A Short Precis
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A precis for the tutorial.
Mrs. Dalloway
I have read the whole novel last week. Apparently, this novel adopts the technique of stream of consciousness. The description of the inner activities of the characters in the novel far exceeds the description of the actions and conversations of the characters. They are always immersed in their inner world and their thoughts, and rarely express these thoughts, so it seems that everyone is trapped in their own cage and looking out at the world, it is difficult for people to truly understand each other.
Though the story took place in only one day in "the middle of June" of 1923, it was inserted with so many flashbacks from the perspective of different characters that we can’t use a single clue to tell the plot of the story clearly. The author's narrative perspective is transferred from one character to another through the common sceneries. If we must find a clue that runs through the novel, I think it might be time. Big Ben strikes every half an hour, and each time it strikes, different characters felt quite different, and the same character could feel different when hearing the bell at different times. The bell gives a sense of solemnity to every moment of life, and it symbolizes people's love for life. But it belongs to the spiritual level. The bell that is two minutes slower than Big Ben is the trivial matter of life, and it belongs to the level of material reality. Mrs. Dalloway is an atheist. She lacks an explanation of the ultimate meaning of life, so she can only put her enthusiasm on life itself, and partying is just for dedication. What is shocking is that when Septimus seemed to regain his enthusiasm for life, he threw himself out of the window in order to escape Dr Holmes, which led to his death. It seems to tell us that death is absurd. It is an interweaving of contingency and inevitability. Although Septimus’s death is inevitable, accidental events contributed to his death, which dispelled the solemn meaning of suicide. Septimus' suicide also has its symbolic significance. Septimus escaped from the human nature symbolized by Dr. Holmes. In order to protect the balance of society, that kind of human nature does not hesitate to eradicate any excessive behaviors and force people abide by the code of conduct, telling them what them must do and what they must not.
But I don't quite understand Mrs. Dalloway's feeling and her understanding of death and life after hearing Septimus's death, and the change in her thoughts.
Extract frome the text--
「A thing there was that mattered; a thing, wreathed about with chatter, defaced, obscured in her own life, let drop every day in corruption, lies, chatter. This he had preserved. Death was defiance. 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 alone. There was an embrace in death.」
「But this young man who had killed himself—had he plunged holding his treasure? ‘If it were now to die, ’twere now to be most happy,’* she had said to herself once, coming down, in white.」
「The young man had killed himself; but she did not pity him; with the clock striking the hour, one, two, three, she did not pity him, with all this going on. There! the old lady had put out her light! the whole house was dark now with this going on, she repeated, and the words came to her, Fear no more the heat of the sun. She must go back to them. But what an extraordinary night! She felt somehow very like him—the young man who had killed himself. She felt glad that he had done it; thrown it away while they went on living. The clock was striking.」