Mrs Dalloway

Comprehension:

•1)    Where is Mrs Dalloway going?

Mrs Dalloway is going to buy flowers for her evening.

•2)    What is her mood?

She is solemn, serious.

•3)    The passage mixes two different time dimensions. Which are they? What sound evokes the past in Clarissa's mind?

There are two different time dimensions: the present and the past. The sound of the doors which should be removed from their hinges evokes her the past: when she was young and she was living in Bourton, when she was happy, when she was looking out of the opened window because she had the feeling something wrong would happen.

•4)    Who do you think is Peter Walsh?

Peter Walsh may be Clarissa's friend.

•5)    What does Scrope Purvis think of Clarissa?

Scrope Purvis thinks that Clarissa is a pretty woman; that she had something similar to a bird, delicate, dynamic, even if she was about fifty and a lot of white hairs.

•6)    What are Clarissa's thoughts while walking through the streets in Westminster?

While she was walking through Westminster's streets, Clarissa was thinking about human life. She thinks that only God understands why people make life in a certain way, to blast is and finally rebuild it in a different way.

Interpretation:

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

The story is in 1^st person and 3^rd persona narrated, sometimes the narrator coincides with the main character.

2)    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 alliteration. Find at least one or two examples of each.

Repetitions: "the flap of a wave, the kiss of a wave"

Similes: a touch of the birds about her

Imagery: "fresh as if  issued to children on a beach", "the kiss of a wave"

Lists: "his eyes, his pocket-knife, his smile, his bad temper", "carnages, motor cars, omnibuses, vans"

Alliterations: "brass-brands", "shuffling and swinging".

3)    Focus on character. How is Clarissa's character created?

Clarissa's character is described through physical descriptions, her thoughts and feelings, her behaviour and the statements by the author.