Examples Of Mental Illness In Mrs Dalloway
Mrs. Dalloway
Throughout history, mental illnesses have been an underlying problem that people just try to ignore. Whenever someone began to act “crazy”, they would be sent away to an insane asylum and be mistreated because there was something wrong with them. After World War I, people began to see the effects war could have on a person’s mental stability. This is when shell shock became a thing. Shell shock by definition is described as “suffering from extreme emotional disturbance… after experiencing combat” (Merriam-Webster). Veterans began to come back from war with no physical symptoms of harm, but acting different than when they left. This can be seen through Septimus Smith’s character in Virginia Woolf’s novel, Mrs. Dalloway. Mrs. …show more content…
He tries so hard to think of other things to preoccupy his min, but nothing seems to work. His wife tries to take him to the park to get some fresh air to help. Septimus thinks that the birds and airplanes “…are signaling to me. Not indeed in actual words; that is…” (Woolf 60). He is shown being plagued by numbness and a desperate need to communicate with someone about how he is feeling. He feels as though “some horror had come almost to the surface and was about to burst in flames” (Woolf 33), just by looking at a car. Coming back from the war made him see the worst in things and in …show more content…
After WWI, soldiers started to come home with PTSD and shell shock, opening people’s eyes to this problem. Virginia Woolf in Mrs. Dalloway does an excellent job of not trying to hide the tragedies and the heartbreak society was going through. Through Septimus Smith’s character, Woolf showcases the emotional instability of soldiers and the flashbacks they could be having. This novel was a turning point in English writing, allowing other authors to show struggles and hardships that society faced while trying to piece together their lives again. This book helped everyday people understand that there was more to these paranoid veterans than just being crazy. Mrs. Dalloway truly showcases the negative aftermath the war had on people’s mental stability.
Works Cited
"BBC Inside Out - Shell Shock." BBC News. BBC, 3 Mar. 2004. Web. 06 Apr. 2017.
"Shell-shocked." Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 06 Apr. 2017.
Stanley, Tasha. "A Beautiful Mind: The History of the Treatment of Mental Illness." History Cooperative. History Cooperative, 21 Sept. 2016. Web. 06 Apr. 2017.
Woolf, Virginia, and Anne E. Fernald. Mrs. Dalloway. Cambridge: Cambridge U, 2014.
Throughout history, mental illnesses have been an underlying problem that people just try to ignore. Whenever someone began to act “crazy”, they would be sent away to an insane asylum and be mistreated because there was something wrong with them. After World War I, people began to see the effects war could have on a person’s mental stability. This is when shell shock became a thing. Shell shock by definition is described as “suffering from extreme emotional disturbance… after experiencing combat” (Merriam-Webster). Veterans began to come back from war with no physical symptoms of harm, but acting different than when they left. This can be seen through Septimus Smith’s character in Virginia Woolf’s novel, Mrs. Dalloway. Mrs. …show more content…
He tries so hard to think of other things to preoccupy his min, but nothing seems to work. His wife tries to take him to the park to get some fresh air to help. Septimus thinks that the birds and airplanes “…are signaling to me. Not indeed in actual words; that is…” (Woolf 60). He is shown being plagued by numbness and a desperate need to communicate with someone about how he is feeling. He feels as though “some horror had come almost to the surface and was about to burst in flames” (Woolf 33), just by looking at a car. Coming back from the war made him see the worst in things and in …show more content…
After WWI, soldiers started to come home with PTSD and shell shock, opening people’s eyes to this problem. Virginia Woolf in Mrs. Dalloway does an excellent job of not trying to hide the tragedies and the heartbreak society was going through. Through Septimus Smith’s character, Woolf showcases the emotional instability of soldiers and the flashbacks they could be having. This novel was a turning point in English writing, allowing other authors to show struggles and hardships that society faced while trying to piece together their lives again. This book helped everyday people understand that there was more to these paranoid veterans than just being crazy. Mrs. Dalloway truly showcases the negative aftermath the war had on people’s mental stability.
Works Cited
"BBC Inside Out - Shell Shock." BBC News. BBC, 3 Mar. 2004. Web. 06 Apr. 2017.
"Shell-shocked." Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 06 Apr. 2017.
Stanley, Tasha. "A Beautiful Mind: The History of the Treatment of Mental Illness." History Cooperative. History Cooperative, 21 Sept. 2016. Web. 06 Apr. 2017.
Woolf, Virginia, and Anne E. Fernald. Mrs. Dalloway. Cambridge: Cambridge U, 2014.