Question

mrs. dalloway
by virginia woolf (excerpt)
she felt very young; at the same time unspeakably aged. she sliced like a
knife through everything; at the same time was outside, looking on. she had
a perpetual sense, as she watched the taxi cabs, of being out, out, far out to
sea and alone; she always had the feeling that it was very, very dangerous
to live even one day. not that she thought herself clever, or much out of the
ordinary. how she had got through life on the few twigs of knowledge
fräulein daniels gave them she could not think. she knew nothing; no
language, no history; she scarcely read a book now, except memoirs in bed;
and yet to her it was absolutely absorbing; all this; the cabs passing; and
she would not say of peter, she would not say of herself, i am this, i am that.

4
select the correct answer.
what modernist theme does the excerpt highlight?
○ a. the rejection of tradition
○ b. meaning in the absence of god
○ c. skepticism about absolute truths
○ d. the search for self
○ e. the question of reality

Explanation:

The excerpt centers on Clarissa Dalloway's conflicting self-perceptions (young yet aged, engaged yet detached) and her refusal to define herself or Peter with fixed statements like "I am this, I am that." This internal focus on understanding one's own identity aligns with the modernist theme of searching for self. Other options do not fit: there is no rejection of tradition, discussion of God/meaning without God, skepticism of absolute truths unrelated to self, or questioning of reality as the core focus.

Answer:

D. the search for self