Comprehension

Where is Mrs Dalloway going?
Mrs Dalloway is going to buy the flowers for the party she is organizing.

What is her mood?
She is happy, because it is a fresh morning as if "issued to children on a beach"

The passage mixes two different time dimensions. Which are they? What sound evokes the past in Clarissa's mind?
The two different dimensions are the present and the past. The past is represented by the city of Bourton, the place where Clarissa had lived when she was young. In Clarissa's mind the past evokes a sense of freshness, like the sound of waves, but at the same time past evokes a sense of fear, like something awful was about to happen.

Who do you think is Peter Walsh? What does Clarissa say of him?
Peter Walsh is an old friend of Clarissa, he who falls in love for Clarissa, but she didn't love him. Clarissa describes him, his bad temper, his smile, how he was strange, she thinks him in a affectionately way.

What does Scrope Purvis think of Clarissa?
Scrope Purvis thinks about Clarissa that she is like a vivacious bird, the bird of the crow family.

What are Clarissa's thoughts while walking through the streets in Westminster?
Clarissa's thoughts are about the passing time, about the idea of death and so she thinks how human beings love life, London and that moment of June.

Focus on point of view. What kind of narrator is used?
It is a omniscient 3rd person narrator, the narrator is reliable and instrusive, but it doesn't coincide with the main character.

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, list and alliterations. Find at least one or two examples of each.
Repetitions: what a.. what a..; how... how..
similes: the fresh morning issued to children on a beach
imagery: the kiss of a wave, the bird of a jay
list: his eyes, his pocket-knife.. (description of Peter)

Focus on character. How is Clarissa's character crated? Through :
Physical descriptions: Clarissa's age, and her illness.
Clarissa's thoughts and feelings
Clarissa's behavior
The writer's use of imagery and symbols.

Where does Clarissa's stream of thoughts start? How different is Virginia Woolf's technique, also called "interior monologue", from Joyce's "stream of consciousness"?
The stream of consciousness of Joyce is linked to give a relation between meanings and sounds, (Modernism wants to show the complexity of human and relationships within a decaying moral order);while the interior monologue of Virginia Woolf wants to express a series of inner movements of visions, how people is different one to the other, how stereotypes affect the attitude and behavior of all characters.