Peter and the Ambulance
Virginia Woolf puts the scene of Septimus’s suicide right
before a scene of Peter musing about London to express the privileged life
Peter leads as an upper-class citizen. Throughout the book, Septimus and
Lucrezia struggle through many problems in their lives. For example, Septimus
is psychologically damaged because of his traumatic experience in the war; he
is going through what at the time was called “shell shock”. Lucrezia is
constantly worried about Septimus and. She is also distressed that their
marriage is falling apart and Septimus no longer loves her. Near the end of the book, Septimus jumps out of the window and
commits suicide. Lucrezia, of course is distraught. She has trouble facing the
fact that Septimus is dead as her life has just been turned upside down.
Immediately after the scene of Septimus’s suicide, Woolf
switches to Peter’s perspective. Peter is walking along the streets of London,
speculating about things. It is a sharp contrast to the previous scene of
Septimus’s suicide which is an intense and sad scene. As Peter is walking, he
notices the ambulance carrying Septimus’s body. Peter’s first reaction to the
ambulance as it goes by is that it is “One of the triumphs of civilisation”
(147). He also describes the ambulance as going by “swiftly, cleanly” (147).
These phrases imply that Peter finds the ambulance almost beautiful, just
another part of bustling city of London. His first thoughts of the ambulance
are not what could have happened to the person inside and he doesn’t seem to
feel sad or worried at all.
Peter eventually speculates about what could have happened
to the person inside the ambulance: “some poor devil; some one hit on the head,
struck down by disease, knocked over perhaps a minute or so ago at one of these
crossings as might happen to oneself. That was civilisation.” (p.147) However, his
speculations are all typical things that could happen to anyone and he almost
sounds amused. The thought of anything more saddening, such as suicide, does
not seem to even be able to cross his mind because it is probably something he
never has had to think about or deal with. As a member of the upper-class he
has probably never known anyone who is struggling with psychological trauma
from the war, and Peter himself has definitely not been affected by the war.
In the end, the ambulance just inspires Peter to think about
“the efficiency, the organization, the communal spirit of London” (147). The
sight of the ambulance evokes no past memories of his life or any hardships or sadness
he has had to face. Soon after Peter sees the ambulance he begins to think
about Clarissa again and memories he has had with her. It seems that Woolf is commenting
on the privileged life that the upper-class leads. The fact that she places the
two scenes right after each other shows a clear distinction between the
hardships that Lucrezia and Septimus face and the privileged life Peter leads.
Interesting! Yes, Peter definitely seems entitled. As you were saying, he seems to take himself very seriously but the rest of the world rather quaintly. While it is true that the upper classes were less affected by the war, I think Clarissa's character kind of gives evidence that those classes could experience depression as well, although Clarissa's suffering in comparison with Septimus's seems much more subtle and less extreme.
ReplyDeleteNice post! This section emphasizes the difference between people's issues in British society, and how small Peter's problems seem compared to that of Septimus and Rezia. This relates to post war british society because the upper classes really weren't effected as much as the lower classes and the soldiers who were in the war. But, I also agree with Stella's comment about how Clarissa though she is upperclass, still can suffer from depression and mental illness. I thought this was an interesting comparison with Septimus's PTSD.
ReplyDeleteHe's certainly acting entitled, but do we really consider what's inside an ambulance when we see one? We generally just get out of the way and not consider what might have happened, so this passage might be a commentary on how insensitive we are about disasters when they're hidden behind closed doors.
ReplyDeletePeter's relatively blase reaction to the passing ambulance can be contrasted to Clarissa's much more intense identification with Septimus's literal point of view when she hears the news of his death at her party: as you note, Peter has rather smug thoughts about "civilisation" and the social order that an ambulance represents, the system working as it should. (When we know that the system has very much failed Septimus, and he was literally chased out the window by a doctor and personification of "human nature.") Clarissa, in contrast, with very few explicit details, ends up re-creating the scene (including the garden spikes) in her own mind, from Septimus's point of view. She reacts strongly against "civilisation" in the form of smug Sir William and imagines with horror what it would be like to be his patient.
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