Common thread (a connection of web): of their inner voice

Clarissa and Septimus both share common thread of loss and exclusion from the past, which they cannot escape from.

This image reflects the loud scream of their inner thoughts which they cannot suppress and which often comes to haunt them.

“The capacity of the present to contain the past naturally makes the past appear as immediate. Memories become entangled in present thoughts and perceptions.” (55)

Both want to embrace death:

Clarissa: She sees death as fulfilling to be able to escape the world. Septimus: After suffering from Shellshock and losing his friend Evan, trying to

live normal life after the war seems impossible for him, he believes he is deserted And deserves to die. “The whole world is clamoring: Kill yourself, kill Yourself, for our sake.” (93)

“Behind the cotton wool [of daily life] is hidden a pattern; that we—I mean all human beings—are connected with this; that the whole world is a work of art; that we are parts of the work of art. Hamlet or a Beethoven quartet is the truth about this vast mass that we call the world. But there is no Shake-speare, there is no Beethoven; certainly and em-phatically there is no God; we are the words; we are the music; we are the thing itself.”― Virginia Woolf, A Sketch of the Past

One can perceive this image as a way of overcoming past by Clarissa and Septimus.

In the first half image from the top, a girl (Clarissa) appears to be facing a live, leafy trees and bird( her society). She seems to have some stick (symbol of her party) which she can use to over-come the tree (to forget past) in her life. She seem to be strong and confident on overcoming it.Whereas, in the lower half of the image where there is no life, a man (Septimus) appears to be resting in peace. The lower half shows Septimus belief of overcoming the tree (his past and society) byembracing the death.

Conclusion: They both wanted to evade from their past in one way or other.

BY: Danny B.