Loneliness_vs._Attachment

Markgraf – 1 Stasic Markgraf Dr. Dimovitz EN210 – Introduction to Literature May 3, 2010 Loneliness vs Attachment Virginia Woolf's modernist novel Mrs. Dalloway first appeared on bookshelves some eighty-five years ago. The deceptively simple story of a day in the life of Clarissa Dalloway is full of interconnected characters and storylines, revealing the complexities of human nature. A sense of regret permeates this story, even as the characters struggle to accept their choices and put on the happy face expected of them. At the same time, the connection between the characters is in stark contrast to the sense of loneliness and disconnectedness the characters feel. Clarissa Dalloway is a fifty-two year old woman married to a British politician. It is a fine day in the middle of June, and London is bustling with energy just after the end of World War I, as Clarissa sets out to buy flowers for a party she is hosting that night. We quickly are swallowed into Clarissa’s stream of consciousness, and that of the characters she meets this day. (“Stream of consciousness” is a hallmark of Woolf’s style.) Immediately we are caught up in ease with which Clarissa bemuses her choice not to marry her old love, Peter Walsh. “If he were with me now what would he say'” (7) She justifies her decision with the thought that partners in a marriage need “a little independence.” (7) Her illusion is that she has this trusting independence with her husband Richard. “(Where was he this morning for instance' Some committee, she never asked what.)” (8) In reality, Richard is off to a luncheon; invited by a woman of society who neglects to include Clarissa. In her attempt to play the role of a top British politician’s wife and a grand hostess, Clarissa is a sad character, admittedly attacking life like a knife, but at the same time not committing to any involvement or joy. “She had a perpetual sense, as she watched the taxi cabs, of being out, out, far out to sea and alone.” (8) Clarissa is Markgraf - 2 alone at night, her bed “narrower and narrower.” (31) Woolf suggests that Clarissa sleeps alone because she has influenza, but clearly, the marriage offers no attachment, no emotional comfort. Clarissa is even likened to a nun, withdrawing with “an emptiness about the heart of life.” (31) This emptiness, we learn, may find its roots in Clarissa’s revelation that she feels sexually attracted to women and thinks she was in love with her teenage friend, Sally Seton. Regretfully, Clarissa and Sally knew that marriage was a catastrophe and “bound to part them.” (34) Her effort to reconcile herself to her life has brought such loneliness that Clarissa “can not even get an echo of her old emotion.” (34) Peter Walsh, Clarissa's one-time love, also exhibits regret of his life’s choices. Clearly, Peter still loves Clarissa and he regrets her having rejected his marriage proposal. As a defense, he finds ways to criticize the lives of others. In some ways Peter chooses loneliness through detachment, comparing the human soul to a fish that swims in dark waters rising for joy in the open air and waves. Virginia Woolf creates a tragically lonely character in Lucrezia Smith, wife of Septimus Warren Smith. Lucrezia gave up everything, leaving her home and family to marry the World War I veteran. While doctors have told Lucrezia there is nothing wrong with her husband, he clearly is going insane from the trauma and stress of war. Septimus is trapped in the loneliness of insanity. He sees the world around him as a threat. Lucrezia is invisible, ignored by her husband of just four years. Lucrezia creates an illusion to protect her husband. He is not insane – he has been working too hard. She surrenders to her loneliness, wishing that she were dead. Despite her husband’s condition, she sees herself as the victim. “It was she who suffered – but she had nobody to tell.” (23) Septimus is alone in the madness of his mind. His is an isolation that ultimately leads him to take his own life. His threats of suicide were ignored by his doctor. Septimus jumps out a window even when Dr. Holmes comes to visit him. Death becomes the ultimate communication of one’s thoughts on his life. Clarissa reveals, “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 Markgraf - 3 alone.” (184) Death, which should be the ultimate in loneliness, is presented as the ultimate in acceptance and communication. “There was an embrace in death.” (184) Virginia Wolf allows her protagonist to finally accept her choice, her position in life. Septimus’ suicide allows Clarissa to feel life and to realize that she can be happy. Virginia Wolf creates a kind of Venn diagram of characters’ lives in Mrs. Dalloway. The story of a day in woman’s life interconnects the lives of many. All their lives intersect at certain seemingly random points, such as when the airplane spells out letters and the traffic stops to catch a glimpse of royalty. But despite the tangles relationships, the weave of lies and loves lost and rekindled, Woolf’s characters are ultimately disconnected from one another and from life in general. The characters are full of regret, though they disguise their feelings with a false front of contentment in their propriety. Their detachment is a means to deny their loneliness. It is only in the realization their lives continue after ones’ own demise, that Woolf allows us to long for acceptance of our own life’s choices and communication with others.