The past can be a wonderful thing. It allows for: seeing people we haven’t seen in a long time, reliving special memories, and even escaping from reality for a few moments; however, it can also be the cause of every nightmare. In Mrs.Dalloway by Virginia Woolf, Woolf plays with the concept of memory to explain how everyone is intertwined. By using symbolism, flashbacks, and parallelism, the past remains alive whether it is wanted or not.
The novel begins as Mrs.Dalloway is setting out to gather things for her party that shall be held that evening. This is the first time we begin to see the flower metaphor. Woolf sets it up by stating,
There were flowers: delphiniums, sweet peas, bunches of lilac; and carnations, masses of carnations. There were roses; there were irises. Ah yes-so she breathed in the earthy garden sweet smell…and it was the moment between six and seven when every flower- roses, carnations, irises, lilac-glows; white,violet, red, deep orange; every flower seems to burn by itself, softly, purely in the misty beds... (Woolf 13).
By including this detail, it is now known that each flower individually can stand out on its own. When put all together, they make up a garden where each must work together to create the bigger picture. The colors represent emotions and characteristics that match a character the reader will meet along the journey of the novel. For example, Clarissa is often spotted near red roses. While roses symbolize love (The Language Of Flowers), the color red shows a sense of passion (The Meaning Of Colors). The flowers are present during times of happiness in Clarissa’s life. When she stayed her summer at Bourton, they were the centerpieces at the dinner table. While she and Richard grow apart, he gives her roses to draw her back in to a time when they were happier together. For Clarissa, the flowers represent her childhood and a time when she wasn’t afraid to be herself. Without this introduction to Clarissa, the readers would not know she cares more about appearance to society rather than to herself. She has given up her ability to truly be happy.
The novel begins as Mrs.Dalloway is setting out to gather things for her party that shall be held that evening. This is the first time we begin to see the flower metaphor. Woolf sets it up by stating,
There were flowers: delphiniums, sweet peas, bunches of lilac; and carnations, masses of carnations. There were roses; there were irises. Ah yes-so she breathed in the earthy garden sweet smell…and it was the moment between six and seven when every flower- roses, carnations, irises, lilac-glows; white,violet, red, deep orange; every flower seems to burn by itself, softly, purely in the misty beds... (Woolf 13).
By including this detail, it is now known that each flower individually can stand out on its own. When put all together, they make up a garden where each must work together to create the bigger picture. The colors represent emotions and characteristics that match a character the reader will meet along the journey of the novel. For example, Clarissa is often spotted near red roses. While roses symbolize love (The Language Of Flowers), the color red shows a sense of passion (The Meaning Of Colors). The flowers are present during times of happiness in Clarissa’s life. When she stayed her summer at Bourton, they were the centerpieces at the dinner table. While she and Richard grow apart, he gives her roses to draw her back in to a time when they were happier together. For Clarissa, the flowers represent her childhood and a time when she wasn’t afraid to be herself. Without this introduction to Clarissa, the readers would not know she cares more about appearance to society rather than to herself. She has given up her ability to truly be happy.
Along with the flowers, the use of flashbacks is also very prevalent in this novel. Many characters are shown with flashbacks, and each time, they are left disappointed with the reality of life. Peter and Clarissa’s flashbacks often intertwine with each other’s as they reflect back at their Summer together at Bourton. While the two of them were together and in love (according to Peter), Clarissa fancied their friend Sally more than him. Because of Clarissa’s shaky commitment, the engagement between Peter and Clarissa was broken off and it broke a part off of them.
It was all over for her. The sheet was stretched and the bed narrow. She had gone up into the tower alone and left them blackberrying in the sun. The door had shut, and there among the dust of fallen plaster and litter of birds’ nests how distant the view had looked, and the sounds came thin and chill (once on Leith Hill, she remembered), and Richard, Richard! she cried, as a sleeper in the night stars and stretches a hand in the dark for help...He has left me; I am alone for ever, she thought folding her hands upon her knee…Take me with you, Clarissa thought impulsively, as if he were starting directly upon some great voyage; and then, next moment, it was as if the five acts of a play that had been very exciting and moving were now over and she had lived a lifetime in them and had run away, had lived with Peter, and it was now over (Woolf 47).
Woolf utilizes a lot of past tense vocabulary in the passage to give the feel of a flashback. Words like “had” and “cried” show a sense of desperation in the moment as Clarissa realizes what was happening and recalls the emotions of that day. By repeating a phrase “it was (all/now) over”, it is the ultimate good-bye when one realizes there is nothing he or she can do to stop the actions occurring. Woolf compares this to being in the tower alone. In fairy tales, many times being the tower alone would mean one was waiting for someone to come and save the princess. Since Clarissa is being left alone, she is feeling betrayed. Peter will not be able to come and save her in the future. With having her look back at this moment, Woolf shows the fragility surrounding Clarissa’s relationships.
It was all over for her. The sheet was stretched and the bed narrow. She had gone up into the tower alone and left them blackberrying in the sun. The door had shut, and there among the dust of fallen plaster and litter of birds’ nests how distant the view had looked, and the sounds came thin and chill (once on Leith Hill, she remembered), and Richard, Richard! she cried, as a sleeper in the night stars and stretches a hand in the dark for help...He has left me; I am alone for ever, she thought folding her hands upon her knee…Take me with you, Clarissa thought impulsively, as if he were starting directly upon some great voyage; and then, next moment, it was as if the five acts of a play that had been very exciting and moving were now over and she had lived a lifetime in them and had run away, had lived with Peter, and it was now over (Woolf 47).
Woolf utilizes a lot of past tense vocabulary in the passage to give the feel of a flashback. Words like “had” and “cried” show a sense of desperation in the moment as Clarissa realizes what was happening and recalls the emotions of that day. By repeating a phrase “it was (all/now) over”, it is the ultimate good-bye when one realizes there is nothing he or she can do to stop the actions occurring. Woolf compares this to being in the tower alone. In fairy tales, many times being the tower alone would mean one was waiting for someone to come and save the princess. Since Clarissa is being left alone, she is feeling betrayed. Peter will not be able to come and save her in the future. With having her look back at this moment, Woolf shows the fragility surrounding Clarissa’s relationships.
In retrospect to Clarissa, Woolf creates a man name Septimus Warren Smith. He is a past World War One veteran who is suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. He is a member of a lower class and the only encounter he has with the upper class in the entire novel is when Clarissa sees him through the flower shop window while he is panicking. This sets up the beginning of the parallelism between the two lives. In regards to Septimus, Woolf states, “Unfortunately, yes; the people we care for most are not good for us when we are ill,” (Woolf 96). While Clarissa struggles to let go of her past at Bourton, Septimus is struggling to grasp life. The term ill can be taken literally for Septimus, but in regards to Clarissa, it can represent the facade she fronts while with people of her class. Since she is not happy, she is ill. The parallelism comes full circle when news of Septimus’s suicide cycles around Clarissa’s party. She escapes to the balcony to make sense of why he did what he did. “Death was an attempt to communicate; people feeling the impossibility of reaching the centre which, mystically, evaded them; closeness drew apart; rapture faded, one was alone. There was an embrace in death,” (Woolf 184). Though they had never met, both had experienced extreme loneliness and within a matter of minutes, Clarissa grasped the one thing Septimus had been trying to explain to his wife all along. Death was the beginning to a new life. Septimus killed the past and the present to have a better future, and for this, Clarissa admired the stranger.
There comes a time when the past becomes a burden that we all must choose to either endure through or forget it all entirely. In Mrs.Dalloway, Woolf shows that past life experiences can make a person into who they are meant to be whether they want to be it or not.
Sources:
"The Language of Flowers." The Language of Flowers. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 June 2014. <http://thelanguageofflowers.com/>.
"The Meaning of Colors." The Meaning of Colors. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 June 2014. <http://changingminds.org/disciplines/communication/color_effect.htm>.
Woolf, Virginia. Mrs. Dalloway. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co., 1925. Print.
Sources:
"The Language of Flowers." The Language of Flowers. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 June 2014. <http://thelanguageofflowers.com/>.
"The Meaning of Colors." The Meaning of Colors. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 June 2014. <http://changingminds.org/disciplines/communication/color_effect.htm>.
Woolf, Virginia. Mrs. Dalloway. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co., 1925. Print.