Mrs. Dalloway Lesson Plan

How does having spent time in India affect Peter's current view of London and civilization, as reflected in the opening passage of this section?

Peter has lived for several years in the more chaotic environment of India, and is newly awake to the high level at which London's institutions and public life function. This distance provides a lense through which he can see the successes of his native country. All the same, he is intelligent enough to recognize that things like the ambulance also reflect a hidden morbidity, a desire to efficiently cover the dark parts of life. In this way, Peter reflects a central theme of the novel: Woolf communicates both the beauty and...