The Politics Of Space In Mrs. Dalloway

As a great modernist writer, Virginia Woolf has been receiving great attention from critics for a long time. With the emergence of space theories in recent years, some critics begin to analyze the presence of space in literary works. This thesis is a tentative study of the politics of space in one of Woolf’s works-Mrs. Dalloway. It consists of three chapters.Chapter One discusses gendered spaces with regard to Woolf’s politics on patriarchal ideology. It focuses on Woolf’s treatment of public and domestic space. In patriarchal ideology, the public space is seen as man’s place and the center of power while the domestic space is seen as a place of maternal nurture and harmony. Woolf thinks that women can obtain their equal rights and freedom with men through the break with this ideology. In Mrs. Dalloway, the female protagonists not only struggle and fight in the domestic space but also go into public space. Yet they are frustrated in front of the public space dominated by militarism and violence. Therefore, Woolf not only breaks the definite line between public and domestic space but also criticizes and exposes different problems imbedded in this conventional dichotomy.Chapter Two talks about urban and rural spaces concerning Woolf’s exposure of problem in the capitalized society. It begins with the image of "flaneur" in the western culture and then analyzes an English flaneur Peter Walsh. On one hand, he is unattached and uncommitted. On the other hand, he is complicit with the values of the upper middle class. Woorf sarcastically debunks the alienated state of the upper middle class represented by Peter Walsh. Suffering from this alienation and loneliness in the urban space, people divert their attention to the rural space. People are longing for the rural space. This can be seen in their love for nature and reminiscence of the past. Henri Lefebvre states that space is the production of society. By the contradiction of urban and rural space, Woolf criticizes capitalized society as well as its social problem.Chapter Three analyzes colonial and imperial spaces with respect to Woolf’s criticism of imperial policy. In the colonial space, Woolf exposes the western ideology in her creation of different images of the colonized. As a representative of the Eastern women, Daisy is "othered" in western ideology. As a colonist administrator, Peter Walsh also represents the "otherness" of the colonized. In the imperial space, Woolf depicts different symbols of the colonizers such as Lady Bruton, Miss Parry and Hugh Whitbread and foresees the decline of the British Empire.There is a growing amount of critical works contributing to Woolf’s political awareness in her works, yet few touches upon the politics of space in Woolf’s works. Drawing from space theory and previous studies, this thesis explores gendered spaces, urban and rural spaces, colonial and imperial spaces in Mrs. Dalloway. It points out that space is very important in Woolf’ works. In Mrs. Dalloway, by the manipulation of different spaces, Woolf criticizes the patriarchal ideology, capitalized society as well as the imperial policy. It sheds light on Woolf studies in China from a new angle.