Comprehension

What is the passage about?

 -Clarissa is told of Septimus’s death and imagines him throwing himself from a window.

-She reflects on life and death.

-She imagines the meeting between Septimus and Sir William Bradshaw.

-She contrasts her easy and successful life with the death and suffering of other people.

-She thinks life can be difficult, but she has the support of her husband. 

-She thinks of her happiness at Bourton and of her pleasure one derives from the activities of day-to-day life.

-She walks to the window.

-She parts the curtains and sees an old lady looking at her.

-The sky is not as Clarissa had imagined it.

-She watches the old lady going to bed.

-She thinks of Septimus again but does not pity him.

-She decides to go back to her party.

Interpretation

-What is Clarissa’s first reaction to Septimus’s death?

She’s shocked and incredulous.

-What is her view of death?

In Clarissa’s opinion death is a challenge.

-What’s Clarissa’s view of Sir Bradshaw?

In Clarissa’s opinion Sir Bradshaw is a great doctor , extremely polite with woman but capable of some indescribable outrage.

-In the last paragraph Clarissa is at the centre of the contrast between her social life and the world outside. Then suddenly a new thought comes to her and she experiences a “moment of being”. What does she suddenly realize?

She realizes that she must go back , she must assemble and she must find Sally and Peter.

-Focus on language. Can you explain why many sentences are “loosely constructed” with lots of repetitions and conjunction?

In my opinion the literary technique is necessary to make more clearly concepts that the writer, Virginia Woolf, wants to underline, especially if these concepts are difficult to understand.    

Analysis

What An Extraordinary Night! is an extract from the novel Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf. It is organized into six paragraphs, each with different functions. 

The first paragraph serves to explain in detail the Septimus’s death, a character of the novel, through the words of Clarissa, another character. For this reason the first few lines are rich of simple and direct elements that follow each other quickly to give to the reader  the impression of how  it was rapidly and fatal that tragic moment. To focus the moment, the writer even uses the sounds of noise, in this case, she writes "pum pum" to give the idea of ​​a thud. 

The second paragraph has the function to give to readers Clarissa’s  point of view about  life and death, that is to see death as a challenge. In truth what she says is what Virginia Woolf thinks.

After her reasoning, in the third paragraph, Clarissa begins a mental route trying to find absurd solutions that would have affected Septimus’s  life, and consenquently his death. in these line Clarissa imagines what would happen if Septimus had met with Sir William Bradshaw, a great doctor , extremely polite with woman but capable of some indescribable outrage and if Septimus had the same passions of the doctor.

In the fourth paragraph she continues her mental journey drowning a distinction between her easy and successful life with the death and suffering of other people. Through the technique of contrast, the reader is aware of Clarissa’s past and present life understanding more clearly the stark contrast that the writer wants to highlight.

The next paragraph deals with the life of Clarissa in which she tells about her happiness at Bourton with her husband that is due to the activities of day-to-day life.

Clarissa, in the last paragraph, ends his mental journey to return to reality. Examples of the return to reality are the curtains, the old lady who at first looks her and then go to sleep and the meticulous description of the sky, that is not as Clarissa had imagined it. The extract ends with the decision of Clarissa to go back to her party because she drowns the conclusion that she does not pity Septimus.