Streaming Consciousnesses and Butterfly Effects

            Mrs. Dalloway, a novel written by Virginia Woolf, delves into the lives of the main characters, jumping into their individual minds. The main character, Clarissa Dalloway, is a spirited woman with her own wants and needs and yearns to find a way to be herself without forgoing her social life and status. Another important character, Septimus Smith, whose problems resemble a more extreme version of Clarissa’s, is a veteran of World War I who suffers from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and is condemned by doctors, society, and his own wife for his internal ailment. The novel is set in 1923 in London, England, and is focused on the timeless dilemma of whether or not one should forgo their wants and needs in order to stick to the status quo or vise versa. To conform or not to conform, that is the essential question Clarissa struggles to answer for herself, and the question Septimus answers for himself by committing suicide.  Woolf conveys this theme to her readers through her unique style of writing.

            Virginia Woolf uses a stream of consciousness writing style while narrating in the third person point of view throughout Mrs. Dalloway. This style effectively pulls her audience into the minds of her characters in a way that no other style can. At times this style makes it a bit difficult to follow and/or understand, and it definitely makes it so that one cannot read the novel without being completely focused on the story. It is because of her use of the streaming consciousness style that a story about a single day from the perspectives of numerous characters could be so captivating. Had she used a different style, readers might not have been able to become as attached to, or sympathetic towards, the characters Woolf introduces them too. While her streaming consciousness style greatly contributes to the overall depth of the story, it is also the underlying tone she has consistently throughout the story that makes this story so interesting.

            There are moments of humor and some moments of joy in Mrs. Dalloway, but overall the major tones in this story are sorrow, confusion, and resignation. These tones reflect the negative feelings held by the characters and by Virginia Woolf at the lives and situations the characters are forced to carry on through. Without these underlying tones carrying consistently through the novel, the themes would not be as clear or powerful. For example, had Septimus Smith not have eventually become resigned to his fate, thereby making him decide to end his life rather than have his soul be crushed by society, than Clarissa would have never thought about how much she agreed with and condoned his decision, which would have made her own struggle with the societal pressure to conform much less clear. In a way, this story illustrates the existence of the butterfly effect. Septimus and Clarissa had never met, yet his actions and emotions had a profound effect on hers and changed the course of her life, thereby changing the course of the lives of those whose lives are touched by hers, thereby changing the course of the whole story.