Mrs. Dalloway through page 63)

McKenzie Maddox, Jordan Bronson, Tania Montalvo

It seems like Mrs. Dalloway is written using a lot of free indirect discourse.  It is tough to tell the difference between conversation and actions as the writing style is ambiguous. There are points of inflection or thoughts while she is in conversation, which makes it difficult to tell which point of view we are getting in certain instances.  For that reason we found it slightly tough to keep track of who is narrating at any given time.  The narration switches sometimes without indication, through the use of free indirect discourse.    

In the beginning we read from Mrs. Dalloway's perspective in first person.  Yet on page 17, the narration suddenly switches to third person, and references Mrs. Dalloway from an outsider point of view.  Thought and action become a fluid entity, and distinguishing
"Clarissa guessed.  Clarissa knew of course," (pg 17).
Sometimes she is referred to as Clarissa, I, or Mrs. Dalloway, or she.  There is confusion from the use of pronouns.

We are first introduced to Mrs. Dalloway, as she is out to get flowers for the party she is hosting.  She emphasizes that she gets the flowers herself, instead of sending a servant to do so.
What is the motive behind this, and why is this detail included?  How does finding this out from Mrs. Dalloway directly influence how the reader views her?

While this is not a retrospective work similar to ones we have read previously, there are episodic memories that give the reader insight into the character's past.
"For a girl of 18 as she then was..," (pg 3).

"She had the oddest sense of being herself invisible, unseen; unknown, there being no more marrying, no more having of children now, but only the astonishing and rather solemn progress with the rest of them up Bond Street, this being Mrs. Dalloway; not even Clarissa anymore, this being Mrs. Richard Dalloway," (pg 10)
This once again shows the ambiguity in identity or ownership of thoughts.  It is interesting that Woolf clarifies which "version" of the character we are learning about, which shows the confusion among perspective and how characters identify themselves. Her name is what gives her a sense of herself, and the one depicted as most important is her name in relation to her husband.  Yet she does not even sleep with her husband because she is ill, and throws parties because she feels lonely.  However she still values her relationship with him as it gives her an outward identity.

Similarly, "(Richard) is very well dressed, thought Clarissa; yet he always criticizes me," (pg 40).  She is very insecure about herself and thus bases a lot of her identity in her relation to him.  Relationships are stressed, which is a theme we have seen throughout the works thus far.  Whether they are relationships formed with motive or not, we see the importance people place on their relations with others, and how that helps them identify themselves.

We are also introduced to Septimus and Rezia.  Septimus fought in WWI, and is now suffering from PTSD which severs his relation with society and particularly with his wife.  His wife constantly takes him to the doctor, yet there is nothing "wrong" with him.  They run into Maisie Johnson, who claims the couple is odd.  When another woman sees Maisie, she thinks about her own life.
What is the purpose of depicting all these seemingly unimportant characters interact and reflect on their own lives in relation to other people?

We learn Mrs. Dalloway has a daughter, Elizabeth, whom she worries spends too much time with her history teacher, yet her husband thinks it is irrelevant.
How does this relate to other novels we have read regarding parenting?

Mrs. Dalloway also runs into Peter, and remembers their past relationship.  She wonders if he still thinks of her and the memories they shared.  This resonated with My Antonia, as Jim often thinks of Antonia and when they finally reconnect, they reminisce fondly of their past.  Antonia even says that she can not wait for her children to be old enough to listen to and understand her stories about her and Jim's memories, which he often romanticizes.  We saw a parallel between this interaction and ones seen in My Antonia.