What a Quarantine Can Do

The effects of the plague on the mental stability of Oran's townspeople during its exile from the rest of the world vary as the plague progresses. Camus initially portrays the townspeople how I expected them to be: at first, everyone works ceaselessly to escape the plague or to rejoin their loved ones while many people begin to live in regret with their past lives and longing for more, eventually falling into a state of despair. But as the plague stays around, Camus describes the aftermath of being quarantined for so long on the mental health of Oran's citizens. Everyone feels alone in their suffering and hesitates to trust the people around them, even though every citizen of Oran is feeling the exact same state of imprisonment. It seems that those who are able to accept their state of exile while struggling against it, such as Rambert, are the only ones able to find content and freedom.

While reading The Plague, I instinctively compared the situation in Oran to the global COVID-19 pandemic that we are all currently living through. Our isolation is not as strict as in Oran due to our access to facets of the internet such as social media, but it has definitely had a negative impact on my mental health. Although I am with my family almost all the time, I have felt increasingly lonely at times due to the fact that I can't see most of my friends, and on the rare occasions when I do go out, I am anxious about contracting the virus and possibly bringing it home to my family. Though incredibly less severe, my loneliness and unofficial exile from society is one of the many negative impacts that the quarantine of Oran has on its citizens.

Brett's effect on Jake in Pamplona

A scene that highlights Brett's effect on Jake in The Sun Also Rises occurs as the last of the fiesta approaches in Pamplona. Brett asks to talk with Jake alone, and she asks him if he still loves her. When he says yes, she tells him that she is "mad about the Romero boy". She seems apologetic and says "I've got to do something I really want to do. I've lost my self-respect". Other than the fact that she is manipulating Jake to help her pursue yet another romantic relationship, Brett didn't lose her self-respect because of her hookup with Cohn (Jake's best friend) and the impact it has on Mike, but because she hadn't acted on her feelings for Romero. Jake, being Jake, says yes as always and sets them up for a date where they eventually leave on their own. In class, we discussed how before Brett arrived in Pamplona, Jake was "in his element". This scene is indicative of how Brett brings Jake down, pulling him back into this cycle where he seems to always get hurt. Jake allows this so happen, betraying his own love for Brett and the purity of bullfighting which he is so passionate about. Earlier in the novel, he tells Montoya that Romero getting mixed up with Americans would be detrimental to his bullfighting success. But the moment Brett asks him to help her start a relationship with him, he says yes without much hesitation. It becomes clear that Jake willingly sacrificed the purity of bullfighting to please Brett. 

Alcohol and Drunkenness

While reading The Sun Also Rises, I noticed that almost every character is a serious drinker. Whether at a Paris nightclub or at Jake's flat, alcohol always seems to be nearby. However, not many characters seem to actually enjoy alcohol and only drink it at social events. They constantly use alcohol as an excuse during tense social situations as a way to forget about their lives, or as an alibi to avoid life when they are not drunk. This is evident during the scene when Brett and the count make an unannounced visit to Jake's flat. Jake asks Brett why she had stood him up the night before for their dinner at the Crillon, and she confidently claims that she had no memory of agreeing to meet him because she was drunk. Jake, our narrator, doesn't believe this but doesn't object to Brett, and ponders about it later in Jake fashion. Drinking provides a way to escape reality for the characters, something they seem to turn to very often. They are able to escape from the reality of their inner selves and from one another. Drunkenness also allows them to proceed through their lives with minimal affection and purpose. It frequently brings out the worst of everyone in the story, allowing them to avoid confronting their actual problems by making it easier to avoid thinking about them. Hemingway implies throughout the novel that this constant cycle significantly worsens the mental and emotional pain that Jake endures. We are able to observe him at night when he is at his most vulnerable, and Hemingway shows how different this version of Jake is from the version we see at social events. Let me know what you guys think about this.

Septimus' Suicide

In the build-up and in the aftermath of the heart-wrenching scene of Septimus' suicide, I noticed several abnormalities in the way that Woolf depicted what was occurring. The entire scene felt surreal, completely taking me by surprise and leaving in shock as the section concluded. Throughout the entire scene, Woolf portrays Septimus' suicide as a positive act of defiance, one that provided a brave escape from the loneliness and cruelty of society.

After the heartwarming scene where Septimus and Rezia make a hat together, the reader is left with optimism for their futures. We see Rezia feel less alone for the first time in the novel and Septimus almost content with his life. He describes Rezia as a "flowering tree" that would allow him to triumph over the likes of people like Dr. Holmes and Sir Bradshaw. But all joy carried over from this scene is immediately stripped away as Dr. Holmes forces himself into their home, causing Septimus to fling himself from the window, as that was the only escape he could think of. This death, as tragic as it is, has no immediate effect on Rezia. After watching her husband jump to his own death, she seems to finally understand him and is almost happy for him, even after Dr. Holmes claimed Septimus to be a coward. 

This strangely positive perception of Septimus' suicide is also seen through the point of view of Clarissa. After hearing the news of his death at her party from Lady Bradshaw, she goes to another room and ponders his death alone. Although she had never met Septimus, she eventually begins praising his actions, seeing his suicide as a statement of bravery. She is proud of him and claims that because he died at the peak of his happiness, the purity of his soul was preserved, unlike hers. This entire thought process gives Clarissa clarity in her own life, motivating her to experience intimacy with Sally and Peter as they reunite in the final scene. 

The Portrayal of Peter

In the most recent section of Mrs. Dalloway that we read, Virginia Woolf allows us to follow the consciousness of Peter Walsh from when he exits Clarissa's home. After being aligned with Clarissa's thoughts about Peter prior to this section, I was eager to see the world from his point of view and observe his feelings toward her. 

Throughout this section, Peter is portrayed as a man of great immaturity who chooses to indulge in alternate realities and fantasies rather than accept his current situation in real life. Because of the struggles that he has with his own feelings, he seems to be someone who is almost always insecure and overly self-conscious. Thirty years after Clarissa rejected his proposal to marry him, he still loves her and seeks her approval. He becomes so obsessive in this aspect to the point where he tries to convince himself of things that aren't true in an effort to feel better about himself and his decisions. An instance of this occurs in the first moments of Peter's narration after he leaves Clarissa's house. He begins to analyze the way Clarissa had acknowledged Elizabeth's presence in the room during their sentimental moment. "It was the way she said 'Here is my Elizabeth!' that annoyed him. Why not 'Here's Elizabeth' simply? It was insincere. And Elizabeth didn't like it either" Woolf narrates. He is trying to reassure himself that Clarissa is not a good mother to Elizabeth, who is a symbol of her marriage to Richard (and of his failure with her). This creates a blind optimism, allowing Peter to consider the possibility that Clarissa is not as successful as she seems.

Peter uses fantasies to distract himself from his overshadowing fear of old age along with not accomplishing anything in life. One of these fantasies that we get to observe occurs when Peter is wandering through Trafalgar Square, where he watches a young woman walk home, imagining her as his ideal partner. His mind goes into great detail about who she "is", how he would greet her, and how he would interact with her. But the strangest thing I noticed about this episode was his immediate comparison of this mysterious woman to Clarissa. In his initial descriptions about this woman, he says "There was a dignity about her. She was worldly, like Clarissa; not rich, like Clarissa." He immediately compares her to Clarissa, showing that he is still trying to move on from his past failures and how eager he is to create a romantic meaning in his life. 

However, as the woman arrives at her home and goes inside, Peter's fantasy comes to an abrupt end. He showed no sign of anger or discontent when this happened, which proved to me that he is not completely delusional. He is able to recognize these moments as fantastical moments and doesn't form any attachment to the woman. Nonetheless, this experience is another example of blind optimism. He yearns for his life to have meaning and for someone to love him back for the "romantic buccaneer" that he is. 

L.

In The Mezzanine, Howie can be easily considered as the only character. His deepest thoughts about the most intricate details of his life dominate the novel, immersing the reader with their complexity and ingenuity. One of the strangest things I noticed throughout the first few chapters of the novel was the fact that Howie, through his countless observations and rants about seemingly random things, only mentions other "characters" in the midst of the labyrinth that is his thoughts. One mentioned person is his girlfriend, L. This relationship, which seems like it should be a big part of Howie's life, lacks the detail and enthusiasm that we see with other facets of his life. 

When L. is first discussed in the novel, I was thrown off guard, as it was the first mention of anyone else in Howie's life with some sort of substance or detail. After reading three full chapters about Howie's views on shoelaces, staplers, and sneakers, it was strange to see Howie bring up another person. However, it was the way that Howie talked about L. at the beginning of chapter three that perplexed me. He doesn't introduce us to L. in any way, only bringing her up as a backstory for the discovery of brushing his tongue, one of his eight major advances in life. Later in this same paragraph, Howie says "soon after I began going out with L., she, shrugging as if it were a matter of common knowledge, told me that she brushed her tongue every day, with her toothbrush." If it weren't for this sentence, I would have had absolutely no idea that L. was Howie's girlfriend. In this paragraph, he discusses her in the same style as he does with his co-workers. There seem to only be emotions attached to the discovery of brushing his tongue, and none towards L. in the slightest. As I read further, I realized that this was the case every time L. was randomly brought up. Howie expresses pure joy and enthusiasm to us when it comes to the intricacy of escalators or the perforations of paper towels, but this seems to be absent in regard to L., his own girlfriend. 

Another part of the novel where we are given information about L. that stood out to me was when Howie presented us with his lengthy list of thoughts and their annual frequency in chapter 14. By this point in the novel, I was under the assumption that Howie didn't really care about L., or that their relationship was not as stable as it used to be. But seeing L. at the top of this list (580 times per year, triple the amount of the number 3 spot) surprised me, and led me to think about her in a completely different way. For the entirety of the novel, Howie had talked about L. without any real passion, yet she is the frontrunner of this list. I wonder if he has had all of these thoughts in the past and just doesn't find them exciting anymore, or if he simply takes her for granted. Let me know what you guys think.