Mrs. Dalloway Lesson Plan

How does Clarissa’s initial inner monologue establish the backstory for the rest of the novel? How does this way of giving us key details differ from a traditional, plot-driven novel?

Though very little occurs in the opening pages of Mrs. Dalloway, Woolf uses the close third-person narrator to take the reader inside Clarissa's mind, where the past chatters actively alongside the present. Instead of moving linearly, the narrator achieves exposition by associating--the June morning takes her back to mornings at Bourton, and Bourton mornings take her to Peter Walsh, who is a key character. Or, to give another example, her meeting with Hugh makes her think of how both...