Mrs Dalloway is a unique novel in that it takes place in a single daya Wednesday in mid June 1923 It covers one day from morning to night in one womans life Clarissa Dalloway an upper class housewife walks through her London neighborhood to prepare for the party she will host that evening When she returns from flower shopping an old suitor and friend Peter Walsh drops by her house unexpectedly The two have always judged each other harshly and their meeting in the present intertwines with their
The revealing truth about Clarissa becomes clear to her and is her moment of being after she is informed about Septimus Warren Smiths suicide Clarissa as a character is battling with and trying to balance her internal life with her external life In the beginng of the novel she is already having a flashback about Peter Walsh that reveals how she feels her life could have been Clarissa decided not to marry marry Peter Walsh and settle with Richard Dalloway because she was comfortable with having
What makes Clarissa retire to her bedroom in the middle of the day is the shock 22 of not being invited to Lady Brutons lunch party with Richard Also Clarissas vulgar jealousy 23 of time but not of Lady Bruton contributes Clarissa is hurt by Richard insomuch that he accepted the invitation from a woman whom she sees as having lost the beauty of youthful years 23 More than that Clarissas pride is hurt and the dwindling of life cut in impassive stone 23 upon Lady Brutons face only adds to Clariss
Identity Struggles in The Great Gatsby and Mrs Dalloway F Scott Fitzgeralds The Great Gatsby and Virginia Woolfs Mrs Dalloway both present the argument that our surroundings physical environment and human relationships impact the notion of self or personal identity Furthermore they both claim that society acts as a mirror and that in life humans cannot fully understand their identity until they see it reflected back to us by the mirror of others at which time they are able to internalized it an