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| Plot Summary of Mrs. Dalloway |
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"In Virginia Woolf's 1925 novel, "Mrs. Dalloway",taking place in a single day in London after WWI, the heroine, Clarissa, prepares for a party she is giving that June night by going into the city to buy flowers.
As the day wears on, Clarissa meets all those who are significant in her life: her dauther, Elisabeth, Elisabeth's workingclass woman friend Doris Kilman, her former lover, Peter Walsh, terurning from India with a broken marriage and an unsuitable fiancee, and Hugh Whitbread, an upperclass sycophand who preys on the private lives of his friends.
Also abroad in the city are Septimus Warren Smith, suffering from WWI shellshock, and his wife Rezia. As Clarissa wanders through Hyde Park, heeding the peals of Big Ben,(whose echoes spread leaden circles in the air),Septimus is trying to drown out accusing voices from his dead friend Evans telling him to kill himself.
In the evening, Clarissa's party becomes a delirious success, surrounded by past and present acquaintances summing up her life.She is only upset with the social-climbing D. Bradshaw and his wife, who inform her of the suicide of one of the doctor's patients: Septimus Smith. To
Clarissa's dismay, who only wants to hear of happiness, ceath cuts through all this. "Death was defiance...Death drew people apart, rapture faded..one was alone." "
Betty-Jeanne Korson, Resident Scholar
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| Review Analysis of Mrs. Dalloway |
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Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about books by breaking them down into many different literary elements, all of which are searchable (click here).
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Time/era of story
- 1900-1920's
Romance/Romance Problems
Yes
Kind of romance:
- GENERAL--no other subplots apply
- love triangle/polygon
- rekindling lost love/marriage
Kids growing up/acting up?
Yes
Political/social activism
Yes
Plotlet:
- general liberal/left wing activism
- women fighting for rights
Family, loving relations
Yes
Special relationship with
- daughter
Internal struggle/realization?
Yes
Is this an adult or child's book?
- Adult or Young Adult Book
Parents/lack of parents problem?
- rebelling against parent's expectations
Love problems?
- lesbianism!!!!
Main Character
Gender
- Female
Profession/status:
- unemployed
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events?
Yes
How sensitive is this character?
- soggy whimpering jelly muffin
Sense of humor
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Average intelligence
Physique
- physically sick
Main Adversary
Identity:
- Female
Age:
- 40's-50's
Profession/status:
- scholar
Eccentric/Smart/Dumb:
Yes
Eccentric:
- obsessed
- deluded
- eccentric
- emotionally unstable
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- a moderate amount
How sensitive is this character?
- hard edged
Sense of humor
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Average intelligence
Physique
- average physique
Setting
How much descriptions of surroundings?
- 8 (a significant amount)
Europe
Yes
European country:
- England/UK
City?
Yes
City:
- London
Misc setting
- fancy mansion
Style
Accounts of torture and death?
- explicit references to deaths
Sex in book?
Yes
What kind of sex:
- descript of kissing
- touching of anatomy
- lesbians!
Unusual Style:
- a lot of flashback and forwards
- a lot of stream of consciousness
Amount of dialog
- roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
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Click here for more information about this book
Virginia Woolf Resident Scholar Profiles
TOP SCHOLAR:
 Judy Berman
SCHOLARS:
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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
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