Perception

“Nothing exists outside us except a state of mind”. This remark by Septimus is one of the finest in Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway. Essentially, the world is what our mind perceives it to be. Every single moment, every single event, and every single object is perceived by each individual differently. Because of this, there is truly nothing that is a FACT. For example, global warming is considered a fact by 97% of scientists yet the other 3% perceive it differently. The viral blue and black/ gold and white dress is thought to be different colors by different people even though it cannot be physically both at once. Each group believes it a fact that it is a certain combination suggesting that facts are just abstract interpretations based on how our mind perceives something to be. An example of this phenomenon in Mrs. Dalloway is Septimus himself. Evan appearing from the dead, a dog morphing into a man, and being alive after drowning are all facts and reality to Septimus. To everyone around him, however, these are hallucinations of a veteran experiencing a mental illness. Again the world around us forms itself based on our mind’s perceptions.