Sophia Zheng Baldasaro Advance Senior Seminar December 12th, 2013 The patriarchy in society is very much evident in England during this time period. All those who held positions of power and prestige or were of great significance were typically men. Because of the expectations in society, women, in particular, seem to be overly concerned with this idea of fitting into their perspective molds and conforming to the stereotypical gender roles. In Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf, Woolf seems to places emphasis on the lives of a variety woman, portraying the way they fare in their everyday lives. But regardless of social class and backgrounds, through an assortment of different women, Woolf seems to comment on how insignificant or trivial the lives of typical women in this time period. Clarissa is the epitome of a repressed woman who conforms to traditional customs and places her main concerns on rather petty seeming things like physical appearance and parties. Right from the start, Clarissa is seen to place an extreme importance on materialistic. She touches on how she feels like a schoolgirl standing next to the “almost too well dressed always” Hugh (Woolf, 6). Though, ironically, Clarissa actually cares much less for clothing in a fashion sense and is more concerned with appearing high in class, fitting in and appealing to others. She is, to some degree juxtaposed, with Rezia who seems to be genuinely interested in clothing due to the influences of her youth but is portrayed as a complete outsider while Clarissa aims to be an insider. Clarissa also places tremendous emphasis on her parties. Throughout the entire day, Clarissa interminably thinks of her parties. It seems that after every moment she is either

reminding people of her party or thinking about how to prepare for the party no matter the circumstance. To the present Clarissa, feeling and looking of her