughts and feelings

- Clarissa's behaviour

- the writer's use of imagery and symbols

>> Where does Clarissa's stream of thoughts starts? How different is Virginia Woolf's technique, also called “interior monologue”, from Joyce's “stream of consciousness”?

Clarissa's stream of thoughts starts when she hears a little squeak of the hinges. While Joyce uses the technique of “stream of consciousness” that is a free representation of a person's thoughts as they appear in the mind (before being reorganized in logical sentence), Virginia Woolf uses the “interior monologue”. This particular technique presents the character's thoughts in a direct way, imitating as much as possible the character's mind style.

>> The painting below is by Virginia Woolf's sister, Vanessa Bell, an artist who was at the centre of the avant-garde Bloomsburry Group. Can you see any similarities in the way the two sisters portray characters?

Vanessa Bell in her painting and Virginia Woolf in her passage don't represent the physical appearance of the character. The character, in the painting, is represented by the colours and the type of brush strokes, in the passage, is described by the feelings and the actions of the character.