Left alone Quote by Virginia Woolf
““Now the terror is beginning. Now taking her lump 0£ chalk she draws figures, six, seven, eight, and then a cross and then a line on the blackboard. What is the answer? The others look; they look with understanding. Louis writes; Susan writes; Neville writes; Jinny writes; even Bernard has now begun to write. But I cannot write. I see only figures. The others are handing in their answers, one by one. Now it is my turn. But I have no answer. The others are allowed to go. They slam the door. Miss Hudson goes. I am left alone to find an answer. The figures mean nothing now. Meaning has gone. The clock ticks. The two hands are convoys marching through a desert. The black bars on the clock face are green oases. The long hand has marched ahead to find water. The other painfully stumbles among hot stones in the desert. It will die in the desert. The kitchen door slams. Wild dogs bark far away. Look, the loop 0£ the figure is beginning to fill with time; it hole rorld in it. I begin to draw a figure and the world is looped in it, and I myself am outside the loop; which I now join-and seal up, and make entire.””
About This Quote
Source Novel: Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf, 1925
A character feels trapped by time and meaninglessness as others solve problems, leading to a crisis of existence and a desire to create order.
In simple terms: Feeling lost and desperate for meaning.
Seek personal agency amid chaos.
Themes
Mood
Type
When to use this quote
- classroom test
- personal crisis
- creative expression
- mental breakdown
- search for purpose
Key Concepts
Questions to Reflect On
- How does one find meaning when surrounded by apparent certainty?
- Can personal creation restore a sense of order?
The narrative is highly symbolic and may not reflect literal events.