Mrs. Dalloway: A Life of A Woman Who Questioned Life

"What did it meant to her, this thing she called life?"

Finally, I finished reading this book. The first book of hers I read was A Room of One's Own, then Monday or Tuesday, and The Common Reader: First Series. 

After reading A Room of One's Own, I became a fan of her works. I searched and read articles about her life as well. For me, Virgina Woolf is an icon of feminist. 

Mrs. Dalloway is one of her masterpiece that was published in 1925. Just like the other books of hers, Mrs. Dalloway is also about a woman who still trying to find the meaning of life. It is a simply life that she desires. But, how is simply life? That's the hardest part.

Most of Woolf's books are about questioning life, looking for the meaning of one existence, and the deep voices in the mind. You never know whether is's also the voice in your mind till you read the books.

Through Clarissa Dalloway, the wife of the member of parliament in London, Woolf telling the story of a woman who questioning her love to her husband, love to her daughter, love to her family, and love to life it self. In one of the stories, Clarissa mourn about her beloved sister who died of illness. Well, in fact Virginia Woolf in real life also lost her siblings, include her beloved sister to illness. Mrs. Dalloway is just like an autobiography of hers at some point.

Mrs. Dalloway also met his former lover Peter Walsh and after some encounter and discussion, she believed that both of them still love each other. They couldn't be back to how they used to be.

Since I read this book in this time of year, I also got some thoughts about Mrs. Dalloway. Some of the main idea of this book are very familiar to me. Such as life is an absurdity, which known to me after reading the books of Albert Camus. Camus is one of my favourite philosopher. The nuance in this book also brought me to the work of Dostoyevsky, a famous writer from Russia. 

"Besides, now that he was quite alone, condemned, deserted, as those who are about to die are alone, there was a luxury in it, an isolation full of sublimity; a freedom which the attached can never know."

When I read those lines, it suddenly came to my mind the name of Dostoyevsky. The idea about loneliness, death, moment of joy in despair, and in pursuing the purpose of life. Those are some feeling that you usually got when you read books which written by Dostoyevsky and some Russian author in some cases.

Virginia Woolf died in suicide. She drown herself in a river near her house. And through Septimus, a veteran character in this book, I got some feeling that at that time, Virginia had been thinking about death. About suicide at this point.

There are still many ideas that I have got from reading this book. About marriage, having children, and social life in general. But, the most important thing that probably resonate most throughout this book is about mental illness. 

In real world that we face now we still have covid-19 and these past two years is never easy for most of people in the world, including me. People are still dealing with the pandemic, losing people they love, losing jobs, and probably losing their purpose along the way.

Taking care of ourself, especially our mental health is a hell of a job. You probably still have a lot of questions about life nowadays, but you will get through it. I promise you that you will be just fine eventually. 

Hang in there!

It will be alright!