When I entered the Carton Arms Hotels I was shocked because I expected to find a modernized hotel, but I found one of the old and small buildings of New York paints with dark colors which gives the space a lifeless tone. I don’t know if it is its normal decoration, but I found it appropriate with the works of the painter. Most of the paintings has a deformed face on which you cannot describe any expression nor feelings. For some, many parts of their bodies are been mixed up with the background so you can say they form one thing. Thus it is difficult to differentiate the portrait itself from the surrounding. As she defined her work “Ghosts” the paintings are motionless, however what attired my attention was their eyes. Even though their facial expressions are empty, I had the impression that they are looking at me. Their eyes are the only thing that brightens their faces, and toward them you can trace a personal story. Some seem happier, others appear to struggle or afraid.  Those are the feelings that I picked up by looking through their  eyes.By those paintings, Mrs Adelson shows that we have to look at behind the facade to understand a person. Moreover she tries to tell us that somebody can pretend that everything is alright, but by  looking  through the eyes we can see if she or he is lying or not.  Her paintings confirm the idea that ” The eyes are the windows to the soul.”

Going inside the Carlton Arms Hotel was an experience that is so unexpected and different from what I know and understand because the minute you walk in it seen like you are in a whole different world that is full color and arts that many people are not used to. This hotel is living a life if it self. Walking to room to room and each rooms have a different feeling to it that is comfortable or odd. Within the two rooms contain Helen Oliver Adelson’s art that is different in way that it come alive. Looking her painting, the thing that I keep at looking is the eyes within her painting because I felt like it want to tell us something but is unable to. So the name of this solo exhibition is “Ghosts” and I think I understand why. I believe it is name “Ghosts” because is like a ghost that I have a untold stories that they want to shared but they are unable to.

We was unable to enter the third room because someone is renting it out but I ask the person on the front who told us that Helen Oliver Adelson was an artist there for many years and the third room was more of her old works that you display and the other two rooms is her most recent arts.

Even the bathroom and the shower was different from any other hotel and we can tell it was build a long time ago because the bathroom and shower is built separately and the location is different. Also everyone within this hotel had to share the same bathroom and shower because the room don’t have one.

Ekramul

Although Mrs. Dalloway and Septimus were so different, Mrs. Dalloway belonged to upper class and Septimus was a soldier who suffered a lot in the war. They never met each other but had similar situation. Clarissa could’t have love in her family, Richard couldn’t understand her and her daughter Elizabeth was not close to her. She couldn’t find her position in her family, she even couldn’t get use to the life of upper class, since she wasn’t invited to the party of Mrs. bruton. Mrs. Dalloway was unhappy and confused. She couldn’t get the life she ever wanted. So did Septimus. He didn’t love his wife. No one truly understood his pain, therefore he had mental disease and had to talk to his best friend who died in the war. They were both lonely and could not adjust themselves to accept the reality. When Mrs. Dalloway heard the news that Septimus committed suicide, she felt relived for him. That the way Mrs. Dalloway thought would run away from the undesirable reality.

Mrs. Dalloway didn’t love her husband yet his husband didn’t love her. Mrs. Dalloway couldn’t feel connected to her husband. She always loved another man, Peter, who was her lover when she was young. Also Richard considered Clarissa as a weird woman. They didn’t communicate with each other much. Apparently, they had an unhappy marriage. When Mrs. Dalloway saw Peter in the party, old feelings came back again. Different from her relationship with Richard, she and Peter understand each other. They could communicate without having a word. Peter knew what Clarissa really like. When he saw her acting like a lady in upper class, Peter was really angry. He didn’t want Clarissa ended her life like this. Mrs. Dolloway also knew Peter was the one fit for her, but she could no longer go away with him. Mrs. Dalloway was an independent and thoughtful woman. She and Peter could have long chat different from young people who only knew about entertainment.

Mrs. Dalloway had a good friend when she was young, they both have thoughts and would discuss the question like how to change the world. Sally Seton was a daring, active and independent girl just like Clarissa. But when time pass by, they both changed. Mrs. Dalloway could only talk about the boring things with other noblewomen. Sally was not that attractive girl any more. She married to a rich man and had five kids. They gave up their independent thought and turned themselves into person they would not admire.

Zhao Wang

Although Clarissa and Septimus never meet each other, they share many things in common. They are also linked together through other characters throughout the novel. Although it confused me at first, it becomes  clear that they are “doubles”. They both have internal struggles that they are dealing with and are disconnected to society. They both often ponder about the subject of death and its connection to nature.

One of the more interesting comparisons in Virginia Woolf’s text, Mrs. Dalloway is her connection between characters, Clarissa and Septimus. Although they never meet during the novel’s duration, they foil one another in their actions. The vendiagram below shows the similarities and differences between the two characters.

Jasmine Estevez

Woolf has constructed Mrs. Dalloway to show how the characters in the novel are interconnected. We can see it starting off with Clarissa and Peter Walsh.  At the very beginning of the novel Clarissa was about to head out to buy some flowers when she starts thinking about Peter. We are all interconnected with someone because we can hear see or even experience a new adventure and still be reminded of that one person. “Musing among the vegetables?” – was that it? – “I prefer men to cauliflowers” – was that it? He must have said it at breakfast one morning when she had gone out on the terrace – Peter Walsh. Here we can see how Clarissa about to leave for flowers suddenly remembers about Peter. Clarissa then ends up bumping into Hugh and while conversing she still remembers Peter. “She could remember scene after scene at Bourton – Peter furious; Hugh not, of course, his match in any way, but still not a positive imbecile as Peter made out; not a mere barber’s block.” It seems like any little scene or person she saw reminded her of Peter and the memories they had.

We then see this interconnection with Clarissa and Septimus. They are two different people who happen to have a lot in common. When being described they are said to have a bird like face. Also their views on life are very similar. They enjoy the beautiful things in life and when the accident happened they were both there very intrigued to what was going on. Clarissa and Septimus think about death in which they have no fear of. Clarissa thinks about her own death while Septimus about Evans. Although at the scene of the accident he happened to say “I will kill myself”.

In this novel everyone seems to be interconnected with Clarissa somehow.

This diagram reflects the interconnections between each of the major characters in the story. To start off, the connection between Septimus and Clarissa is one of the most important ones throughout the novel because they are pretty much identical. Not only were their physical appearance described similarly, but their views interlocks as well. For instance, they both tend to appreciate the beauty of the outer world, but also conflict with it because of their fear of oppression. Additionally, the two characters tend to live in an internal world where they are conflicted by the past. Clarissa doubts the decisions she’s made that led her to her present life and Septimus suffers from the effects of PTSD which impacts the way he lives in the present. This drags Peter Walsh into the equation as well because he dwells in the past where he is still in love with Clarissa. Richard Dalloway is then added to the link because he married Clarissa and in return, Peter dislikes him for it, but Richard was also jealous of Peter at one point. Despite their rivalrous relationship, they share one similar trait which is their struggle to reveal their feelings to Clarissa. Richard is more notable since he buys flowers for Clarissa to surprise her, but was unable to tell her he loves her in which he admits in the novel. On the other hand, Peter struggles to reveal his feelings because after all, Clarissa is already married. Speaking of the relationships with Clarissa brings Sally Seton into circle as well because Sally and Clarissa use to have feelings with each other, but that ended quickly due to society traditions. Sally is also connected with both of the men who are in love with Clarissa as she and Peter were once very intimate with each other. Sally shares the lack of communication with Richard as it was said she lived a very solitary life; meanwhile, Richard was a shy individual as proven by his lack of communication with Clarissa. Nevertheless, one can see the characters in the novel are very well intertwined.

Mrs. Dalloway and Septimus never encounter during their life. They seem very different and disconnect, but they both have the same state of mind. They both struggle from their life. As result, Mrs. Dalloway accepts her life as what it is, and Septimus releases himself by commit suicide. Somehow, they approach their life in a similar way. Virginia Woolf uses the quotation from Shakespeare’s Cymbeline: “Fear no more the heat o’ the sun/ Nor the furious winter’s rages,” this quotation means that there is no fear in death after struggle from all the difficulties of life. Mrs. Dalloway thinks that death is very natural after she experienced the deaths of her family. In addition, Septimus believes that his death will bring him freedom.

The appearance of both characters represent life and death, and they are connect by their belief of life and death. They symbolize a work of art in the world. They have their unique style of lives. It is different, but it is the same too. Mrs. Dalloway Hidden Pattern

Zhenhua Hong

For this hybrid assignment I decided to map out the obstacles between both Septimus Warren Smith and Clarissa Dalloway and their own individuality. I believe that this common struggle of finding ourselves is a way that all human beings become interconnected. Both Clarissa and Septimus are wonderful examples of how society can oppress an individual into accepting who they should be opposed to who they’d like to be. In the case of my mental map I chose to highlight major aspects where Septimus’s and Clarissa’s obstacles overlap such as within their love and relationships, their concern for social status and acceptance, and the overall repression of such. It is my personal belief that the most common natural desire for human beings is happiness and purpose, however, with that comes the outside social influences and nurture which oppresses and counters these initial desires.