Listen up English majors: DON’T LAUGH AT ME! I’m just a minor lol

I had no idea that writers could write through third person amonition. Or maybe I did know, and I just wasn’t aware of the fancy name for it. And maybe I spelled amonition wrong. But that’s the beauty of it. This is my blog post written in first person, and I can make mistakes because I’m the focalizer, and you can see the inconsistency in me through this blog post, just as we were able to see the inconsistency of characters in Mrs. Dalloway.

Moving right along!

Virginia Woolf opened a whole new door of writing for me. Her writing has encouraged me to try and drift away from first person narratives, though, I don’t know if I will be skilled enough to do so. I think the use of third person is a craft that won’t come easily to all of us. Woolf’s use of free and direct discourse was not limited like first person narratives are. Though, after reading the Embassy of Cambodia, I feel like I’m reading in “fourth person.” Or is there such a thing? Again English majors, don’t you laugh at me! But even if you do, it’s okay. Because I’m just a minor, still trying to find a way to connect to you all and still have individuality through my writing, like Woolf.

“It is a thousand pities never to say what one feels.”
-Virginia Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway

Today’s discussion was really interesting from a craft perspective. What I learned about Woolf’s mental health really helps me understand the narration of the novel. Woolf used free and direct discourse, which means that she had to basically become the character while describing it in third person. You (McLeod) said that Clarissa could feel things before she could fully react to and process them. I’m sure that Virginia Woolf was a lot like Clarissa in that aspect, which is why this free direct discourse probably came easy to her. She took on the characters so well because she could feel what they feel and describe it to a tee. I found the narration confusing at first, but after the discussion, it makes complete sense. I also really liked the bird metaphors we spoke about, and I find a lot of Woolf in these metaphors. I think she was a woman who constantly felt like she was going to float away with the wind (and wishes she could fly away), hence the curtains that critics argue was the time of Septimus’s death. Woolf most certainly represents the structure of feeling by using free and direct discourse because she shows it from several angles and does so through things like the bird metaphors and also characters that are settled and characters that are floating. Elizabeth seems like she knows who she is, and Richard, too. So they represent settled characters. However, Clarissa and Septimus are floating characters because everything moves them in a way they can’t control. Interesting enough, Woolf herself was both. Her soul could easily fly off the handle, but in her suicide, she sank.

I 100% agree with you about the style of the novel. However, for me the stream of consciousness was a huge turn off when I first read the book. I agree, one of the biggest turn offs about this book for me was that I had a really hard time telling who was talking to the point that I had to (shamefully) sparknote a bit in the beginning.

However, after today on the walking tour I found a new appreciation of the writing style because I found her personal life history very closely related to Septimus’s life. Septimus suicide planned like her suicide, but Woolf’s suicide was very much rehearsed down to a “T”. I feel like the stream of consciousness style of writing allowed me almost a bit into her mind and what she was feeling. Because with Septimus, I could see his entire intimate thought process laid out, and I could see how he saw the world and what elements (evil of man, etc.) drove him to his madness.

Before we get started talking about Mrs. Dalloway, I’d like to ask if anyone else found it difficult to tell when focus was shifting from one character’s perspective to another. I found myself reading along, knowing the focus was a particular character, then realizing that the focus had shifted, and having to re-read previous passages to figure out where the transition was. Are there clues that Woolf included to indicate that she was transitioning to another’s character’s perspective that I overlooked? I did find it got easier to tell as I became more familiar with the characters, but initially it was pretty confusing.

I’d also like to say that I loved that there was so much packed into just one day. I like the way Woolf included information (about the characters, the culture, the history) through the perspectives of different characters concerning both the present and the past. I think she really captured the thought processes many of us have throughout our days. Sometimes that thought process is repetitive and annoying, but also very interesting and revealing.