Fidel ReyesENGL 350-500Dr. David McWhirterFebruary 28, 2014Mrs. Dalloway, the shadow of a husbandIn the novel Mrs. Dalloway, Virginia Woolf tells the story of a particular day in June 1923 which, initially, revolves around the point of view of a 52-year-old woman named Clarissa Dalloway, who is about to launch a party later that day; the story continues using the point of view of other characters in the novel, but for the most part we are left with Clarissa's point of view since she is the heroine of the story. While the book is filled with social commentary and post-war themes, Woolf also uses her strategic storytelling skills to shed light on the issues women faced. For example, while Clarissa is planning her party, she begins to analyze her life and concludes that her identity is simply frivolous, and she begins to realize that she is not a person that society sees as an individual but rather as part of someone else . . Woolf introduces Clarissa's internal conflict by having Clarissa analyze herself; despite finding herself in a state of reflection, Clarissa begins to fear that she is invisible, and that she no longer has anything to give to society due to her age and marital status, since she is already married and has children. “She had the strange sensation of being herself invisible, unseen; unknown; you don't get married anymore, you don't have children anymore, but only this surprising and rather solemn progress with everyone else, along Bond Street, and this is Mrs Dalloway; not even Clarissa anymore; This is Mrs. Richard Dalloway. (11) In this passage Woolf implies that having an identity was a problem for women; since society only saw them as consumable items, items that would only be used, specifically to make… middle of paper… she could die in total happiness, but she hears the words “Fear no more the heat of the sun. ” (186) and that “She must return to them” (186), return to reality, return to her party, return to her life. Clarissa found joy in Septimus' death as she took it as a sign that throwing everything away can be beautiful and that can bring joy, “made her feel beauty; made her feel funny Woolf effectively uses Clarissa's reaction to Septimus' suicide to show that women of her time were under so many constraints, which they would never. could win, that they couldn't be themselves, that maybe throwing it all away was the answer to finding true happiness Woolf's novel, Mrs. Dalloway, is a portrait of women and social classes that works effectively to show how. the women of his time were treated and to demonstrate a deep analysis of how society viewed, used and treated women..