Mrs Dalloway-Imbalance between the Inner and Outer Worlds Essay - 1

Mrs Dalloway-Imbalance between the Inner and Outer Worlds - Essay Example The paper will assess the ways in which Woolf has reflected modernism as the quality of thought and expression present in each character differently; and how these characters have different psychologies in the way they look at life around them, how they are alienated, and how they are stuck between nostalgia and modernism. Clarissa Dalloway is the main character in this novel. She is a woman who is seen constantly struggling with her internal life and thoughts with that of the outer world. She belongs to the high society where she hosts parties, wears classy dresses, and talk to people belonging to the high class. However, at the same time, she is seen walking to Bond Street in the first chapter to the flower shop to make preparations for her party the same night. As she is walking and looking at the world around, she imagines about life and is continuously searching for a deeper meaning of life. Woolf writes â€Å"For Heaven only knows why one loves it so, how one sees it so, making it up, building it round one, tumbling it, creating it every moment afresh; but the veriest frumps, the most dejected of miseries sitting on doorsteps do the same; can’t be dealt with, she felt positive, by Acts of Parliament for that very reason: they love life† (Woolf 8). This quote shows that Clarissa does not believe that happiness is anything related to high class. Woolf shows her strong positivity and attachment towards life believing that humans make their lives beautiful themselves. Clarissa is seen as the only character who can express her emotions and led herself free to the world around her unlike other characters but she doesn’t share her feelings with anyone else. However, at another place Woolf states â€Å"She had a perpetual sense, as she watched the taxi cabs, of being out, out, far out to sea and alone; she always had the feeling that it was very, very  dangerous to live even one day† (Woolf 11). This quote suddenly changes the direction of Clarissa’s thinking as she looks around at the crowd and starts feeling alienated. She feels that the public life is rather busy and noisy while her private life is silent and lonely.