Virginia Woolfe's Critique of the Medical Industry's Dealings with Mental Health
Virginia Woolfe's uses Septimus Smith, one of the many main voices in her novel "Mrs. Dalloway" to voice her anger with the medical industry. Woolfe is deeply against how doctors of the 1920s treated patients suffering from mental illness. Woolfe aptly describes Septimus, a character who has endured great trauma and stress from events in World War 1, and uses his interactions with two different doctors to present her opinons to the readers of "Mrs. Dalloway." Woolfe first introduces the reader to Septimus Smith on page 14, thrusting the reader directly into his strange mind. Septimus is seen reacting very oddly to the loud noise of a motor car. He thinks, "The world has raised its whip; where will it descend?" The uniquely twisted way that Septimus thinks, is because of his PTSD from World War 1. This mental illness incapacitates Septimus at points, allowing Woolfe to step in, briefly, as the narrator to share Septimus' backstory with the...