Final Project Proposal

The authors of the books that we have read so far in the History of the Novel each have spent a great number of pages describing the setting. Not just at the beginning of the book, but whenever a new scene begins. In a play the audience can see the background and therefore figure out the time period and location of the scene. Additionally what the actors are wearing and how they talk are all physical clues to where the scene is taking place. Unfortunately in books, the setting must be described by the author. The author gets the first few pages to set the scene and yank the reader into the story. It's a first impression that's incredibly important and the reason why I want to do my final project on it.

Mrs. Dalloway

Before writing about the "solitary traveler" section, I'm going to vent about Mrs. Dalloway. At SPA we read a wide variety of books. Different authors with different styles and from different literary periods. These changes  between books helps us to see new ideas which leads to more meaningful discussions. While these changes help us to become well rounded English students, I was not expecting all the variables to be switched at once. The normal structure of  a book, which I have become quite familiar with is now gone. I guess I just didn't realize how much I enjoyed a normally structured book. I took them all for granted.We had just finished reading A Farewell to Arms which was a fairly simple read, but now we are reading Mrs. Dalloway which takes place in one day, it doesn't have chapters, the sentence structure in not normal, and it jumps around randomly into peoples heads. But those are no reasons to judge the text and interpret it differently. I'm going to push on and try my best to follow the story and get something out of it. I'm still a little in shock, but it will die down soon. On to the "solitary traveler" section. When Peter and Clarissa first meet each other and start to talk, it seems really awkward. Like we did in class when we read the scene out loud, there was both internal thoughts and what they are actually saying. There is tension between them and this makes the conversation sound fake. And between the few sentences they exchange, they are judging each other internally and remember things about the past. Then when Peter unfolds his knife, more tension is added. It's like in the movies when two people who are enemies are talking and one person is cleaning a knife or a gun, and there is always the thought about what they are going to do with the knife or gun and why they have it. Clarissa doesn't seem threatened by it's presence though. Peter continues to say stuff is delicious and Clarissa describes Peter as enchanting, but they still are holding scissors and a knife. Peter just seems unpredictable. He was so in love with Clarissa and now that they met again when Peter has forced himself to find other love, the situation got heated.