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 to the reader Clarissa’s reactions, a character of the novel, in front of the news of Septimus’s death, another character. The first reaction that the writer wants to focus is not only the emotional reaction of Clarissa, but the reaction of her body.

To focus the moment, the writer uses many repetitions and onomatopoetic words which relate to poetic language.

The second paragraph has the function to give to readers Clarissa’s  point of view about  life and death (in truth what she says is what Virginia Woolf thinks): the fear of life, and consequently of death, is hidden by chat, by corruption and other useless things, so Clarissa considers death with contempt, seeing it as a challenge. In this passage is clear why Virginia Woolf writes in third person, in fact using this technique, she manages to bring together the inner reality of the character (monologue) with external reality (what the character sees).The theme of life and death can be regarded as the key theme of the entire extract. For this reason, the writer writes short sentences to focus the reader with important concepts.

In the third paragraph, Clarissa begins a mental route trying to find absurd solutions that would have affected Septimus’s  life, and consequently his death. In these lines 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 or if Septimus had the passion of poets and thinkers.

In the fourth paragraph she continues her mental journey drowing a distinction between her easy and successful life and  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 Richard 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.