MRS DALLOWAY by Virginia Woolf

What a Morning!

Comprehension

•·         Where is Mrs Dalloway going? She is going to buy some flowers herself.

•·         What is her mood? She feels calm, fresh, positive, she likes her life and her city.

•·         The passage mixes two different time dimensions. Which are they? What sound evokes the past in Clarissa's mind? The passage mixes two different time dimensions of Clarissa's life. One is the moment in which the story takes place and the other is her youth. The squeak of the door's hinges evokes the past in Clarissa's mind.

•·         Who do you think is Peter Walsh? What does Clarissa say of him? She says that she does not remember much of him, just his smile, his eyes, his poket-knife, his grumpiness. Maybe he was more than a friend for Clarissa during her youth.

•·         What does Scrope Purvis think of Clarissa? Scrope Purvis thinks that Clarissa is a charming woman, she is like a bird, a jay, blue-green, light and vivacious even if she is in her fifties.

•·         What are Clarissa's thoughts while walking through the streets in Westminster? While is walking Clarissa thinks about her youth, about her city and habits, she loves her life, London and the moment of June she is living.

Interpretation

•·         Focus on point of view. What kind of narrator is used? 1^st 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. Repetition: like a flap of a wave, a kiss of a wave; similes: fresh as if issued to children on a beach; list: his eyes, his pocket-knife, his smile, his grumpiness; alliteration: sandwich men shuffling and swinging.

•·         Focus on character. How is Clarissa's character created? Through: dialogue, Clarissa's thought and feelings, Clarissa's behaviour and the writer's use of imagery and symbols.

•·         The painting below is by Virginia Woolf's sister, Vanessa Bell, an artist who was at the centre of the avant-garde Bloomsbury Group. Can you see any similarities in the way the two sisters portray characters? Both of them the leave the reader or the observant free to interpret the character. In the painting below the face of the main character has no eyes and mouth, also in the text there is no physical description.