Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf Review

'Mrs. Dalloway' by Virginia Woolf Review Mrs. Dalloway is a complex and compelling modernist novel by  Virginia Woolf. It is a wonderful study of its principal characters. The novel enters into the consciousness of the people it takes as it subjects, creating a powerful, psychologically authentic effect. Although quite rightly numbered amongst the most famed modernist writers - such as Proust,  Ã¢â‚¬â€¹Ã¢â‚¬â€¹Joyce, and  Ã¢â‚¬â€¹Lawrence - Woolf is often considered to be a much gentler artist, lacking the darkness of the male contingent of the movement. With Mrs. Dalloway, though, Woolf created a visceral and unyielding vision of madness and a haunting descent into its depths. Overview Mrs. Dalloway follows a set of characters as they go about their lives on a normal day. The eponymous character, Clarissa Dalloway, does simple things: she buys some flowers, walks in a park, is visited by an old friend and throws a party. She speaks to a man who was once in love with her, and who still believes that she settled by marrying her politician husband. She talks to a female friend with whom she was once in love. Then, in the final pages of the book, she hears about a poor lost soul who threw himself from a doctors window onto a line of railings. Septimus This man is the second character central in Mrs. Dalloway. His name is Septimus Smith. Shell-shocked after his experiences in  Ã¢â‚¬â€¹World War I, he is a so-called madman who hears voices. He was once in love with a fellow soldier named Evansa ghost who haunts him throughout the novel. His infirmity is rooted in his fear and his repression of this forbidden love. Finally, tired of a world that he believes is false and unreal, he commits suicide. The two characters whose experiences form the core of the novel - Clarissa and Septimus - share a number of similarities. In fact, Woolf saw Clarissa and Septimus as more like two different aspects of the same person, and the linkage between the two is emphasized by a series of stylistic repetitions and mirrorings. Unbeknownst to Clarissa and Septimus, their paths cross a number of times throughout the day - just as some of the situations in their lives followed similar paths.Clarissa and Septimus were in love with a person of their own sex, and both repressed their loves because of their social situations. Even as their lives mirror, parallel, and cross - Clarissa and Septimus take different paths in the final moments of the novel. Both are existentially insecure in the worlds they inhabit - one chooses life, while the other commits suicide. A Note on Style of Mrs. Dalloway Woolfs style - she is one of the most foremost proponents of what has become known as stream of consciousness - allows readers into the minds and hearts of her characters. She also incorporates a level of psychological realism that Victorian novels were never able to achieve. The every day is seen in a new light: internal processes are opened up in her prose, memories compete for attention, thoughts arise unprompted, and the deeply significant and the utterly trivial are treated with equal importance. Woolfs prose is also enormously poetic. She has a very special ability to make the ordinary ebb and flow of the mind sing.Mrs. Dalloway is linguistically inventive, but the novel also has an enormous amount to say about its characters. Woolf handles their situations with dignity and respect. As she studies Septimus and his deterioration into madness, we see a portrait that draws considerably from Woolfs own experiences. Woolfs stream of consciousness-style leads us to experience the m adness. We hear the competing voices of sanity and insanity. Woolfs vision of madness does not dismiss Septimus as a person with a biological defect. She treats the consciousness of the madman as something apart, valuable in itself, and something from which the wonderful tapestry of her novel could be woven.

Confirming Supreme Court Nominees - How Long It Takes

Confirming Supreme Court Nominees - How Long It Takes U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia died unexpectedly in February 2016, leaving President Barack Obama with a rare opportunity to nominate a third member of the nations highest court and dramatically swing the ideological balance to the left. Within hours of Scalias death, though, a partisan fight erupted over whether Obama should choose Scalias replacement or leave the choice to the president being elected in 2016. Senate Republican leaders vowed to stall or block an Obama nominee. Related Story: What Are Obamas Chances of Replacing Scalia? The political battle raised an interesting question: How long does it actually take the Senate to confirm a presidents Supreme Court nominee? And would there be enough time in the last year of Obamas second and final term to push a nominee through the often nasty confirmation process? Scalia was found dead on Feb. 13, 2016. There were 342 days remaining in Obamas term. Here are three things to know about how long it takes to confirm Supreme Court nominees. 1. It Takes An Average of 25 Days An analysis of Senate action on Supreme Court nominees since 1900 found that it takes less than a month - 25 days to be precise - for the a candidate to be either confirmed or rejected, or in some cases to withdraw from consideration altogether. 2. Current Court Members Were Confirmed in 2 Months The eight members of the Supreme Court at the time of Scalias death were confirmed in an average of 68 days, an analysis of government records found. Heres a look at how many days the Senate took to confirm members of those eight Supreme Court justices, from shortest duration to longest: John G. Roberts Jr. - 19 days. He was nominated by President George W. Bush on Sept. 6, 2005, and confirmed on Sept. 25 by a vote of 78 to 22.Ruth Bader Ginsburg - 50 days. She was nominated by President Bill Clinton on June 14, 1993, and confirmed on Aug. 3, 1993, by a vote of 96 to 3.Anthony M. Kennedy  Ã‚  - 65 days. He was nominated by President Ronald Reagan on Nov. 30, 1987, and confirmed on Feb 3, 1988, by a vote of 97 to 0.Sonia Sotomayor  - 66 days. She was nominated by President Barack Obama on June 1, 2009, and was confirmed on August 6, 2009, by a vote of 68 to 31.Stephen G. Breyer- 74 days. He was nominated by President Bill Clinton on May 17, 1994, and confirmed on July 29, 1994, by a vote of 87 to 9.  Ã‚     Samuel Anthony Alito Jr  Ã‚  - 82 days. He was nominated by President George W. Bush on Nov. 10, 2005, and confirmed on Jan. 31, 2006, by a vote of 58 to 42.Elena Kagan  - 87 days. She was nominated by Obama on May 10, 2010, and confirmed on Augu st 5, 2010, by a vote of 63-37.Clarence Thomas - 99 days. He was nominated by President George H.W. Bush on July 8, 1991, and confirmed on Oct. 15, 1991, by a vote of 52 to 48. 3. The Longest Confirmation Ever Took 125 Days The longest the U.S. Senate has ever take to confirm a Supreme Court nominee was 125 days, or more than four months, according to government records. The nominee was Louis Brandeis, the first Jew to ever be chosen for a seat on the high court. President Woodrow Wilson tapped Brandeis on Jan. 28, 1916, and the Senate didnt vote until June 1 of that year. Brandeis, who entered Harvard Law School without earning a traditional college degree beforehand, faced allegations of holding political views that were too radical. His most vocal critics included former presidents of the American Bar Association and former President William Howard Taft. He is not a fit person to be a member of the Supreme Court of the United States, the Bar Association presidents wrote. The second-longest confirmation battle ended with the rejection of the nominee, Reagan pick Robert Bork, after 114 days, Senate records show. Bonus Fact: Last Election-Year Nominee Was Confirmed in 2 Months Funny things happen in presidential election years, however. Lame-duck presidents get very little done and are often powerless. That being said, the last time a president pushed for confirmation of a Supreme Court justice during a presidential-election year was in 1988, for Reagans choice of Kennedy for the court. The Senate, controlled by Democrats at the time, took 65 days to confirm the Republican presidents nominee. And it did so unanimously, 97 to 0.