***The Novel***
Mrs. Dalloway

"How long had Dr. Holmes been attending him?
Six weeks.
Prescribed a little bromide? Said there was nothing the matter? Ah yes (those general practitioners! thought Sir William. It took half his time to undo their blunders. Some were irreparable)."

This section of Mrs. Dalloway, the part in which Septimus finally sees a proper doctor for his mental ailment, is depressing. Septimus suffers from post-traumatic stress syndrome after his time in the war; but at this time, any decent form of psychiatry was only just getting off the ground. This poor man had to suffer a long time with another doctor (one of "those general practitioners) telling he and his wife that he was perfectly fine! Imagine all of the men who came back from the war like poor Septimus, unable to get real help. And also sadly, Septimus was one of those irreparable men. Even the great Sir William couldn't get him to the country to recover fast enough before he killed himself... as whispered about at Clarissa's party: "Lady Bradshaw murmured how, 'just as we were starting, my husband was called up on the telephone, a very sad case. A young man (that is what Sir William is telling Mr. Dalloway) had killed himself. He had been in the army.' Oh! Thought Clarissa, in the middle of the party, here's death, she thought."

The connection between these two people, Septimus and Clarissa, is what makes me feel certain I don't like the character of the latter. Throughout the book, I found myself relating to her absentminded thoughts wandering as she ran her errands; her extreme nostalgia; her thoughts on past relationships. I cannot, however, relate to Clarissa's shallow response to the death of Septimus. The stupid woman is upset at the mention of death at HER party. Naturally, in accordance with her character and the stream of conciousness narrative, she continues to think on Septimus' death... but her party draws her away from these thoughts. She's too busy playing hostess to really display any true emotion about Septimus' suicide- things must be kept pleasant for her party; no more mention of death.