Mrs Dalloway Analysis

Language has progressed from a form of grunts to an elevated and sophisticated artform. In its earliest uses it may have been used for hunting and safety purposes, but has evolved to include ways to express emotions, share jokes, and convey thoughts. With few exceptions and to the varying degrees of effectiveness, language has such purpose in word choice, skill in sentence structure, and intent for the author. Compared to body language and facial expressions, verbal language gives humans an abundance of ways to express their thoughts; however, the confines and limits of language without fails finds a way to make its presence known. For example, language barriers and the limits of vocabulary—the list is endless. Art is the next level of communication,
The novel by Virginia Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway, is art. Woolf’s novel conveys hard-hitting ideas and themes of life through the thoughts of various people as they go about one day in their lives. One cannot passively read through such novels because it just results in witnessing words on a paper. To actually read Mrs. Dalloway, one experiences Virginia Woolf’s artwork: the power of her language, the depth of her characters, the realistic imagery, and so on. The reader can almost feel the time and energy that Woolf poured into writing this novel. No clearer is this exemplified than in the thoughts of Peter Walsh:
As the cloud crosses the sun, silence falls on London; and falls on the mind. Effort ceases. Time flaps on the mast. There we stop; there we stand. Rigid, the skeleton of habit alone upholds the human frame. There is nothing, Peter Walsh said to himself; feeling hollowed out, utterly empty within.
To demonstrate, is Tony Hoagland’s essay “Twenty Poems to Save America.” In it, he offers poems that will ‘teach ethical nature of choice,’ to ‘stimulate daring,’ to ‘rehabilitate language’ and so on— making it clear all of these poems were written to share a message. Just as clearly as these poets share a message with the readers, do the readers get a message and understanding about their own lives. Take, for example, an expcert from the poem on his list, “The Ballad of Orange and