Analysis of Tree Image in Mrs. Dalloway

Virginia Woolf is thought to be the most outstanding female modernist of the 20th century. In Woolfs novels， we can find there are a great number of water images and tree images. According to A Concordance to the Novels of Virginia Woolf ， the words “water”， “waters”， “wave” and “waves” appear totally 701 times in all her novels， while “tree” and “trees” appear totally 801 times， that is 1201 times if “l(fā)eaf” and “l(fā)eaves” are considered. Woolfs use of water image has been dealt with extensively by critics； however， her use of tree image has not been discussed in great detail. This essay tries to focus on the function and significance of the tree image in Mrs. Dalloway.

In Mrs. Dalloway， the words “tree” and “trees” appear totally 44 times， “branch” and “branches” appear totally 13 times， “root” and “roots” appear totally 4 times， and “l(fā)eaves” appear totally 16 times. There are different parts of trees， there are trees in different places of different time， and there are different minds thinking of trees. The image of tree in Mrs. Dalloway is closely connected with the changing of the characters mind and the development of the story. In this essay， the function and significance of the tree image will be discussed mainly from two aspects. Firstly， how trees lead to the changing of Clarissas feeling and mind. Then the analysis will be focused on the influence of the tree image to the collapse of Septimus mind and his suicide.

In Mrs. Dalloway， Virginia Woolf experiments with stream-of-consciousness. Woolf believes that what we know about a person is usually fragmental， so any honest characterization can only be bits and pieces of what our sensory perception reveals to us. Therefore， in Mrs. Dalloway she does not focus on the depiction of the external， but present characters by the stream of their thought. The tree image plays an essential role in connecting the present situation with the past memory. As Mrs. Dalloway tries to buy flowers for her party on a fine June morning， her thoughts move from present to the past when she was eighteen years old. She was “l(fā)ooking at the trees with the smoke winding off them and the rooks rising， falling； standing and looking until Peter Walsh said， ‘Musing among the vegetables？ ” （P. 1） The tree image of the past memory here represents Clarissas lost passionate and romantic feeling. At that time she was a curious young girl who pays attention to natural and lively things instead of boring parties.

In literature， trees symbolize the nourishing， sheltering， protecting， supporting aspect of feminine nature. In Mrs. Dalloway， when Clarissa feels threatened by old age and cannot come to terms with the thought of death， only the vision of a tree brings her peace. When Clarissa has no sense of belonging， she will associate herself with trees. “She being part， she was positive， of the trees at home… being laid out like a mist between the people she knew best， who lifted her on their branches as she had seen the trees lift the mist” （P. 11-12）. But focusing on the leaves， buds， and smoke allows her to ignore the roots. She is “l(fā)ooking at the flowers， at the trees with the smoke winding off them…” （P. 5） and “buds on the tree of life” （P. 33）. Therefore， sense of rootlessness makes her envy Septimus who has the courage to commit suicide.

Septimus is another major character whose minds are closely related to the tree image. He is a war victim who can never get rid of his fragmented vision of the war， and he cannot even conceive of a tree with roots. Septimus appears in Mrs. Dalloway as if he was horrified. He always thought of an image of a rootless tree. Even so he treats trees with respect. “Trees are alive” （p. 75）. “Men must not cut down trees. There is a God… They sang in voices prolonged and piercing in Greek words， from trees in the meadow of life beyond a river where the dead walk， how there is no death.” （P. 24） In his eyes， trees have a perpetual life and trees represent the circle of life. Cutting down trees means shortening human beings own life. However， the idea of the falling of trees always causes Septimus mental pain. At last inevitably he committed suicide.

In conclusion， Woolfs frequent use of tree image in Mrs. Dalloway successfully demonstrates her excellent artistic skill. Her use of tree image has proven to be useful not only for the changing of the characters mind but also for the development of the story.

References：

[1]Virginia Woolf，Mrs.Dalloway.London：Harper Press，2013.

[2]JM Wyatt，Mrs.Dalloway：Literary Allusion as Structural Metaphor.Pmla，1973，88（3）：440-451.

[3]James Harker，Misperceiving Virginia Woolf.Journal of Modern Literature，Vol.34，No.2（Winter 2011），pp.1-21.

作者簡介：武曉娜（1990-），女，漢族，吉林長春人，碩士研究生，研究方向：英語語言文學(xué)。