Mrs Dalloway Self Representation of Identity

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Representation of Identity in the novel Mrs. Dalloway Written by Virginia Woolf Virginia Woolf's way of storytelling in the novel Mrs. Dalloway is through free indirect discourse, in which a third person narrates a character's thoughts of expressions and presents it in the characters voice without being set off by quotation marks. This method offers readers to deeply understand the character’s thoughts and emotions throughout the diegesis (Abott, 70). Several characters are seen to voice their thoughts and emotions in this novel, however the two characters that have a distinct identity to themselves and are often seem isolated from others are Clarrisa Dalloway and Septimus Warren-Smith. Clarissa Dalloway is an English woman who lives an aristocratic lifestyle and is very much concerned with appearance and identity such that it influences not only her life and achievements but affects her behavior towards other characters in the book as well. Her struggle in discovering her identity stems from the constant suffering of isolation from the world and regretting decisions made in her past and is often pictured as a lady who deems to identify herself in a male-dominated society. Another character that faces similar isolation is Septimus-Warren Smith an ex-army man who is undergoing a traumatic shell-shock experience. His realization of the world and himself about mortality and immortality is constantly replayed in the text. Septimus along with Clarissa seems to be searching for answers in the journey of life and as they near their sunset age, they look deeper for the meaning of life and their course of life so far. The representation of identity seems to be a constant clash between reality and imagination and struggle to overcome isolation for these two characters in the book Mrs. Dalloway. Ultimately Clarissa’s soul is deadened by everything around her and her
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