Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf is a novel that may be confusing at first but is filled with hidden patterns of connection that not only connect characters and themes but also time. In A Sketch of the Past, Virginia Woolf states, “Behind the cotton wool [of daily life] is hidden a pattern; that we—I mean all human beings—are connected with.”  In the novel, Clarissa leads a life where she plays a role of fitting into the higher social class. She follows etiquette but internally she questions herself on  how her life has turned out. She searches for the deeper meaning to life. Even though she is married to Richard Dalloway, the reader can infer that their relationship is distant and thus Clarissa is isolated. Septimus was a character that was suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder after fighting in World War I. The war had left him depressed and even though he had a wife who tried to help him, Septimus was lost in his own mind. He too, was distant from his spouse and later can’t take being in the world any longer.

Another way the characters are interconnected in the novel is through time and memories. Even though the book revolves around one specific day and the activities that take part of it, the reader is taken into the past numerous times. Clarissa remembers many memories that make her smile, such as the time Sally kissed her. For Septimus, he thinks back to the time his friend Evans was alive.  Although, I have only used Clarissa and Septimus as examples, there many more characters who look back on the past. One such character is Peter Walsh; He remembers the summer in Bourton. By connecting the past with the present, Woolf creates a dynamic storyline and provides background on all the characters. Even though Septimus and Clarissa never met in the novel, it can be seen that the two characters are not very different from each other.