How World War I Affected Both the Ex-Soldiers and the Society

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Critical Reading Essay
Thesis statement: to have an analytical review on how the World War I affected both the ex-soldiers and the society as was the case in the early 1920s. Through the use of her characters’ thoughts and flashbacks, Woolf is able to relate the post-world war Britain to the world then after the world. As a form of stream of consciousness, Woolf unfolded her story by telling the storylines of her characters intertwined with their respective leaps of thoughts. Thus, the book entailed instances of voices and thought overheard in the characters’ minds thus enabling the writer link the day’s story to past event’s in the characters’ lives.
First, there was the after effect of the war which Woolf analyzed in relation to the characters of Septimus smith and his life. Septimus is a representation of soldiers who went back to the society after the war and is used by Woolf to communicate their plight. The writer used both real time and flashbacks of Septimus hence creating a character that readers worldwide could relate to. From hallucinations to trauma, the shell shock on him could not be overlooked (Prose & Woolf 36). Having fought in the trenches with his friend and commander, the death of Evans affected him profusely. At one time while at the garden, he is haunted by his past memories. According to Woolf, “Septimus sees a man (Evans) emerge from behind the railings. Lucrezia returns to her husband’s side, interrupting his hallucination” He even imagines individuals talking behind the wall structures and has visions of a woman’s head on the fern.
Septimus also strongly believes he can hear people’s thoughts and is always fearful. Most of the times, Septimus dreaded falling into flames and by including all these issues in the book, Woolf managed to address isolation as was evident among ex-soldiers then. The tragic end to this trauma occurs when Septimus commits suicide, after learning that a doctor has come to take him to a psychiatric hospital (Woolf 16). As such, Woolf was able to develop a plot around Septimus that symbolized the traumatic effects the war had caused on soldiers and their relatives as was the case of Septimus’ wife Lucrezia, who was a prisoner of her husband illness. Woolf builds a graphic visual picture in the readers mind and manipulates their imaginations with respect to Septimus.
To address the social status in post war period in many countries, Woolf used Britain as an example for her work. Characters in the book are aware of their social class and what is expected of them. The upper class individuals were mostly from well-established families of the aristocrats and royals and this they maintained through every activity they undertook As could be seen from the text, Classira’s party attracted only the “well-off” and individuals who were of her class. It is no wonder that even the prime minister was in attendance at the event. Woolf states, “Just then, the prime minister arrives, and C...