The eruption of World War I in the early 1900’s brought many new types of warfare that the world had never seen. Due to the horrific battle, Soldiers who survived the onslaught were both traumatized and psychologically broken. With a new war, rose a new understanding of what the aftermath of bloodshed and anguish can bring. Many of these men who returned from the battlefield, were unknowingly left to suffer with shellshock or what we know now as Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). This war also brought massive changes to Britain's social system to help shape society to what it is today. In her Book “Mrs. Dalloway”, Virginia Woolf depicts the changes London went through, and how the mental health condition caused by war can affect someone,
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According to the National Archive run by the United Kingdom, the change of social classes from pre World War I to post was huge,“How was post-war British society different from the society that had entered the First World War in August 1914? It was indubitably more democratic. Previously under-represented groups such as women and, in particular, the working class became better organised and more powerful during the war. This, in turn, encouraged the growth of less deferential attitudes, as did the cross-class experiences of the trenches. There had been a disproportionately high percentage of casualties among the landed classes, and the strict class hierarchy of Edwardian Britain disappeared for good in the immediate post-war years." As more citizens became part of the working class less and less middle and higher classes had servants due to the opportunities opened by the war. The political power shift can be seen in “Mrs. Dalloway” when Richard Dalloway visited the Burton’s home, Richard Dalloway strolled off as usual to have a look at the General’s portrait, because he meant, whenever he had a moment of leisure, to write a history of Lady Bruton’s family. And Millicent Bruton was very proud of her family. But they could wait, they could wait, she said, looking at the picture; meaning that her family, of military men, administrators, admirals, had been men of action, who had …show more content…
Virginia Woolf creates Septimus to show what it is like for someone who lives with PTSD or any mental illness. When Septimus was young, he was a passionate person who loved shakespeare, but when he returned from war he had completely changed. When the war started he saw it has an opportunity to prove himself and protect his country which was an important value among men in Britain during World War I. Unfortunately during war, he witnessed his friend Evan die and he became scared with the memory. Septimus returned from traumatized and he had completely changed. Virginia Woolf describes Septimus as “....aged about thirty, pale-faced, beak- nosed, wearing brown shoes and a shabby overcoat, with hazel eyes which had that look of apprehension in them which makes strangers apprehensive too.”(Woolf 11) to help convey that Septimus Smith is not all there. Septimus’s traumatic war memories keep him from living his life on a daily basis. After watching his friend Evan die in World War I, Septimus loses touch with himself and others and seems to become unemotional. His inability cope with his friends death leads him to marry Rezia and attempt to live a normal life and forget what had happened, but it soon fails and Rezia realizes that Septimus can be happy without her. Although Septimus is uncaring and unloving towards Rezia, Rezia still believes that he is brave, “And it was cowardly for a man to say he
According to the National Archive run by the United Kingdom, the change of social classes from pre World War I to post was huge,“How was post-war British society different from the society that had entered the First World War in August 1914? It was indubitably more democratic. Previously under-represented groups such as women and, in particular, the working class became better organised and more powerful during the war. This, in turn, encouraged the growth of less deferential attitudes, as did the cross-class experiences of the trenches. There had been a disproportionately high percentage of casualties among the landed classes, and the strict class hierarchy of Edwardian Britain disappeared for good in the immediate post-war years." As more citizens became part of the working class less and less middle and higher classes had servants due to the opportunities opened by the war. The political power shift can be seen in “Mrs. Dalloway” when Richard Dalloway visited the Burton’s home, Richard Dalloway strolled off as usual to have a look at the General’s portrait, because he meant, whenever he had a moment of leisure, to write a history of Lady Bruton’s family. And Millicent Bruton was very proud of her family. But they could wait, they could wait, she said, looking at the picture; meaning that her family, of military men, administrators, admirals, had been men of action, who had …show more content…
Virginia Woolf creates Septimus to show what it is like for someone who lives with PTSD or any mental illness. When Septimus was young, he was a passionate person who loved shakespeare, but when he returned from war he had completely changed. When the war started he saw it has an opportunity to prove himself and protect his country which was an important value among men in Britain during World War I. Unfortunately during war, he witnessed his friend Evan die and he became scared with the memory. Septimus returned from traumatized and he had completely changed. Virginia Woolf describes Septimus as “....aged about thirty, pale-faced, beak- nosed, wearing brown shoes and a shabby overcoat, with hazel eyes which had that look of apprehension in them which makes strangers apprehensive too.”(Woolf 11) to help convey that Septimus Smith is not all there. Septimus’s traumatic war memories keep him from living his life on a daily basis. After watching his friend Evan die in World War I, Septimus loses touch with himself and others and seems to become unemotional. His inability cope with his friends death leads him to marry Rezia and attempt to live a normal life and forget what had happened, but it soon fails and Rezia realizes that Septimus can be happy without her. Although Septimus is uncaring and unloving towards Rezia, Rezia still believes that he is brave, “And it was cowardly for a man to say he