Interrupted Moment, Time and Space in Mrs. Dalloway
Mrs. Dalloway was developed under some rhythm of broken sequences. Using two main characters of Clarissa Dalloway and Septimus Warren Smith, the time and space are conveyed eloquently, scattered but connected by a thin thread that not apparent in the whole text itself.
The World War II is a time-turner which juggles the lives of the people in Mrs. Dalloway, and turns them upside down dramatically. The moments, either missing or disclosed in the novel have created the different individuals, some ‘before’ and ‘after’ characters. Some of the characters’ pasts are known, but some are not even mentioned or ellaborated.
This essay will discuss about the relation of art and moments mentioned in Mrs. Dalloway, and pull them together to show how the plot works and supports the story itself.
Septimus, whose life before the World War has never been disclosed to the readers, find himself as a result of disappointment caused by war. Tragic and traumatic experience has made Septimus trapped in his own moment, causing nervous breakdown and eventually forces him to end his life by committing suicide.
How art works in relating two very different moments and spaces? Traumatic experiences that Septimus has gone through different space and moments are important medium to let the readers see beyond what they read, and not only judge the character, but also perceive it the way it is.
The spaces creation in Mrs. Dalloway is more apparent. The movement of the characters, and also different places used as background, allow the readers to let their thoughts moving, although in scattered and sometimes incomplete movement. The scattered space functions more than just a background of the story.
The scattered spaces form innumerable possibilities of art in reforming the characters’ thoughts, and let the writer create characters who posses some of her traits, and possibly way of life. The art is created by a literature of colours, come from different places, consist of different spaces and time.
The relation of time, culture and changes in the society is apparent in the novel. Though Mrs. Dalloway is not exactly rich with cultural references, it is filled with many moments where the characters found themselves to be a part of society, and not being able to show themselves more than they are allowed to show as part of a certain society. The society is represented by the social system, the parties held by the upper classes, and probably the snobbery of the classes.
The mixture of the society, moments created by it, and thoughts evoked by the movement of the society, changes in the civilization, the bad and good things brought by the civilization itself. Woolf’s own culturally derived disposition to create ‘weathertight’ castles, art forms that stand above refutation, moves her to collaborate in undercutting her own design. (The Interrupted Moment, pp.166) The design and the dynamic of the society takes a certain space and time, and later disappears when blown away by new civilization and modernization.
The preciseness of time in the novel are symbolized the Big Ben that shows the time and followed by the silence. Sometimes the clock shows the real time, but it never affects the surrounding, and somehow insignificant compared to the biological clock that affects the characters personally. “She felt very young, but at the same time unspeakably aged” (pp. 7).
In the novel, Clarissa Dalloway keeps comparing the situation around her, and how it would be different if she was younger. The indecisiveness of this ‘human time’ also mentioned when they reminiscing and indulging in the nostalgia. Many times both Peter and Clarissa are not able to express their past in a certain timeframe, and most of the time the remembrances come as fragmented recollection.
Woolf’s intention of implementing the ‘tradition’ of her autobiographical moments and recollection was understood by Bakhtin as “outdated expectations of artistic fulfillments” (pp. 168). The artistic strategy of Virginia Woolf in putting one foundation and continue building the whole art itself, is a strategy of creating harmony within the novel.
In the novel itself, the recollection part is not always addressed clearly and explicitly. It can be noticed that everytime Peter is almost successful in building his recollection and his past; there is always something that stops him, and makes the recollection unsuccessful. Same goes with her reminiscence. When he and Clarissa met, he told the story about his past and wanted to ask Clarissa, but soon interrupted with
“...these moments,; there coming to him by the pillarbox opposite the British museum, one of them, a moment, in which things come together; this ambulance, life and death” (pp.129). The interrupted moment records many things, similar and opposite, to come together and create a moment, and sign changes in the society. The interrupted moment breaks the silence, thoughts, and movement of people around the scene. The opposite things that seem almost impossible to appear in the same scene, same time and same place, are given a moment that shared without contrasting or contradicting each other.
“Central to all her (Woolf) thinking is the revelation of the interruption, heralding change, and the growing expectation that society is on the verge of radical transformation” (The Interrupted Moment, 173). Given the fact of the situation in the society when the novel was written,
Some of the moments in the novel are shared by the characters. Their feelings and thoughts triggered by the moment are all different, yet their previous activities are stopped, interrupted and their attentions are distracted for a short while, and suddenly not knowing what happens around them. This ‘lost’ occurs several times, only to be switched to another scene, and later suddenly pops out.
The sudden changes, the awakening of people and the society may dignify the movement of art itself. From one era to another era, and sometimes the changes and the movement are not realized, but they are followed by people who change the style and their point of view toward the art, and bring brand new experience of art.
The novel is an artistic means to capture the lives of the people, and every precious moments that signify being. “Life itself, every moment of it, every drop of it….” (pp. 67). Some moments of life captured in the art cannot be described by words, and savoring the life using art may not result in finding the meaning of it.
The characters are enjoying their own moments, relaxing and reliving, living the world hidden from others. ‘He would tell them in a few moments, only a few moments more, of this relief, of this joy, of this astonishing revelation’ (pp. 40). The characters in the novel have their own moments, in which they enjoy the peace and tranquility, which make them forget of their current surrounding. And in some parts, these moments will let them to stand alone separately from other characters, and possibly create another moment out of it.
“Some grief for the past holds it back, some concern for the present”. This sentence exactly illustrates how the time is elaborated in the novel. The characters hold some grudges in the past, regrets, unhappiness, and also confusion, even unhealed wounds. But they can stop indulged in the present. The future remains as unspeakable mystery. But the pondering of how things would have been possibly different if it can be done the other way around is repeated several times. But some of the characters are grateful of what has happened, and accept it the way it is supposed to be. The destiny works in a certain way and separates the characters, but the one-day plot allows so little room for the characters to grow except be more mature spiritually, affected by the sudden changes round them.
Harmony of space and time are represented by sounds and silence in the novel. “Sound made harmonies with premeditation; the spaces between them were as significant as the sounds” (pp.19). Space here signifies the space and distance between the characters, and how they relate to one another in the novel. The space makes everything in the novel harmonious and significant, and it plays similar role to the sound and the silence that keeps repeating during the novel, the silence that keeps everything united together.
“It had gone…” (pp. 18). This line comes after the aeroplane scene, the moment shared between some of the characters, the same moment that stops them from doing any activities that they are doing at the time. Even Septimus who is usually indulged in his own mind is interrupted, and stops for a while to ponder on that sound. The word ‘gone’ repeated several times in the novel and each time, there will be a scene where everything seems to end prematurely, and left without explanation.
There are also some moments where the characters give similar responses when they are distracted by the certain distraction. When something happens to the motorcycle in the novel, “Mrs. Dalloway […] looked the motor car. Everyone looked at the motor car. Septimus looked.”. The action done by the two main characters are separated. It is the same moment, the same event, and also the same response given,
The existence of the characters, being visible or invisible to other characters is discussed in some parts of the novel. “Oddest sense of being herself invisible, unseen; unknown; there being no more marrying….” The sense of being invisible, not filling the time and the space, and not existing or having a moment on her own happens to Clarissa Dalloway in this novel. Probably the visibility and invisibility are quite apparent in the novel. The ‘commonness’ of the Prime Minister, something considered strange by the people during the party, is also a part of invisibility, he exists but the expected impression is not there.
Septimus’ existence in this novel, though not exactly given the real moments of becoming one whole character that stands alone, have meaningful dialogues He was indulged in his own world, rarely thinks of anything else besides his trauma and depression, and often gets confused and as a result, fails to understand other people’s statement and interpret the meanings of his surrounding.
But Septimus could be luckier compared to Clarissa, who is not aware of her own time and space, and often acts as if she has no freedom to act beyond what is required of her, and plays the quite role of a wife of Richard Dalloway and hostess of the parties. The insecurities of the characters in the novel occur, the uncertainties of not knowing what to do and keep wondering why things happen and what happen inside the other characters’ minds, and therefore lose their senses of time.
The sense of time in the novel is sometimes definite and exact, but more than often is indecisive and vague. It is “thirty seconds”, or sometimes in the form of months, June, July, and August, or even years. The time itself never affects greatly the plot and sequence of the novel. The narrative sometimes is switched to indirect discourse, letting the readers know what exactly happens in the characters’ heads, and the indirect course is clearer top the readers than the description by the narrator itself. It does not show the exact moment and the things happening around the characters, but it slowly appears and disappears, guiding the readers to get to know what actually happens.
The images that were conjured and keep repeated in the novel create the same sense of belonging to the same atmosphere, and share the same situation. Although it seems quite unlikely to relate each and every character directly, but there are some scenes where they experience the same event, meet the same people, or recognize the same thing (little girl with a muff, pp. 148).
The moments, the recorded time and space in the novel will eventually lead to an end, and that is the end of the life itself, for “Death was defiance, Death was an attempt to communicate, people filling the impossibility of reaching the centre, which, mystically evaded them,; closeness drew apart; rapture faded; one was alone. “ (pp. 156). The suicide as the climax of the novel is an attempt to end one’s moments of being and the existence in time and space.
The moments created by the characters, the thread that connects them, as well as the thoughts that break the barriers of time and space is not unlimited. But they have created the sense of being, an existence come across the novel, and each moment promises a renewal of some sort, a new life, a new scene, and definitely a brand new experience of being.
References :
From Ruotolo ,Lucio P. The Interrupted Moment: A View of Virginia Woolf’s Novels
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