“She thinks of how much more space a being occupies in life than it does in death; how much illusion of size is contained in gestures and movements, in breathing. Dead, we are revealed in our true dimensions, and they are surprisingly modest. Hadn’t her own mother seemed to have been removed surreptitiously and replaced by a little version made of pale iron?” (165).
Through this passage, Cunningham explores Woolf’s relationship with death. Her observation that people take up more space when they are alive suggests that Woolf feels as though people do not deserve to use that space. This belief of hers is confirmed when she uses the word “true” to explain how people are in their dead state. Cunningham uses this opportunity to explain the impact Woolf’s mother’s death had on her. Woolf was only thirteen when her mother died and the fact that she talks about her mother here, as she discusses death as being a good thing, suggests that her mother’s death sparked her suicidal condition. She uses the fact that her mother was “replaced by a little version made of pale iron” to support her claim that we as humans take up more space alive than dead, since iron is very dense. Also, the words “removed” and “replaced” seem to hint at the idea that Woolf’s mother was taken away by somebody else and then this same person put a little statue in her place. This suggests that Woolf believes in some sort of God even though she was raised in an agnostic family. Perhaps her conflicting spiritual beliefs within herself have contributed to her unstable mental condition.
“Virginia Woolf.” Introduction to Comparative Literature. 2004. Colorado College. 3 Oct. 2010 <http://ats.coloradocollege.edu/co100-04-b1/author/page.php?autPage=3>.
Nicolson, Nigel. “Virginia Woolf.” The New York Times. 2000. The New York Times Company. 3 Oct. 2010 <http://www.nytimes.com/books/first/n/nicolson-woolf.html>.
No comments:
Post a Comment