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A Story of
Life and
Death…
By Christine (Qingyuan Zhang)
The novel starts from Mrs. Dalloway,
who is going to buy flowers and have a
party. Within a short day, Mrs. Dalloway
experienced from losing herself, finding
herself to destroy her inside world.
While another main character,
Septimus Warren Smith, he experienced
from finding himself, failing to rebulid the
self, to physically death and mentally
freedom.
The writer creates two contrasting
characters and two stories with similar
structures to show the contrast between life
and death.
Mrs. Dalloway
Septimus
Female
Male
Wife of a senator
Ordinary people
Material well-being life
Frugal life
Has not experienced the War
Has experienced the War
Physically sick but
mentally healthy
Physically healthy but
mentally sick
Unhappy marriage
Happy marriage
Want communications
Afraid of communications
Be tired of life
Be eager for life
Be captivated by death
Be afraid of death
Alive
Dead
Loser of spirit
Mentally dead
Winner of spirit
Mentally alive
Mrs. Dalloway
Peter: Beautiful happy old time
Elizabeth: not in close touch
because of Miss Kilman
Richard: The cruel fact, unhappy
marriage, old.
Realized the situation and began to
find herself: Hold a party; Faced Peter
with proper manner; Be confident in
front of Miss Kilman; Communication
with Mr. Dalloway.
Failure: All what she
rebuilt were destroyed
by the news of the
suiside of Septimus.
Septimus
Lucrezia: loving him deeply
Mental disorder: He was forced to
see the doctor.
Waiting for the doctor
Death: In order to get rid of
the oppression and
persecution, he chose to
suicide and finally won
freedom and independent.
Mrs. Dalloway
Septimus
The Contrast Between Life and Death
What Mrs. Dalloway did
and thought represent the
theme of life. But she was
mentally dead. All her
efforts to rebuild her
mental world became a
tragic joke in the end.
Septimus chose to commit
suicide in the end. But he
was mentally alive because
he protected his personality
and mental independence.
He represents the theme of
death.
Two different people come to a same end: Death.
“There was an embrace in death.”