Kruthi's Blog

    As the class was discussing the importance of the juxtaposition of Septimus Smith and Clarissa Dalloway's storylines, I came to realize that I had taken a completely different view on what their storylines shown side by side can teach us. To me, their portrayals in the novel reflected strongly to me the importance that even a single day can hold for anyone, even people as seemingly unrelated as Septimus and Clarissa. Though for one character this is a tragic importance and for the other a rewarding importance, I think it is still important to recognize through these characters' stories how deeply significant even one day can be. Both characters have striking series of thoughts and unique recollections of the past that culminate in important events, devastating and illuminating respectively. The idea that all of this could transpire within the seemingly brief period of time that is one day is overwhelming, but fascinating.     For Septimus Smith, the gravity of th...

     Everyday human life is so rife with routine that, to us, it seems trivial to take time to talk about the little things we do everyday, much less analyze them. The Mezzanine makes a point of doing exactly that, eloquently describing the precise feelings that most of us experience during our daily lives. Tackling a topic as seemingly mundane as an escalator ride offers Nicholson Baker an opportunity to reflect through Howie on what really gets him going: the small, fleeting moments that can be zoomed in on for a surprisingly intriguing analysis. And this is what I particularly appreciate from the unique writing techniques introduced through this novel: Howie's capability to capture the little moments that we know we experience, but can't seem to put into words or even think about once the moment has passed.      Howie employs a number of methods for his in-depth analyses: not only does he use the main body of text itself to dive deep into the details, bu...