Learning Paths » 5A Interacting
MLenarduzzi - 5 A - Modernist Fiction: V. Woolf- novel 2
by - (2012-01-10)
Up to 5 A - Modernist Fiction: V. Woolf and J. Joyce
Comprehension
1. Clarissa is told of Septimus's death and imagines him throwing himself from a window
2. She reflects on life and death
3. She contrasts her easy and successful life with the death and suffering of other people
4. She imagines the meeting between Septimus and Sir William Bradshaw
5. She thinks life can be difficult, but she has the support of her husband
6. She walks to the window
7. She parts the curtains and sees an old lady looking at her
8. The sky is not as Clarissa had imagined it
9. She thinks of her happiness at Bourton and of the pleasure one derives from the activities of day-to-day life
10. She watches the old lady going to bed
11. She thinks of Septimus again but does not pity him
12. She decides to go back to her party
Interpretation
1. What is Clarissa's first reaction to Septimus's death?
Clarissa feels annoyed with the Bardshaws because they talk about Septimus's death during her party. In particular she feels annoyed because she doesn't want to talk about death at the moment.
2. What is her view on death?
In her opinion death is defiance and an attempt to communicate. Death is an embrace.
3. What is Clarissa's view of Sir Bradshaw?
Clarissa believes that Sir Bradshaw is a great doctor but he has a bad influence on his patients such as Septimus who kkilled himself after being visited by the doctor, because he felt life was intoerable.
4. What struggle characterises Clarissa's life?
Clarissa always wanted to be successful. However she was never been admirable and didn't feel at ease in her role.
5. 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?
In the last paragraph the main character realizes that the life she is living is not the right one. It is superficial. Clarissa realizes she wants something more.
6. Can you link the two quotations from Shakespeare to Clarissa's moods?
The first quotation is "if it were now to die, ‘twere now to be most happy" and it can be linked to Clarissa's mood because at the moment Clarissa feels so happy that it could the perfect time to die .
The second quotation is "fear no more the heat of the sun" which means that Clarissa understands how life goes and even if Septimus's death is something shocking, she realizes death ia part of life.
7. Focus on the language. Can you explain why many sentences are "loosely constructed", with lots of repetitions and conjunctions?
The use of the stream of cosciousness features the novel and that's why the sentences are presented with lots of repetitions and conjunctions.
The toll Virginia Woolf adopted makes the reader feel involved into the character's thoucghts. He/She is put into the scene without introductions or explainations and as a consequence the reader feels
disoriented and at the same time curios about what is going to happen.