Using the physical environment as a canvas for expressing the internal state of Clarissa
Page 30 of Mrs. Dalloway is a perfect example of how Wolfe utilizes the physical environment to illustrate the internal state of her characters. There are two ways that I noticed her doing this.
On top of page 30, the book reads:
“[Clarissa] had shut the door and gone out and stood alone, a single figure against the appalling night, or rather, to be accurate, against the stare of this matter-of-fact June morning; soft with the glow of rose petals for some, she knew,...feeling herself suddenly shrivelled, aged, breastless…”.
Based on the stark difference between Clarissa feeling as if she's standing in an “appalling night” and what’s actually going on in the physical world (a “matter-of-fact June morning”), we learn that Clarissa’s sadness (for context, she just learned that she wasn’t invited to Lady Bruton’s lunch) is so great that it distorts the way she perceives the world around her. Therefore, the comparison between the outside world and what Clarissa actually experiences not only emphasizes her emotion but also the weight of the emotion.
Wolfe also uses the physical environment as a mirror of Clarissa’s perception of herself. In the second paragraph, Wolfe states (Clarissa just arrived at the attic):
“an attic room. Women must put off their rich apparel. At midday they must disrobe… The sheets were clean, tightly stretched in a broad white band from side to side. Narrower and narrower would her bed be. The candle was half burnt down...”
Here we see clear parallels between the descriptions of the objects in Clarissa’s attic with her description of herself in the previous paragraph. For example, the bed is described as becoming increasingly narrower and the candle half burnt down, which is similar to how Clarissa feels as if she’s "shrivelled". We also notice that the sheets are pulled tight on the bed, like how Clarissa feels restricted by the cultural expectations for women, as indicated through her repeated use of the word “must” to describe her disrobing routine. In this way, Wolfe channels how Clarissa feels about herself (restricted, diminished) through her description of the space Clarissa inhabits.
Overall, I appreciated how Wolfe used her descriptions of the outside world to really show what her characters are experiencing rather than just explicitly telling the readers. This strategy helped make the presence of the characters feel more real and natural, almost bringing the readers to feel as if they were breathing in the same space as the characters.
I really like this idea! I hadn't thought of it, but Woolf's descriptions of the world outside of the character are very telling of the own character's mental state. She is able to demonstrate how the characters feel about the outside world, by showing us their self-projections onto things outside of themselves. She is able to place a filter around us by describing the objects outside a character's consciousness through their filter. I love this observation!
ReplyDeleteWhat a creative post! While the connection is subtle, I definitely agree with your thesis. Woolf's use of unusual and oftentimes unexpected metaphors make the book all the more enjoying to read as her creativity shows through the language. Furthermore, the subtle differences in how each character describes things is unique to Woolf and how the book is written, which could be a whole essay in and of itself.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great example of how Woolf gets into the heads of the characters! Your mood influences the way you see the world, and if a character is really upset they can't describe the scene like a perfect impartial narrator. I really like Woolf's writing because even though her sentences are so long and drawn out, there's meaning and intention behind every word. Great post!
ReplyDeleteThese particular descriptions of this particular scene are important, I'd say, since this is the first scene in the novel where we see Clarissa alone, not with her public face on (which the disrobing represents--she drops the "facade" of society for the moment and is a nun in her tower alone with her prayers). Not long after these descriptions of the room you cite, we get that key passage where she stares at her face in the mirror and contemplates all the diverse "shards" that make up her personaility, which she must "assemble" consciously into a coherent whole to present to the world. So the privacy of this setting, the sense that Clarissa is entirely alone and solitary (she doesn't know we're "there," reading!) is vital--this "disrobing" and "resting" is a way for her to rally her complex self for public consumption, to "assemble the shards" again, and just in time, since she's about to be interrupted by Peter Walsh in the present.
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