Importance of time in our present
While reading Mrs. Dalloway, we can notice certain elements that are
included with the purpose of making the reader understand Woolf’s intention.
Personally speaking, I found “time” element one of the most important in
this book. By time element I particularly refer to the Big Ben. One of the
examples I consider that is worth mentioning is the following: “It is this, he
said, as he entered Dean's Yard. Big Ben was beginning to strike, first the
warning, musical; then the hour, irrevocable. Lunch parties waste the entire
afternoon, he thought, approaching his door. The sound of Big Ben flooded
Clarissa's drawing-room, where she sat, ever so annoyed, at her writing-table;
worried; annoyed.” (Woolf, p. 84) In this case, this element is acting as a
kind of dividing line between reality and past for Clarissa because it happened
right after Peter visited her. That particular scene demonstrated, for me, that
not only she realized how quickly time had passed, but also the sound kind of
broke that line, making her come to the present, to her reality as a married
woman, and the perfect hostess.
In addition, there is another clear example of this element, which occurred
at the end of the novel: “Big Ben struck the half-hour. How extraordinary it
was, strange, yes, touching, to see the old lady (they had been neighbors ever
so many years) move away from the window, as if she were attached to that
sound, that string.” (Woolf, p. 91) In this scene, she started thinking about
life and friendship when a common situation called her attention –this old
woman. At the same time, she was well aware of the moment she was part of, and
the connections she had made during her whole life with people present in her
party. For instance, her special connection with Sally (the first woman who
kissed her), and with Peter (the man who still loved her). I strongly believe
that she started appreciating the beauty of life in every small thing she saw,
felt, and remembered.
When I was writing this, I came up with a movie (based on a novel) that
can undoubtedly be connected to this element of time and dividing line. This
movie is The Notebook, which is about
a man whose ritual is reading a notebook to his wife who suffers from amnesia. I believe that this man acts as the
dividing line that was previously mentioned. He can take his wife to her past
life to experience all they lived together. Furthermore, he is who separates
her from the past, and at the same time, who keeps her alive in the present, by
making her happy remembering who she was and who she is.
As a conclusion, I invite you all to reflect on what makes you take part
of this present, and what allows you to go back in time.
There are always something that takes us to "Travel in time" . I remember that I had a little "doll" (It wasn't really a doll, it was a kind of figure) that had a ver especiall smell, between berries or something similar. Well, the thing is that I really enjoyed smelling that figure because it reminded me of the happyness one has in the past! I don't know why; I didn't see any image of the past, but a sensation.
ResponderBorrarIn the same way many other elements takes me to places or situation I lived in the past. The important part in this, I think, is not to be stucked in our past. It is true that we are always going to remember things, but they are just memories, and from my opinion we need to also live the present.
The first time I read Mrs. Dalloway, I came up with the idea that Clarissa, you, and I (people in general) “live” in our past because sometimes our memories seem to be more important and to have more impact on our present lives than “the real present” that we are living in. This is better exemplified in Mrs. Dalloway itself because the story happens in one day and all the important events occur in Clarissa’s past. In other words, Clarissa gets up one morning and decides to throw a party, then she goes to buy flowers and meets some people, finally the party is ready, the guests arrive, and she has a moment of revelation. Pretty boring, uh? Just like a normal day in my life: I get up, go to university, feel sleepy in class, and go back home. But what happens in our consciousness is limitless. This is what Woolf represented in Mrs. Dalloway with the indirect monologue: We are witnesses of characters’ thoughts, feelings, memories, etc.
ResponderBorrarThis “living in the past” may enable some kind of paralysis or gnomon take part of our lives, and at the same time, prevent Clarissa, you, or me from appreciating life.
In my view, the importance of time in our present is that we need to be aware of that we are slaves of time, that is to say, we can’t avoid time (we can’t live again, change our past, or stop the time). Once we are born, we can’t escape the rules of time: we will go through stages such as infancy, adolescence, adulthood, and old age (if we don’t die early). So, when a moment of intensity (moment of being) comes along, take advantage of it because it can shape your life forever (enjoy :). Otherwise, it would be a moment of paralysis, which I assume has more regret and remorse than anything else.