Autobiographical Aspects of Mrs. Dalloway

Many aspects of Virginia Woolf's novel Mrs. Dalloway parallel Woolf's life.  Woolf was born in London and lived through World War I, which serves as the setting.  Woolf's family spent summers in St Ives, Cornwall, a seaside town similar to Clarissa's Bourton.  Like Septimus Smith, who appears to have mental problems from the war and suicidal thoughts, Woolf was institutionalized a few times for nervous breakdowns and killed herself at age 59.  Woolf did not believe in Christianity, just as Clarissa does not believe in God and is concerned that her daughter, Elizabeth, is reading prayer books and attending Communion.  Woolf had an affair with a woman named Vita Sackville-West during the 1920s.  The novel touches on many aspects of sexuality such as lesbian experimentation between Clarissa and Sally and maybe even between Elizabeth and Miss Kilman.  Mrs. Dalloway appears to be largely biographical even though it is based on a character whose lifestyle is far different from Woolf's.

Mrs. Dalloway— Has Clarissa's life become exactly what Peter predicted?

In the beginning of Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf, Clarissa Dalloway recalls an argument she had with Peter Walsh when they were both young in which he said "She would marry a Prime Minister and stand at the top of a staircase; the perfect hostess he called her (she had cried over it in her bedroom), she had the makings of a perfect hostess" and she would never amount to more than a high society housewife (Woolf 7).  This memory is ironic for Clarissa remembers  this prediction on her way into town to retrieve flowers for a party she plans to host later that evening, so Peter's forecast appears to be more accurate than Clarissa expected. She also is married to some sort of politician or government official, though he is not the Prime Minister.   Clarissa acknowledges that, sometimes, she feels as if she has lost her own identity, her self-worth, and her only purpose is to be her husband's wife, Mrs. Richard Dalloway.  Some of Clarissa's thoughts come off as superficial and materialistic, such as her worries about her hat or that she is passionate about gloves, which emphasize that she is suited for her role as a high society housewife.  Although Clarissa's life has become almost exactly what Peter Walsh had predicted, and she cried at first when he told her, she still has a great love for life.

The Things They Carried— What weighs more, the physical or emotional things they carried?

The things they carried weighed at least one hundred pounds.  But that is only part of what they carried, it is only physical, actual weight. They also carried emotional weight which they buried deep inside them, afraid to make their feelings known.  They carried the desire to return home, the responsibility for their lives and the lives of others, the fear of death, and the guilt after someone died or after they killed someone.  They carried honor, from "the things men did or felt they had to do," out of the fear of dishonor (O'Brien 24).  Unlike physical weight, they could not set down the emotional weight, they carried it with them at all times.  They found ways to cope with their fear or sadness, like through laughter or violence, but the relief was only temporary and superficial.  When the physical weight became more than a soldier could bear, someone else could take a few things to lighten his load. Although many of the men carried similar feelings and fears, they did not share the burden of these emotions since they hid them inside.  If the physical weight became too much, they could leave some things on their way go another place, but their emotions always stayed with them.  Although physical weight is measurable and calculable, it is only easier to define, and not necessarily heavier than emotional weight.

The Things They Carried— The Baby Buffalo

The characters in the book The Things They Carried deal with grief in many different ways—sometimes they joke, sometimes they smoke dope, but they always try to avoid crying, blushing, or showing any type of emotion.  After the death of his best friend Curt Lemon, young Rat Kiley attempts to ease the pain and grief he feels by continuously shooting a baby buffalo.  Unable to process his own emotions, Kiley turns to violence.  Kiley's purpose wan not to kill the baby buffalo, "it was to hurt" it, for he wanted it to feel the same pain he felt after losing Lemon (O'Brien 75).   O'Brien repeats the word "shot" to represent how Kiley pulled the trigger over and over again.  Kiley "went to automatic" to hide his feelings, for even shooting a baby buffalo was better than drying or blushing (75).  After being shot at many times, the baby buffalo is still alive,  which represents that Kiley's act of random violence did little to expel his feelings of pain and loss for they still were, and would forever be, alive inside him.