Taraneh zaeem Tarza996@student.liu.

se

Introduction:
There is no doubt that through the passage of time human being encounters the situations leading to some marked changes in his character. Sometimes these changes not only wash his previous verdicts away, but also bring about some new ones which through them he can observe the world around him by different perspectives. In this paper three woman are chosen from Sour Sweet, Mrs. Dalloway, and Hard Times. The following paper tries to analyse these women Clarissa, Louisa, and Lily based on their stories. These women could not stand against the changes occurred in their lives through the passage of time. Moreover, since their changes related to the society, it is tried to studied them through the societies they live in.

Analysis:
Clarissa Dalloway is the first character that is going to be studied here. Through the story from her youth until her middle age, her changes are depicted to the reader. Clarissa is shown as an energetic and fresh girl when she was young. She loved flowers, Shakespeares sonnets, parties, and being with people. Clarissas character also can be viewed through the eyes of her lover Peter Walsh. Peter described Clarissa as And of course she enjoyed life immensely. It was her nature to enjoy. She enjoyed practically everything (Woolf 1996 p. 87). She refused to marry Peter since she thought that couples need some independencies. Clarissa believed that if she married Peter, she would lose her independency (Woolf 1996 p. 10). While story goes on it can be realized Clarissa was changed somehow. When she was young, she thought that she made a good choice not to marry to Peter. However, after Peter visited her, she wrote a letter to him and stated heavenly to see you (Woolf 1996 p. 171). Moreover, story displays that there was a long time that Richard expressed his love to her. When he bought white and red roses for Clarissa, he could not say he loved her. The reader can come across with this idea that something is wrong in their marital life. Before her party, she thought about death and annihilation. As a case in point, she told herself Everything that was fine, everything that was true went (Woolf 1996 p. 140). Nevertheless, the most conspicuous part is depicted at the end of the story when Clarissa found out Septimus who was a veteran and suffered from some mental conflicts and shock from the time of the war committed suicide. The story shows that She felt somehow very like him-the young man who had killed himself. She felt glad that he had done it, thrown it away (Woolf 1996 p.
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Taraneh zaeem Tarza996@student.liu.se 204). Based on these facts one question might be raised. Why Clarissa changed by passing the time? Why she changed from a fresh girl to an upset woman? This question can be answered through the situations of the society that Clarissa lived in. This setting of this story is after the First World War. It is apparent that war results in death and destroying. Clarissa was survived, but she suffered from fear of death. By keeping this point in the mind, it can be concluded the character of Clarissa changed through the story from an energetic girl to a depressed woman. It should be mentioned here based on two following ways the reader can access to a clear picture of Clarissa. One of them is the way of narration. The author used free indirect speech style to show Clarissa and her thoughts. In her article From Unspeakable Sentences: Narration and Representation in the Language of Fiction (2000) Ann Banfield explained the free indirect speech style as something in the middle of direct and indirect speech (Banfield 2000 p. 515). This style indeed helps the reader to hear the thoughts of characters. Furthermore, Percy Lubbock declared in his article The craft of Fiction (2006) stated that some narrators are free in time (Lubbock 2006 p. 93). In Mrs Dalloway the narrator sometimes was in the past and sometimes is in the present. Due to this fact, the movements of the narrator help the reader to access to the background of Clarissa. The second character is Louisa in Hard Times. She was the oldest child of Gradgind family. Her father trained his children only based on facts. He totally disagreed with fancy. Based on her fathers words Louisa learnt she had to look at the world around her only through mathematical exactness. However, the first change in her character is shown when she was fifteen years old. When her father found Louisa and Tom looking at circus, she told him she was tired for a long time, but she did not know its reason (Dickens 1994 p. 47). Her conspicuous changes started when she wanted to help a poor worker called Stephan to go away from Coketown. Despite the fact that Louisa seemed too cold and indifferent, she somehow made it obvious her character could respect people and even help them. However, the most significant part of the story which manifests that Louisa has changed a lot, is the part that she went to see her father and told him she loved James Harthhouse and she realized what her father had taught her was wrong from her point of view. She told him Where are the graces of my soul? Where are the sentiments of my heart? (Dickens 1994 p. 193). By passing the time Louisa found the world did not limit to facts. She learnt [] to know her humbler fellow-creatures [] (Dickens 1994 p. 267). The reader might face some questions again. Why Gradgrind tried to rear his children in such a rational way? Why Louisa at the beginning of the story could not connect to people from lower class of society? Aristocracy
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Taraneh zaeem Tarza996@student.liu.se might be a good answer. The setting of Hard Times is at the Victorian era. As Chris Evans described in his article Capital, Labor, and Class in the Victorian City (1999) there are deep gaps between middle and working class of people in England at the Victorian era (Evans 1999). Louisa who came from middle class could not connect to the people from lower class at the beginning of the story. However, she changed gradually and even at the end of the story she could have compassion towards people and respect them. The third character is Lily from Sour Sweet. Lily, her husband Chen, and her son Man Kee emigrated from China to England. At the beginning of the story Lily same as Chen faced culture chock. She could not adapt herself to the new environment. For an instance, she called English people as foreign devils (Mo 1999 p. 153). She even told her son that if he wanted to stop a bus, instead of asking a white bus driver it would be better to ask black or Indian one (Mo 1999 p. 203). However, when time passed and especially after Chens death Lily changed markedly. She realized that she had to stay in England because of her son. She found how to adjust herself to this new place. She came to this conclusion that it would be better to keep previous culture and be open to new one. She found equilibrium between Chinese and British cultures. As she thought she had found a balance of things for the first time [] (Mo 1999 p. 286). Lily took her son to public schools every day, but she took him to one Chinese school once a week also since she wanted Man Kee got familiar with his Chinese background. As it is written in the story Sons schooling, English-style, continued on its peculiar, bewildering was. Lily rested her faith on his once-weekly exposure to Chinese curriculum, as a measured dose of radiotherapy might burn out cancerous growth (Mo 1999 p. 254). The character of Lily changed during the time. From a woman who did not want to communicate with others and only tried to to keep her culture she became a woman who can adapt herself and find a balance between Chinese and British cultures. The new society that Lily lived was totally different from her previous one. This new society brought culture chocks and problems for immigrants. However, when time passed, Lily could overcome these issues. Moreover, she defined herself, found the balance between two cultures, and pictured a new Lily to the reader.

Taraneh zaeem Tarza996@student.liu.se

Conclusion:
This paper tries to analyze three women characters. Lily, Clarissa, and Louisa are chosen from Sour Sweet, Mrs Dalloway, and Hard Times novels. These three characters changed in their stories. Through the passage of time, these three women came across some situations that influenced them deeply. Notwithstanding the fact that Lily stuck to her culture at the beginning of the story, she became so moderate and could accept the new culture too. From a fresh and energetic woman Clarissa became a woman who feared the death and annihilation through the story. Louisa who could not connect to people around her learnt how to have compassion to people from lower level of society. In analyzing their characters, it is manifested that one of the most fundamental elements for these changes is the society. Lily faced a new society and culture shock. Clarissa had fears remaining from the war. Louisa found that aristocracy was helpless for her and she needed to love others. For final words as it is stated above this paper attempts to analyze three characters through the passage of time in theirs stories.

Taraneh zaeem Tarza996@student.liu.se

Reference List:
Banfield, Ann From Unspeaking Sentences: Narration and Representation in the Language of Fiction, in McKeon, ed., Michael, (2000). Theory of the Novel a Historical Approach (Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press), (Available electronically, E-brary). Dickens, Charles (1994). Hard Times. Great Britain: Penguin Group. Evan, Chris (1999). Capital, Labor, and Class in the Victorian City. Journal of Urban History 25. P. 745-754. SAGE Publications. Lubbock, Percy The Craft of Fiction, in Dorothy J. Hale, ed., (2006). An Anthology of Criticism and Theory 1900-2000, Oxford: Blackwell. Mo, Timothy (1999). Sour Sweet. London: Paddleless Press. Woolf, Virginia (1996). Mrs Dalloway. Great Britain: Penguin Group

Taraneh zaeem Tarza996@student.liu.se .