Viewing Mrs. Dalloway Through the Lens of “Modern Fiction”

In Modern Fiction, Virginia Woolf comments on the flaws of modernist writers such as Wells, Bennett, and Galsworthy. Their narrow focus on the visible and lack of affinity for the spectral or true-to- living(prenominal), is evidence enough that they have fallen short in the literary sense. In Mrs. Dalloway, Woolf seeks confederations with truth, naturalism, and that which is above the corporal through with(predicate) her narrative techniques, labyrin refinede imagery, and provoking al-Qaedas, indeed emphasizing through Mrs. Dalloway what she has so adamantly called for in Modern Fiction.Woolf possesses the big businessman to create a work of fiction that evokes a pleasant reading sleep with for the reader with come to the fore utilizing a central plot. In Mrs. Dalloway, Woolf chooses to explore the narrative possibilities of bringing several portions through atomic number 53 iodin day in time. This narrative technique works well in a text that in general focuses on Mr s. Dalloways world view, her inward workings, and her exploration and sensory experience of the world ring her.The organizational organise of the original challenges Woolf to create quality books that are deep enough to be graphic while dealing with only wizard day of their unrecordeds. Woolf creates inwardly the character of Clarissa the intact sense of the magnanimity of living nonpareil day in time. Clarissa had a perpetual sense, as she watched the taxi cabs, of being out, out, cold out to sea and alone she always had the tactile propertying that it was very, very dangerous to live even one day (16).Through Clarissa, Woolf creates a sense of the complexity separately day is capable of bringing to individual characters, in that locationof calling her readers to saying within lifeexamine for a moment an ordinary reason on an ordinary day. The mind receives a myriad impressionstrivial, fanstastic, evanescent, or chip at with the sharpness of steel (3). Clarissa, through her sensory perception of the world round her, feels the danger of living even one day.Woolfs embrace of the realistic and phantasmal aspects of the world, asserted in Modern Fiction, are set up within this newfangled so that those views will be challenged. Through the character of Clarissa, struggling through one day in time, Woolf compels the reader to take on the possibilities beyond the material world. This narrative technique moves the action forward, and simultaneously delves into the life and inner workings of Clarissa, baring her soul to the reader and opening up the possibilities and realities of the spiritual world.Woolf also employs imagery that similarly challenges the reader to explore the possibilities of what roosts beyond the material. The imagery of death is quite prevalent in the text, and these images are mainly viewed through Clarissa, as she makes sense of her life. connoisseur Jacob Littleton, in his article, Portrait of the artificer as middle-a ged Woman, asserts that because Clarissa possesses a heightened view of existence, she always possesses a supernaturally vivid awareness and fear of the termination of the existence she loves so very much (38).Clarissas fear of termination resonates most clearly in her set-apart attic bedroom. The image of her bedroom symbolizes loneliness and death, and serves as a set up where Clarissa frequently contemplates these subjects. Her bed, no longer the marriage bed symbolizing fertility, is symbolized by her fertile mind as shrinking into her world in a way that other outlooks available to her do not (40). She has no one but herself in which to rely, and this is evidenced through her continual fascination with the construct of death and the end of existence.Clarissas transcendental theory, which she uses as a reference to inform herself of the realities of the spiritual realm, causes her to surmise that since our apparitions, the part of us which appears, are so momentarily compared with the other, the unseen part of us, which spreads wide, the unseen might survive, be recovered somehow attached to this person or that, or even pursue certain places after deathperhapsperhaps (79). The image of the spiritual transcending death through means of apparitions is another powerful image within the text, and interlocks with the image of death and presents itself simultaneously.In the case of Septimus, Clarissa is able to feel a alliance with him after he has died that seems to transcend death. She assimilates herself with him after he took his life. She knows that she felt beamy that he had done it thrown it awayHe made her feel beauty made her feel the fun. But she moldiness go back. She must assemble (185). Mrs. Dalloway sees herself in Septimus, even though she has never encountered him face-to-face she sees something in Septimus that she desires for herself.Woolf, through Clarissas transcendental theory and interactions with the image of Septimus, uses Clarissa s experience to assert her own views on the spiritual aspect of reality. There is something uttermost above the material that causes Clarissa to feel this affinity with Septimus. There is something beyond herself that calls her to him, and then causing her to desire his fate for her own. The power of the imagery of death and the ability to transcend it is fully realized in the doubling of Clarissa and Septimus.Lastly, Woolf uses themes that connect reality with the spiritual realm in an attempt to further her thesis in Modern Fiction, for fiction to be modern and worth reading, it must explore that which is above the material world. Woolfs main concern in the novel seems to be the inner workings of Mrs. Dalloway, her thought processes, and how she engages with the world surrounding her. Woolf juxtaposes Clarissas internal self with her external world, thus setting up one of the most prevalent, resonant themes within the text, and it is against this system that Woolf places a world of confidential significance whose meaning is wholly irreducible to facts of the external world (37).This fight back amongst the internal and external surrounds not only Clarissa, but her double, Septimus, and thus permeates the novel. Personality, according to Ellen Bayuk Rosenmann, in her article, The Invisible Presence, seems to be a private fact, which is far alienated from public and political culture (77). Society at plumping is able to neither appreciate nor understand the inner workings of the soul, and thus stands at a distance.Woolf asserts in Modern Fiction, that Whether we call it life or spirit, truth or reality, this, the essential thing, has moved off, or on, and refuses to be contained both longer is such ill-fitting vestments as we provide (3). In essence, the separation between the internal (soul) and the external (material world) is not navigable. Mrs. Dalloway is forced to break down the material barriers that bar her from knowing herself, and delve into th e depths of her soul to find the spiritual, the truth.Another fascinating theme within the text is the intriguing concept of human interaction. Characters within the novel are being continually merged together through their experiences and through their own imaginations and memories as well (Littleton 39). One of the most interesting examples of this is the human relationship between Mrs. Dalloway and Septimus. Clarissa never visually sees Septimus, yet he is the most significant part of her day. Clearly, Woolf is merging the two characters together, yet she blurs the lines a bit, thus furthering her assertions in Modern Fiction, that life is not a series of gig lamps symmetrically arranged life is a luminous halo, a semi-transparent envelope surrounding us from the beginning of consciousness to the end (4).Septimus is a part of Clarissas consciousness, even though she does not realize it. His life has a long impact of Clarissa, and he is the sole character that compels her to re main true to her soul. Critic J. Hillis Miller, in his article, Repetition as gentility the Dead, explains that no man or woman is limited to him or herself, but each is joined to the others indulgent like a mist among all the people and places he or she has encountered (173). The characters are connected on various levels, and Woolf shows this connection quite shrewdly through the lens of Lady Bruton as she muses about the way in which Hugh and Richard remain with her after they leave, as if ones friends were attached to ones body, after lunching with them, by a thin thread, whichbecame befuddled with the sound of bells, striking the hour (112).This statement furthers Woolfs ideal that there is an inherent spiritual connection within human beings, a thin thread which connects humanity. The interaction between the characters is remarkable, as Woolf continues to assert that there is a spiritual connection between human beings that surpasses any material, physical connection (8).Th rough means of narrative technique, fascinating imagery, and compelling themes, Woolf continues to assert her thesis in Modern Fiction, that fiction must be concerned with the reality of life, its inherent truth and spirituality. If fiction is only willing to explore the material, it will do a disservice to humanity, for there is a world beyond the material that begs to be explored. In Mrs. Dalloway, Woolf explore this other world, and brings to light fascinating possibilities that lie far beyond that realms of the material.Works CitedLittleton, Jacob. Mrs. Dalloway Portrait of the Artist as a Middle-Aged Woman. Twentieth Century Literature. Hempstead Spring 1995. 411, 36-48.Miller, J. Hillis. Repetition as Raising the Dead. Virginia Woolf. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York Chelsea, 1986.Rosenmann, Ellen Bayuk. The Invisible Presence Virginia Woolf and the Mother Daughter Relationship. Baton make up Louisiana State UP, 1986.Woolf, Virginia. Mrs. Dalloway. New York Harcourt, 1925.Woolf, Vi rginia. The Common Reader. 1st edition. 1925.