- "Big Ben was beginning to strike, first the warning, musical; then the hour, irrevocable ... The sound of Big Ben flooded Clarissa's drawing-room, where she sat, ever so annoyed." (p. 117)
Big Ben is the nick name for the bell on the clock at the Palace of Westminster in London. Big Ben is the largest four-faced chiming clock and the third tallest free standing clock tower in the world. Virginia Woolf intends for the concept of time to be a very significant theme throughout the novel. One of the unique features of this novel is that it takes place over a period of one day, and not several. The short time period in
Mrs. Dalloway suggest all that has taken place throughout Clarissa's life. The passing of time is frightening to Clarissa; once time has passed, everything is final and cannot be changed. Woolf shows all the possibilities that can happen in a short time-frame; by doing so, readers feel overwhelmed by all the chaotic experiences the characters reveal in one day.
Work Cited:
"Big Ben."
Wikipedia. Web. 28 Sept. 2009. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Ben.
Photo Credit:
Palace of Westminster, London - Feb 2007. Photograph.
Wikipedia. Web. 28 Sept. 2009. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Palace_of_Westminster,_London_-_Feb_2007.jpg.
well done -- keying on the unique framework of the novel -- and then also describing in specific the effect on the reader -- you've got many entries in this particular concordance you can use as guides for the future concordance assignments
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