The Concept of War in Mrs. Dalloway and The Waste Land - Assignment Example

Question: Write an essay that examines how the personal and/or social effects of war are presented in two modernist texts. At least one of the textsyou focus on must be a longer work such as Mrs. Dalloway or The Waste Land. Assessment Requirements: This assessment task requires you to compare two works of literature studied in this unit in relation to one of the questions below. Where relevant, you may also refer to examples from the visual arts that have been discussed in the lectures (e.g. painting, film and photography). Your essay must: 1) compare and contrast the two literary texts in relation to the set topic; 2) present a clear and coherent line of argument in relation to the set topic and; 3) demonstrate an understanding of the artistic and broader intellectual and historical contexts of modernism, as relevant to the set topic. Assessment Criteria: 1. Does the essay meet the minimum standards for written expression and presentation at 2nd/3rd year level 2. Does the essay provide a clear and appropriate response to the question? 3. Has an argument been developed and supported? 4. Does the essay demonstrate an appropriate level of skill in close reading and textual analysis? 5. Does the essay reflect a sound understanding of the selected texts and contexts in relation to the set topic? 6. Does the essay correctly acknowledge its sources and quotations and include a bibliography? 7. Have an appropriate quality and number of secondary sources been consulted for a 2nd/3rd year essay? 8. Is there evidence of independent thought and argument? Essay The war did have serious ramifications on several people at the time and even after the war, more specifically World war one. However, there are many modernist writers who expressed the horrors of the war through their work, including their characters or their setting. The war did have personal and social effects as this is also seen through modernist texts. More specifically these include Virginia Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway’ and T.S. Eliot, “Treches: St Eloi”. Through these texts the authors do express themselves. Virginia Woolf reveals the horrors of the war and the social and personal affects through her characters and plot. Also, T.S. Eliot expresses these social and personal effects of the war through his poetic techniques such as language and the plot of the poem. In both modernist texts the personal and social effects of the war was due to shell shock, trench life, battles, missing soldiers, dead soldiers and the whole war events on the Western Front. However, as the surviving soldiers went home some did experience extreme aftermath, as shell shock is seen through Mrs. Dalloway and the life the soldiers loved that lead them to these psychological events was seen through T.S. Eloit. ‘Trenches: St Eloi’. As through these events it did affect the social life of the soldiers and their personal effects as through the after math such as shellshock many needed to be sent to get medical help as this is clearly seen through Mrs. Dalloway. It is quite conspicuous that there are many critics for modernism writers. These critics include Frank Kermode and Marjorie Perloff as stated in ‘Modernism’ by Michael H. Whitworth. It is stated that Kermode reminded critics “of assumptions about the status of poetry and the poet that modernism inherited from Romanticism” (Whitworth, pg 63), and Perloff believed that there “were several distinct strands within modernism, each with different relations to nineteenth-century precedents” (Whitworth, pg 63). Hence, this reveals that there are different views on how modernism came about, as these are just two critics however there still are many more. Every critic had their own view on modernism and its origins. The personal and social effects of the war are presented in the modernist novel ‘Mrs. Dalloway” by Virginian Woolf. Virginia Woolf suffered mental illness during her life and committed suicide after world war two; hence this illness of hers can be depicted in her novel as her novel deals with mental illness and the way the world understand this illness. More specifically, through her story, Woolf, was inspired to write this novel as society did not understand ‘shellshock’ and the way they perceived it. Virginia Woolf’s mental illness experience was seen in her work, more specifically, seen through ‘Mrs. Dalloway’ In ‘Mrs. Dalloway’, Woolf reveals the traumatic experiences of the war through her characters and her plot. Through the character of Septimus Warren Smith, Woolf demonstrates the psychological damages of the war that the victims suffered. The personal and social effects are seen through Septimus actions and his suicide. The reason for this is that through his death he ran away from his problems. Dr Holmes did attempt to help Septimus as they believed it was nothing as he states “headaches, sleeplessness, fears, dreams-nerve symptoms and nothing more, he said”. (Woolf, p. 100) Therefore, through Dr. Holmes perspective it is clear that during the war and after the war it took some time in order for doctors to understand ‘shellshock’ which is a personal and social affect for the sufferer. During the time of the war when Septimus experienced harsh conditions it is stated that “in 1914, Society’s understanding of the subconscious was rudimentary. The development of psychological theories started in the 19th century with the work of Ribot, Janet Freud, and Breuer whose work was neither widely known within, nor outwith medical and psychological circles of the time.”(Kent,pg 2 ) Therefore, this shows the way in which the idea of mental illness is seen and how it has developed. Overall, it is clear to the world what shellshock can be caused by as it is “malaise of body and mind initially believed to be caused by the buffering of exploding artillery sheels” (Kent, pg 2)hence it is clear that the cause of Septimus shellshock is due to the war. Victims of the war and the soldiers understood the harsh conditions on the battle front and in ‘no man’s land’ hence; they understood that any mental illness was due to the cause of the battles and the life they lived throughout the years they stayed in the war. The harsh conditions took a toll on the soldiers and made life a living hell for them. The reader later learns that Septimus Friend Evans that had died in the war let Septimus experiences to be daunting, as he felt a sense of isolation. However he kept going along in the war. Hence, it is stated that during the war “The Society of the day had a view of what it was to be ‘a man’, one historian coining the term ‘Imperial Man’. This individual was strong, determined, heroic, honest, upright, patriotic, and able to control his emotions- the fundamental tenet of Imperial maleness. “(Hanna, pg 575) hence this shows Septimus had to have the masculine image of the time as he attempted to continue on in the war. Through his wife attempting to help her husband through the guidance of Dr. Holmes, he had told her “to make her husband (who had nothing whatever seriously the matter with him but was a little out of sorts) take an interest in things outside himself” (Woolf, pg 23) hence, this shows that shellshock was very hard to understand as his doctor clearly does not understand the issue of mental illness. This may be also due to the heroic image of a man, as soldiers were seen to be heroic due to their experiences and hence had to be masculine. Hence, through Woolf putting characters in like Septimus and his effects from the war show that modern literature can be seen as a literature that deals with trauma. This is seen through the authors writing and work, as Woolf does not only mention the trauma she also uses her characters in order for the suffering of the trauma to be overcome. Through the trauma of the war this may affect the person culturally and hence this will lead to personal affects as when one loses faith it may affect them cultural and this will lead to personal affects. The reason for this is that personal and social effects include mental illness, not communicating with people, suicide and very hard to deal with their daily life. Through the scene in Regints Park, Woolf makes it clear to the reader that Septimus’s case of shellshock is extreme as the airplane was coming over in the sky, as everyone else was watching the plane go by, on the other hand the reader will notice how the plane does affect his shellshock to the sound, hence as “Septimus! Said Rezia. He started violently. People must notice” (Woolf, pg 24) does show how he is personally affected and socially affected as he is not able to socialize with people without people noticing his condition and hence it will begin to allow him to believe he is noticed and different. Hence, through the airplane it gives him memories about the war as it involves planes bombing the opponent, however to everyone else around him that was not on the battlefield, for instance his wife, it is just a simple airplane writing in the sky for a promotion. Therefore, it has affected his daily life as a person who goes through shellshock involves anxiety, nightmares, hallucination, delusions and withdrawals, and hence, through this scene it is clear that he is hallucinating. The poem ‘Trenches: St Eloi’ by Thomas E. Hulme is a poem that deals with the personal and social effects of the war as they are presented through the authors writing. Moreover, Hulme is a modernist writer in which he was and still is known to be as “Hulme is central to modernist scholarship not only as a veritable repository of early modernist tendencies and influences, but also as a social mediator” (Palmer, pg 66)Through the poem ‘Trenches: St Eloi’ it is shown that he is a modernist writer and reveals his modernist ways of thinking. Through the opening line “over the flat slope of St Eloi”, the reader immediately has an image of the scene. The particular image of every reader will be different however they will all have something in common, as that is a kind of a hill that is flat. When Hulme writes “Making paths in the dark, Through the scattered dead horses”, it reveals that soldiers did experience harsh conditions during the war in which could have led them to affects after the war. The reason for this descriptive words such as ‘dark’ and ‘dead’ show the reader that dark and dead are not words used to show happiness; instead they show an horrible experience. Hence, it is clear that this could affect them personally as some results are shellshock which “Shellshock is a severe form of adjustment reaction to a very hostile environment, the battlefield. Psychological casualties are real casualties” (Nickerson, pg 3) therefore, in Hulme’s poem it is clear that the soldiers are experiencing harsh conditions as he describes the soldiers at war in trenches and their life. Hence, through Hulme’s poem it is clear that one can get affected personally, as the war did give the soldiers trauma and also so did the families back home experienced this trauma. Through this poem, this imagist poem can reveal that the narrator does feel empty as this can affect the narrator personally. This is seen when Hulme writes “My mind is a corridor. The minds about me are corridors.” The word corridor is in itself a long empty hallway therefore this shows the emptiness the narrator is experiencing. Hence, through this poem the reader is able to have an image of the soldiers life’s during the war as this describes the life at the front. As some experiences including living a life that they may had not enough food, floods in their trenches, sitting around camp fires etc., hence, the line about “In silence desultory men, Pottering over small fires, cleaning their mess-tins.”, shows the way in which these soldiers were living their daily lives. Hence, the silence reveals the stress and the conditions they are in as the war has affected them personally. Hulme uses techniques such as simile in order to show the effects of the war and the traumatic daily life’s they had. One simile includes “Men walk as on Piccadilly, making paths in the dark” reveal how the poet is using Piccadilly as a contrast to where they are in the trenches and the experiences as it is showing and contrasting between the life at the front and life back home for the soldiers. However the author of the book ‘Irony and the poetry of the First World War’ by Susanne Christine Puissant, states that many poets that wrote about the war where writing the negative aspects of the war. Hence, this is seen in “Trenches: ST Eloi” as Hulme only writes the negative aspects of the war as there were mainly only negative aspects due to the trauma. Therefore, this reveals the way in which the modernist poets were writing and their modern ideas. In addition, the link between the two texts is evident. The reason for this is that both texts deal with the traumatic events of the war. More specifically, Hulme’s poem deals with the soldiers at war at hand and Woolf’s novel shows the aftermath of the war. The aftermath of the war is clear in the story of the mental illness and the way soldiers and people were affected mentally due to the war. In Hulme’s poem it brings you back to the war period and gives the readers are insights on the soldier’s life as this is seen in the line “In the silence desultory men, Pottering over small fires, cleaning their mess- tins.” This reveals the life they lived that may have caused some of them to experience what is seen as shellshock. There is a difference between the nineteenth century realist novels and modernist novels. For instance, in the nineteenth century it’s from a third person omniscient perspective and the modernist novel the narrator can be at times unreliable. Through modernism reality is subjective, however, through art expressions can be formed through new styles of writing. This can include ‘indirect discourse’ as it involves when a third person narrator goes in the characters mind and communicates their voice that is inner. In conclusion, both the personal and social effects of the war are demonstrated in the novel by Virginia Woolf ‘Mrs. Dalloway’ and T.S. Eliot ‘Trenches: St Eloi’. At the time of the war the world and psychologists did not understand the effects of the war, as many people suffered differently. In addition, the trauma is seen through both texts as in Woolf’s novel the trauma is seen through the ex-soldier Septimus and Mrs. Dalloway; and in Eliots poem it is clear that there is suffering of the soldiers in the trenches and on the battlefield through the use of modern literary techniques. Hence, due to the suffering this can affect the individuals personal and social life as trauma has a major impact on people mainly the trauma of the war. In addition, through modernism one is able to express their ideas as this was seen in both the novels and in the period of modernism. Bibliography 1) Kent, K. Aftershocks: The Politics of Trauma in Britain, 1918-1931. Palgrave Macmillan, 2008. 2)Hanna, J. "T.E. Hulme and the question of Modernism (review)." (2007): 575-577. Volume 14, Issue 3. 3) Palmer, I. "Battle stress & its treatment: Royal UNited Services Institue for Defense Studies." RUSI Journal (1998): 65-66 4) Nickerson, C. THERAPY FOR SHELLSHOCK SOUNDS HARSH, BUT IT WORKS: THIRD edition. Boston Globe, 1990. 5) Whitworth, M, H. Modernism. Blackwell, 2007. 6) Puissant, S, C. Irony and the poetry of the First World War. 2009. 7) T.E. Hulme Trenches: St Eloi 8) Virginia Wool, Mrs Dalloway Read More