Regeneration Post II

One of the major themes of Regeneration is father-son relationships. When Rivers goes on leave, he thinks a lot about his childhood and his relationship with his father. His father was both a priest and a speech therapist, and tried to foist his beliefs on his son. However, the young Rivers one day decided that his father's beliefs about speech therapy were "nonsense" and mentally "[swept] away his father's life's work in a single minute as twelve-year-old boys are apt to do" (153). Rivers also dares to "suggest that Genesis was no more than a creation myth of a Bronze Age people" (153). Despite his father's efforts to impose his beliefs on his son, Rivers rebels and goes his own way. In some ways, the relationship between Sassoon and Rivers is similar to that between Rivers and his own father. Rivers believes that is is Sassoon's "duty to go back, and [his] duty to see that [Sassoon] does" (73).  Is Rivers attempting to "father" Sassoon in the same imposing manner that his father raised him?

Another important idea in the novel is the disconnect between soldiers and civilians. After Graves leaves Craiglockhart, Sassoon begins to hate "everybody, giggling girls, portly middle-aged men, women whose eyes settled on his wound stripe like flies. Only the young soldier home on leave, staggering out of a pub, dazed and vacant-eyed, escaped his disgust" (44-45). He feels it is unjust that people can stay at home, living normal lives, while men are dying and wasting away in trenches. There is also a sense of awkwardness and conflict about the war from the civilian point of view. When Sarah finds the tent full of mutilated soldiers hidden from public view, she is shocked and stares uncertainly. Afterwards she realizes that "there was nothing she could have done that would make it better. Simply being there, by being that inconsequential, infinitely powerful creature: a pretty girl, she had made everything worse. Her sense of her own helplessness, her being forced to play the role of Medusa when she meant no harm, merged with the anger she was beginning to feel at their being hidden away like that. If the country demanded that price, then it should bloody well be prepared to look at the result" (160). Sarah is conflicted because she is powerless but feels strongly that others should see what the war has done to its soldiers. To hide them away perpetuates the idea that there is only courage and glory in war, rather than trauma and irreversible damage. Prior personifies the soldier's conflict. While being examined by a doctor, Prior notices that the doctor "thinks [he's] shirking...and the idea made him go cold" (161). If Prior does not return to war, he is seen as a coward. However, if he does go back to France, he will only exacerbate the physical and mental damage that has haunted him since he left the front. Are there other ways in which the disconnect between soldiers and civilians is shown? Also, how is the theme of societal beliefs versus individual beliefs seen in the novel?

 

Regeneration Post I

Last week we finished Mrs. Dalloway and started on the new book Regeneration. The two stories fall in the same era and evolve characters who have been part of the war. Very interestingly both books have the complicated relationship between a doctor and a soldier. In Mrs. Dalloway, the doctor is Sir William Bradshaw and the patient is the insane Septimus Smith. Sir Bradshaw seems to be a good, respected psychiatrist and popular among upper class, however, Sir Bradshaw and the Smiths obviously do not get along very well. Dr. Bradshaw talks  to Septimus for no more than ten sentences. In fact, when Septimus says that “I have-I have,” “committed a crime-” (96) and stammers “I-I-” (98), he is either ignored or stopped by Mr. Bradshaw who suggests him to “try to think as little about yourself as possible”. He only has a simple talk with Mrs. Lucrezia Smith before he makes decisions and dismisses (or even gets rid of) them with no further explanation than “trust everything to me” (98). 

Compared to Dr. Bradshaw, Dr. Rivers, the psychiatrist in Regeneration is much more caring. He spends time with Sassoon and Captain Graves to gain a deeper understanding of the patient’s case. He cares about Burns and worries about Burns’s mysterious absence. One of the most interesting moments in the book is when Burns “realized he’d come back for this”: “waking up to find Rivers sitting by his bed, unaware of being observed, tired and patient” (40). However, one can say that Dr. Rivers cannot be defined as perfect because he allows the hospital to shelter “‘conchies’ as well as cowards, shirkers, scrimshankers and degenerates” (4).

What do you think about these two doctor-patient relationships? Between the gifted but arrogant psychiatrist, William Bradshaw, and the caring rule-breaker, Dr. Rivers, who do you think is overall a better doctor? What other interesting connections do you find between these two books?

Mrs. Dalloway III

    Flashback is present throughout Mrs. Dalloway, but its purpose extends much more deeply than simply providing background information or exposition about the characters' histories or minds.  The use of flashback makes the reader aware that the past lives on in every character, and that each character's past influences their path.  Woolf makes the reader aware of this by showing Clarissa looking in the mirror and seeing the face of "the woman who was that very night to give a party; of Clarissa Dalloway; of herself" (37).  Three different ways of referrring to herself, corresponding to the future, the present and the past, are rolled up into Clarissa; she is simultaneoulsy the young, vivacious girl at Bourton and the somewhat timid, death-fearing old woman.  Septimus Warren Smith also has flashbacks and occupies the world of the past commonly, but the setting of his flashbacks is most often the war.  Compare and contrast the role of flashback in Clarissa's and Septimus' lives.  Does flashback represent reprieve or regression to a part of their lives best left alone?  What is the impact of the content of flashbacks on each of these characters?
    Mr. Dalloway struggles to put into words his love for Clarissa, despite emotionally preparing to do so for the course of his walk across London.  I think it is beyond question that Richard loves his wife; why else would he have been jealous of what she and Peter Walsh share? In any event, I would love to hear your takes on why Richard is unable to utter such a basic phrase (although one with hearty implications).  How does his inability to show his love separate him from Peter Walsh?  Without too much conjecture, try to answer this one: would Clarissa have been happier with Peter?
     We've already discussed at length the implications of the rigid and defined class system during this time period, but I'd love more discussion about the sense of moral superiority which the lower middle class feels over the upper middle and upper classes.  Three strong examples are Miss Kilman, Milly Brush and, in the most recet reading, Lucrezia, who "triumphs" over the wealthy doctors on page 148.  What is the source of this sense of moral superiority? Compare Rezia's version of this sense of superiority to Milly's and Miss Kilman's. Does each stem from a personal dislike of a certain member of the upper of society? Pure jealousy about their iferior economic status?  Disapproval of the fact that the upper classes contribute nothing to society yet live in luxury? All of the above?

Mrs. Dalloway- Louise

Throughout this novel, Woolf has explored several instances of contrasting outward and inward opinions: what society expects, versus what one accomplishes, and the way someone views someone else, versus how they view themselves. A few key examples of this disparity are found in the party beginning on page 165, continuing to the end of the reading assignment. On page 167, Peter Walsh remarks on Clarissa's insincerity, and states he regrets coming, and later on that same page, Clarissa notices Peter's criticism and feels that shame, only to continue to assert that it does really matter to her, on page 188. What are some other examples of this societal pressure/expectation, in this novel, and in other novels we've read? How does Woolf's unique narrative add to this contrast?

Another place that we see the contrast of outward/inward is earlier, with Septimus. When staying at the Inn, he felt he could not connect to his surroundings, that he was in some way isolated. Also, the doctor's advice is to focus on reality, and to really see his surroundings. Do you believe that the doctors advice is completely unfounded? How does the character of Septimus connect directly to other characters in Mrs. Dalloway, specifically Clarissa? What ideas expressly tie them together, and how are they different?

Finally, Woolf is making societal observations by including these differences between outside and inside feelings/characters. What do you think she is trying to say? Do you agree with her message?

Mrs Dalloway (81-110)

As we progress into the novel, we develop an image of London and 20th century British modernism that is very bleak, and formal. Already, we have become familiar with a sombre fog that shrouds daily life and even the meaning of relationships. This society is a restrained one, and thus its people are very down to Earth.
Peter Walsh's perception of relationships and morals juxtaposes the British stereotype. Fiery and emotional, Peter shows no restraint in his actions. As he leaves Clarissa's he does his best to discover where they went wrong, trivializing every detail. The interruption of an old earthly spring near the Regent's Park Tube gives Peter's conclusion on relationships an entire new meaning.
How does the image of the spring on page 81 change our perception of the English world?d
A corps group of characters has developed around this stream of conscience narrative. Among them, we see three women each with their own interpretation of Modernism. Clarissa, a married woman unhappy with the robustness of her husband and the men she knows. Lucrezia, a woman fighting for her husbands sanity and Lady Bruton, an esteemed englishwoman who despises the nature of women.
Of these three women, who strikes you as the most powerful or compelling?


From one of our previous readings, who reminds you of Dr. William Bradshaw, the new psychiatrist for Septimus?

Mrs. Dalloway (II)

In Mrs. Dalloway there are many types of relationships. There are the romantic relationships, such as the one the Clarissa and Peter had, and there are relationships of business and friendship. There are also relationships between people and objects. Big Ben runs through the web of the intertwined plots of the people in the novel. The chiming of the clock brings everyone together no matter what they are doing and it sets all the events of the novel into a timeline. The relationships in the novel connect everyone yet the effect everyone differently. For example the car brings everyone together yet, as some feel patriotism for their country, Septimus feels shocked and is brought back to the war. In the reading where are other instances of connection yet each character has their own thought? How do these moments show the interactions between characters and give insight into the mind and memories of each?

Mrs. Dalloway (Post I)

On page 12, we learn of Mrs. Dalloway's hatred - a "brutal monster" - which stirs at just the thought of Miss Kilman. She makes Mrs. Dalloway feel "inferior", although in an odd, almost contradictory fashion considering that she tells of "how poor she was... how she lived in a slum". From what we know about Mrs. Dalloway, why do you think this aggravates her so much, and makes her hate a woman who, in another world, "she could have loved"?

By page 29 of the novel Mrs. Dalloway, there is an apparent theme that connects the characters the reader has met: an atrophied or degenerated inner self. Not unlike Gabriel in The Dead or the white man in Heart of Darkness, there seems to be something "hollow" about them. Clarissa herself feels "invisible, unseen; unknown... not even Clarissa any more; this being Mrs. Richard Dalloway" (11). What effect, if any, do you think Woolf's style of writing - constantly switching point of view - has on the reader in how the characters are perceived? Also, what do you make of the "motor car incident", and the fact that Clarissa, Septimus, and the rest of the pedestrians who saw it stopped immediately, to simply look on in awe? It seems, to me at least, that our characters' senses of self are atrophied, at least partially, because of their concern and involvement with the outside world. For example, Clarissa's love (obsession) with hats and gloves. What do you guys think of this? Similarly to my perspective or a polar opposite - (perhaps somewhere in the middle)?