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A Worthy Book?

What makes a book valuable, I believe, has nothing to do with its prestige or its inclusion of many long words and confusing messages. For me, the merit of a book should always be judged by how people experience it—did they love it? Did the book impact their life or change the way they think? Do they still think of, or re-read every now and then, the story? Did the book make them smile or keep them entertained on a long airplane flight? Do they read this story to their kids or their younger siblings? That being said, sometimes the merit of the book can be judged by how it gives the opportunity to learn about literature from a more analytical perspective. Fortunately, I would say that Mrs. Dalloway is a genuinely enjoyable read, holds a lot of personal meaning to me, and is a book that can hold academic meaning for an AP student. According to the College Board’s AP English Literature and Composition Course and Exam Description , the six “Enduring Understandings” of AP Lit are as follow...
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The Meaning of It All

Content notes: death, suicide, psychosis, dissociation.  Having finished Mrs. Dalloway, I am not sure what to feel first.  The end of the book culminates in the party that Clarissa Dalloway has been preparing for all day for the entirety of the book. Many of the characters we visited earlier in the story come together —Peter Walsh, Sally Seton, and Sir William Bradshaw, to name a few. Their interactions further develop the individual characters and the meaning of the book as a whole. Additionally, the lively party given by Clarissa “The Perfect Hostess” Dalloway has some funny accuracy in that the writing leaves the reader just a bit overwhelmed and excited as if you really have just left a vibrant gathering.  My favorite surprise of this last part of the book was the return of the wonderful Sally Seton, who we met earlier in the book as discussed in my first post, “Stream of Consciousness and Sapphics.” Sally and Clarissa split ways a while back after a quarrel over Sal...
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Malpractice in Treating Mental Illness

 Content Notes: mental illness, psychosis, suicide, medical malpractice.  As discussed in my previous post, “Exploring Many Minds,” author Virginia Woolf had her share of first-hand experience with mental illness. Her struggles with suicide, bipolar disorder, and psychosis are relatively well-documented through her journals and writing. In Mrs. Dalloway, many of the characters seem directly inspired by Woolf’s experiences, particularly in terms of mental health. Something that is still an issue for many people today who are struggling with mental health is the worrying risk of having a bad experience with a doctor, psychiatrist, social worker, or therapist. These people who offer help do generally want to provide genuine and kind support or treatment, but sometimes malpractice or abuse occurs. This can be extremely damaging, especially to vulnerable people in a state of mental or emotional crisis. Speaking from a personal perspective, I feel very lucky to have received only k...
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Exploring Many Minds

  Content Notes: mental illness, psychosis, suicide, death. As discussed in my last post, the namesake of the novel Mrs. Dalloway, Clarissa Dalloway, is the central character of the novel. As such, the story generally revolves around Clarissa’s thoughts. However, the nature of this book is that the point of the story is clearly not strongly related to the adventures or ideas of a single character. Rather, the book is a wide-panned observation of the English public in the time between World War I and II. The metaphorical camera of the story pans in third-person omniscient style, moving from Clarissa, to Peter Walsh, to Lucrezia Smith, and her ill husband, Septimus Smith.  A character we revisit in this section of the book demonstrates the imminently dark side of post-War society. Septimus Warren Smith survived World War I without a scratch—physically, that is. He was promoted in the army, considered of high standing, and given awards for his service. He made a close friend of ...
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Stream of Consciousness and Sapphics

Being new to Virginia Woolf’s prose, I am fascinated by and obsessed with her style. If you don’t like feeling like a spectre that simultaneously follows and observes the stream of consciousness of people, this book probably isn’t for you. As a stylistic choice, stream-of-consciousness-style writing perfectly develops a slice-of-life story. How better to make the daily routines and activities of life seem momentous than through delving into the innermost thoughts of the story’s characters? Page-breaks are rare and the story does not include chapters, which gives the book the sense of having a very fluid plotline that tethered to neither the present, past, nor future. The story is centered around its namesake protagonist, Mrs. Dalloway. Clarissa Dalloway struggles between being fully present and being caught in the past. She spends a chunk of the first part of the book reflecting on her past love interests, which include Peter Walsh, Sally Seton, and her now-husband Richard. As she walk...
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The Book

The Book