Mrs. Dalloway Passage

She felt somehow very like him—the 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.

This short passage encompasses many of the themes of Mrs. Dalloway.  Even thought Clarissa and Septimus have never met, Clarissa feels a special connection to him. Even though they have never physically come in contact, time connects them just like it linked Clarissa to the old lady. Clarissa “felt glad that he had… thrown [his life] away” because Septimus had been emotionally dead all along. While it may seem that the word “thrown” is alluding to Septimus’s life, it is actually referring to his physical body. When Septimus threw himself out of the window, he was merely imitating what his soul had done long ago.

The fact that Clarissa feels such an intimate connection to Septimus suggests that he actually lives on. His soul has been preserved past his death through memories much like the royals are preserved through paintings and statues. This reveals that ultimately, time conquers death. Although it appears that death is the final resting place, Woolf shows that it is just another part of an ordinary day. Septimus’s death is not given any more importance than the airplane or the lady singing signifying the Woolf’s unfazed attitude to the subject. Time moves on and the lives of others move on.