Okay DIGHT 215, you got me.
It’s been an interesting process trying to reach the end of Mrs. Dalloway and I’m happy to report a certain change of heart has taken place. Like how most things are in life, the reading process has been like a marathon, and the person I was at the beginning of the starting line is different than how I finished.
By no means is Mrs. Dalloway ever a book I’ll read on my own consent, but I’m grateful for the small but miraculous lessons of self discovery I’ve received. Let me start by saying I don’t know how Virginia Woolf did it; delving into and expressing several individuals’ self-consciousness, I mean. I really don’t know how she, like a skilled weaver, was able to compose the sometimes utter bat-crazy musings of fictional characters into something we as the readers can relate to on level we’re sometimes uncomfortable to admit.
I certainly don’t want to speak on all of your parts but while in the midst of reading these last two sections (not the first one, that was just painful and awkward to break into) I found myself musing deeply within myself and able to instantly recognize and identify with words some of the quirks, strengths, and faults that make up my own character. It was especially surprising to recognize the faults because I felt almost like an outsider viewing them which broke past my own biases and reasoning. I felt like Clarissa who we are able to discover not only who she is to herself, but who she is to other characters as well. What was interesting was that while some notes compared on the other characters’ thoughts, they all had different takes on her. And vice versa. From this experience of reading behind the different streams of consciousness, I felt like I could almost do the same for myself and the results were interesting to say the least.
I felt myself relating to Clarissa and Co. more than I’d like to admit. The tip of the hat to you Mrs. Woolf, I sure as heck won’t ever be able to write like this:).
I’m actually excited to talk about this in class!
(This glorious gif was brought here on behalf of http://gph.is/1fDQk92)
