The goal of Mrs. Dalloway, at least from my perspective, is to capture real human, thought, interaction and character within one day in 1923. In order to achieve this, Woolf displays a variety of techniques and strategies. Instead of focusing on the overall arc and message of the work she is creating, she meticulously constructs individuals and the interactions they share with one another.
Clarissa herself is not a person who I would find compelling in real life. However, Woolf puts her up to a magnifying glass in a way that would make any character compelling. Human sociality, thought and emotionality are inherently interesting. So, when Woolf takes a closer look at an upper-class socialite, it appears not humdrum, but like an exciting window of opportunity into a previously unseen life. Similarly with the other characters, an in-depth introduction to any person that is not ourselves can prove enlightening and entertaining.
I suppose the author's final goal is to help us understand and know these characters as well or even better than we might know ourselves. To achieve a realistic and deep-cut depiction that we are starved of in the actual world we inhabit. Maybe these characters can even teach us more about ourselves and each other.
I definitely agree with this. So many characters in books could be put into the real world and would be a lot more boring than they are as we read about them, even though Clarissa would be a lot more than most. Really this is what books are about I think, making the real world (hmm maybe not some fantasy books then) more interesting than it really is. Woolf has impressively achieved this with the character of Clarissa, where what could be one of the most boring lives turns into an interesting novel.
ReplyDeleteThis is a really good point about how deeply studying someone can make them seem much more interesting than they really are. To give some credit to Clarissa, she's not your typical upper class wife - she has had more than her fair share of drama. However, what makes her interesting is all under the surface, and nobody would ever know unless they really dove into her personality. I think that's the point that Woolf is making: almost everyone can be fascinating, if you look hard enough.
ReplyDeleteMy response to that is that everyone has drama if you look close enough. https://lucashisasfic.blogspot.com/logout?d=https://www.blogger.com/logout-redirect.g?blogID%3D7574025452881162887%26postID%3D9035923869077442527
DeleteI find the way that Woolf allows us to observe the raw thoughts and emotions of almost every character to be very unique, and like you said, makes them incredibly interesting. An example of how this is useful is in the relationship between Peter and Clarissa. If we were only aligned with Clarissa's thoughts, we would have no idea that Peter also thought about her and is arguably more passionate about these thoughts.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with this. I like how you pointed out that people can seem a lot more interesting as you learn the smaller details of their life. People can seem uninteresting or lack personality, but if you learn how they think about things, it can change your perspective on them. Also, by showing the different perspectives of different characters throughout the book, this allows us to see more real human thought and interaction.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that Clarissa is not remotely a character I would find very intriguing in real life, or a character I would find very interesting to follow for a day. But Clarissa isn't just someone we follow for a day, we see how the experiences through her life have affected her and molded her to become the person she is on the day the book chronicles. In my opinion, the book isn't meant to primarily follow her for this day but rather exhibit how people are formed and become "themselves."
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