Page 1 AP English: Literature and Composition Name:

Major Works Data Sheet: Do not cut/paste from a website, which is a form of plagiarism.

Title: Mrs. Dalloway

Page 3 Biographical information about the author: Virginia Woolf was born January 25, 1882 and died on March 28, 1941. She was born Adeline Virginia Stephen. She had severe mental problem from her half-brothers raping her. She married writer Leonard Woolf in 1912. She wrote 9 novels in her lifetime and several short stories. She ended up killing herself in 1941 by putting rocks in her coat and drowning herself. She also had a relationship with a woman named Vita SackvilleWest.

Author: Virginia Wolfe

Date of Publication: 1925 Genre: novel Historical information about the period of publication or setting of the novel:

4 The setting of Mrs.Dalloway was post-World War I England where a upper-class lady is throwing a party.

Characteristics of the genre: It is a long narrative of someone speaking of something that they are going through.

Plot Summary: Do not cut/paste from a website, which is a form of plagiarism.

Page 5 The day starts with Mrs. Dalloway going out to go get flower for her party. After coming back home, she gets an unexpected visit from her old friend, Peter Walsh, who brings up her conflicts from the past. The conflicts with her past were with her being in love with Sally and her kissing Sally Seton and with Peter being in love with her. After Peter Walsh leaves Clarissas house, the book goes to a World War I veteran who has mental problems named Septimus Smith and his wife Lucrezia with their day at the park. By the end of the day, Septimus Smith kills himself to not be involuntarily committed to psychiatric hospital. Mrs. Dalloway hears about his death from Smiths doctor who is at her party. Clarissa comes to admire Septimuss suicide because she believed it as act to keep the purity of his happiness. But she feels responsible for his death.

6 Major Works Data Sheet

Memorable Quotes at least 3 more is better

Quotation 1. She felt somehow very like himthe young man who had killed himself. She felt glad that he had done it; thrown it away. The clock was striking. The leaden circles dissolved in the air. He made her feel the beauty; made her feel the fun. But she must go back. She must assemble. 2. Mrs. Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself. Significance 1. It is significance because even though she never knew Septimus, she had a connection with him. This quote is at the end of the book where we see that Septimus and Clarissa are doubles with the same thoughts and feelings. At the end of the quote, she realizes she has to go back to reality and assemble her life and continue to endure the life she chooses.

2. This sentence sets of the book by introducing Mrs. Dalloway and already showing that she is in the upper-class of society.

3. This late age of the worlds experience had bred in them all, all men and women, a well of tears. Tears and sorrows; courage and endurance; a perfectly upright and stoical bearing.

3. Clarissa is saying how it is social unacceptable to cry in public in upper-class London but they are all wanting to cry because of all the death of World War I. Because they did not cry, Clarissa considered them a well of tears because they are holding it all in.

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8 Major Works Data Sheet

Characters
Name Role in the story Significance Adjectives

Page 9 1.Clarissa Dalloway 2. Septimus Warren Smith 1. She brings the whole story together 2. Clarissas double 1. Protagonist 2. World War I veteran who had mental problems and does what Clarissa cant. 3. To show Clarissas attachment to her past life 4. To show Clarissas attachment to her past life 1. Shallow, socialite, introspective 2. Removed, detached, crazy, traumatized

3. Peter Walsh

3. Clarissas past life 4. Clarissas one true love

4. Sally Seton

3. Ambivalence, unpredictable, analytical, obsessed 4. Changed, rebel, different

Major Works Data Sheet Setting

Significance of the opening scene

The setting of the book is post- World War I in London, England in the life of an upper-class woman.

10 The significance of the opening scene is to introduce Woolf way of writing which is free indirect discourse storytelling.

Symbols or Motifs (at least three) Walshs pocketknife- he opens it and close it all through the book and it shows his defensiveness of life around him. Time- Big Ben is rings at every hour and it is always mentioned in the story. All the character are in grips with time because they keep thinking to their past. Shakespeare- Clarissa is constantly reciting Shakespeares plays as a show of hopefulness

Significance of the ending / closing scene The significance of the ending is that time is still going but Clarissa still sparks excitement in Peter.

Possible Themes Topics of Discussion (elaborate) minimum of 3

Page 11 Death- Peter Walsh, Clarissa Dalloway, and Septimus Smith all deal with thoughts of death. They all believe that living another day is more dangerous than death but they are all afraid of death. But Walsh gets rid of his thought of death by following a lady and Clarissa becomes at peace of the thought of death. While Septimus embraces death by killing himself realizing that death is better than living another day. Oppression- Septimus and Clarissa are both have feelings of oppression. Clarissa feels oppressed by the social rules of Londons upper-class. Septimus feels oppressed to conform because he is constantly being told by his doctor how he should be and he escapes the oppression by killing himself. Communicating with others- Clarissa, Peter, Sally, and Septimus all have problems with communicating with others. They cannot truly communicate with the real world so they find different ways to try to communicate. Sally with gardens, Clarissa with parties, Peter with his traveling, and Septimus with his death.