In Mrs. Dalloway there
are certain moments in which the “moments of being” – where the person is
fully aware of what is happening outside and inside him/her – are represented, but the one that I’m pointing in
out right now is the moment where the pressure that Septimus held on his back,
with his internal fighting between reality and the tricks that his mind played
on him - past-, could be seen as a way to avoid what was
surrounding him, so he finally give up to
the pressure of society and throw himself through the window. This could be
seen as a reflection of what Mrs. Woolf did with her life when she committed
suicide in the river because she could not overcome her depression.
Furthermore, in the story, Clarissa avoided thinking in what
was happening with her life by preparing parties and she starts questioning her
position in the party when receiving her guesses, but in the moment that she
realizes what happened with Septimus, she felt sympathetic to the situation
when she states:
“But what an extraordinary night! She felt somehow very like him—the young man who had killed himself.She felt glad that he had done it; thrown it away.” (156-157)
From that moment on, Clarissa
started to change the way she looked at life and started to appreciate the
beauty of it. And stops living in the happines and confort of the past days and enjoys the present times.
As a conclusion, I would like to share the quote I found in the movie The Hours that states that “You cannot
find peace by avoiding life” and that’s what led to Septimus to commit suicide,
he, as well as Virgina, were trying to avoid -real- life by neglecting their present life because no one really knew and understood what was really happening inside their minds and what they were going through.
By Natalia Aguila Morales :P
I really like your comment but I have a doubt….
ResponderBorrarWhy do you think Mrs. Dalloway was avoiding her present life?
I personally believe that she wasn`t avoiding her real life, she just enjoyed thinking about her past life because that made her feel free again.
I don’t think that she considered her present life as a mistake or as something terrible, maybe Mrs. Dalloway just regrets some decisions she made and her thoughts about past moments help her to enjoy life in a different way, a more complex way but at the end it is what makes her feel alive.
love you dear friend!
Sorry to intrude, Evelyn, but I think that you contradict yourself in your opinion. By thinking about her past, Mrs. Dalloway wasn't living in her "present time," in this way she was avoiding life. In spite of this, I think that Mrs. Dalloway didn't regret marrying Richard because she preferred to maintain her intimacy and wealth, things that Peter could not offer her because he was too adventurous and demanded too much of her. On the contrary, Clarissa married Richard because he offered her not only a good social and financial position but also the opportunity to maintain her most inner thoughts for herself. I think that Clarissa chose to feel herself emotionally and economically protected instead of giving out the only thing that could not be reached by any man: her inner being.
BorrarWhat I think helped Clarissa enjoy life is the moment of revelation which I quoted in my comment (your limitless self) because she is embracing the idea of death and accepting another stage in her life: old age.