Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Wolfe

This novel was definitely the most difficult to read out of the four that we had. I ended up surprising myself and really liking the book by the end. I had never read a novel that had not had chapters in them to separate the story. Chapters are places where the reader can pause and put the book down and then know where to pick it up when reading it later. In Mrs. Dalloway it was hard for me to find a place where I wanted to stop reading. The entire novel takes place in only one day, which is a good reason why the author chose not to have chapters. In this novel Mrs. Dalloway has married for stability and not for love. Back then women would marry a man whom had money and could provide a place for them to live and a relatively good life. She chose Richard Dalloway instead of Sally Seton whom she was very much in love with and also Peter Walsh. Clarissa Dalloway goes around London in the morning gathering things because she is getting ready to host a party later that night. Peter Walsh comes back from India and visits Clarissa making things very difficult for her when she realizes she still cares about him. Another character in this novel is Septimus Smith who is a veteran of World War I. He spends the day in the park with his wife Lucrezia. Septimus suffers from hallucinations mostly about his friend Evans who died in the war. When Septimus is prescribed involuntary comitment he comits suicide by jumping out of a window because he decides that he does not want to live anymore. Later on at Clarissas party she overhears people talking about Septimus' suicide and does not like that this is happening at first because she thinks that it is dapening the mood of her party. As the party goes on she begins to like the fact that his suicide is being talked about because she considers it an effort to preserve his happiness. Feminism is a big theme in this novel. Clarissa is able to embrace the social expectations of being a woman of the household but she is also able to express herself by having the parties that she does.