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Modernist Themes and Tropes in Mrs. Dolloway - Coggle Diagram
Modernist Themes and Tropes in
Mrs. Dolloway
Paranoia, Loneliness, and Alienation as a Result of a Troubled Past
Modernism
Paranoia
Fear that signs mean something other than themselves
Septimius Smith's mental illness
Is a result of atrocities of WW1
Conveys trauma brought on by war and experienced by many
The breakdown of cohesive communication/universal understanding
Painful connection to the past, fear of the future, confusion with the present
Peter Walsh = inability to connect with others, conveys disconnect brought on by WW1
Septimus Smith = isolated, conveys mental illness that comes with alienation
Introduction
1925, five yrs post-WW1
London, England
Class structures, politics, and neglect for soldiers after war
Deals with psychological impacts of WW1
These of hopelessness and disappointment
Focalisation and Stream of Consciousness
Internally focused, narrative perspective
Multiple person narrative perspectives
Writing is done to mimic the way in which people think, fragmented, unfinished etc
Jumps between thoughts at the centre of the mind
Semiotics: Language, Signs, and Symbols
Language is relative - emphasises breakdown of universal/grand narrative
Wolf attempts to push boundaries and re-invent language as it was formerly known - modernist feature of writing
Subjective perceptions of situations and communication
Text heavily emphasises the anxiety surrounding communication in modern society
Disjointed, disconnected, misunderstanding, subjectivity rather than objectivity - illustrates social changes after WW1
Sky plane writing example: everyone has a different interpretation of what is being said
Narrative Time and Space
Operates on multiple levels
Linear time represented by chiming of Big Ben
Spaces and Places of London
Modernisation, industrialisaton
Everyone experiences city differently (subjectivity)
Interior time jumps between past, present
Septimus's experience of time characterised by flashbacks and hallucinations
Septimus struggles with boundaries
between past present due to trauma of losing friend in the war
No chapter breaks to continue course of the day, constant movement
Novel uses form to allow the reader to experience the motif of time as a connecting literary device, on the one hand, while extending this motif to themes of mortality and regret throughout the novel