The extract is taken from the beginning of Virginia Woolf’s “Mrs Dalloway”. Right from the first sentence the reader can find out some of the main features of the novel. First of all, there is a quotation of the title that is the name of the protagonist of the novel, Mrs Dalloway. The narrator chooses to name the character underlining her social status: she is the wife of Mr Dalloway. In addition, the choice of using the name of the character also brings to light Woolf’s attention to the inner world of human beings. Secondly, the narrator uses the reported speech that both creates in the reader’s mind the impression of listening simultaneously to the character and both unveils the presence of an omniscient narrator that knows what the characters think and say. Going on reading, the reader understands that the narrator is an omniscient narrator, but it is hidden: using the reported speech (or also the free indirect speech) and short connectors, the narrator seems to disappear leaving space to the characters’ thoughts.
All in all, the analysis of the extract unveils also another important feature: the poetical use of the language. Indeed, Woolf’s works are all characterised by a poetical style and by a rhythm that recalls the one of poetry. In particular, in the extract the reader can find alliterations (“June or July”), onomatopoeia (“squeak”), a cataphora (Bourton gain significance only with the sentence “for a girl of eighteen as she then was”) and the technique of the light-motif (that is used in order to create unity).
In closing, the extract also anticipates the importance that is given to the characters’ thoughts, since the plot is reduced to the minimum.