Attention Span

There two main instances in the novel where it seems that Woolf may be poking fun at how humans have a short attention span and need a constant distraction.

Towards the beginning of the novel, a mysterious car drives through the street. News bounces around and people begin to speculate that it may be the queen or some other important figure—suddenly everyone’s day stops as they watch the car. Clarissa even begins to feel “extreme dignity” standing on the street, despite having no idea who is in the car. Then, suddenly, the crowd begins to notice an airplane flying overhead, which seems to be spelling something. Although they still have no idea what the airplane is spelling, all heads turn, and everyone is now fascinated by the plane, so much so that they barely notice the car drive past. To me, it seems that Woolf is trying to poke fun at the crowd as if to say that absolutely anything would distract the crowd (even if they can’t fully identify what is distracting them), and anything else would distract the crowd from that distraction.

During the party at the end of the novel, it is announced that the Prime Minister has shown up, and we see Ellie Henderson’s reaction: “The Prime Minister? Was it really? Ellie Henderson marveled. What a thing to tell Edith!” But as he walks in, it is clear that Ellie is the only one who is fascinated—he looks “so ordinary” and is described as a “poor chap,” and few people seem to even notice it’s him. An interesting thing to note is that Ms. Walker, the cook, didn’t bat an eye when she heard the Prime Minister was coming—she’s much more concerned with cooking the Salmon properly. Presumably, the reason why Ellie is so interested in the Prime Minister’s arrival (and why Ms. Walker is especially uninterested) is that Ellie is bored since no one is talking to her. Perhaps, this extends more generally, suggesting that the main cause of fascinations with celebrities is boredom and that “oooh” ing  “ahh” ing provides something to do for a few seconds.







Comments

  1. MitchellSeptember 15, 2018 at 7:55 AM

    I've often noted the parallels between the motor-car passing the crowds and the prime minister being led around on Clarissa's arm at the party. In both cases, everyone is keenly aware of the presence of "greatness" (or, at least, fame), and their reactions are very telling. On the street, of course, there's the sense of dignity and thoughts of Empire and the war, and Woolf does satirize this sense of solemnity by having them all get distracted by the skywriting plane and its toffee ad. At the party, the context is different, and we maybe recognize the dynamic of everyone being star-struck but having to retain their composure, to act casual in front of their friends, to make it seem like the PM being there is NBD and they do this kind of thing all the time. I love Woolf's description of how everyone studiously behaves as if they aren't impressed--except for poor Ellie, who, as Clarissa has already told us, is NOT "cool," and she so would be the kind of person to be impressed.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Robert NagelSeptember 15, 2018 at 8:45 AM

    I think that perhaps there is another reason why Ellie Henderson takes note of the Prime Minister when no one else does: Ellie is rather an outsider to the world of Clarissa's parties, impoverished and subsequently ignored. Because her social status is much closer to the streetwalkers, Ellie has a similar reaction to the Prime Minister as the streetwalkers do to the motorcar.

    ReplyDelete
  3. UnknownSeptember 15, 2018 at 4:48 PM

    I definitely agree with the idea that Woolf is making fun of human's short attention spans. This is especially seen in the passage about the aeroplane and the motorcar. It seems like the London crowd is so attached to the motorcar and the idea that there is someone of royal status in it. However, at the sight of slightest distraction like a plane spelling "toffee" in the sky, the crowd completely loses focus. In fact, most people didn't even see the motorcar pull into the gates of the palace. Interesting post!

    ReplyDelete
  4. spolonus282September 27, 2018 at 10:27 AM

    I like the idea that the story is poking fun at the lack of an attention span people had. It's amusing to think of it like that. Another thing that the book could be implying with the first scene you describe is that the crowd just kind of moves as one, like sheep. If something interesting happens, all heads turn that direction, and that just keeps happening. It is tied to the idea of a short attention span because that wouldn't really happen unless it was short to begin with.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Milkboy -> Milkman

For the majority of the novel, Milkman seems to behave like an adolescent despite his older age. Even in his early 30’s, he acts as if he were in his early 10’s—highlighted by the fact that he’s had the same job working for his dad for years and still has a nickname he got when he was in his mid 0’s. Similarly, he has steadily become more akin to his father. He collects rent at Macon Jr’s command and has a similar egotistical attitude, manifested in his disgust when he realizes that Ruth’s life doesn’t comprise exclusively of being his mother. More importantly, his arrogance has also manifested in a lack of interest in racial issues for African-Americans, such as when Guitar tells him about the murder of Emit Till. During Milkman and Guitar’s robbery in chapter 8, we see many of these negative character traits manifested. Milkman, a middle-aged man, obeys the order from his father to steal from his aunt. Believing that his desires are of utmost importance, he follows through and s...
Read more

A or not A

In the most factual line of the novel, Meursault thinks to himself: “You could either shoot or not shoot.” Yes. Although at face value, this line means absolutely nothing, I would argue that it has more significance than to demonstrate that Camus’ characters are aware of the axioms of logic. This is particularly clear if we read the thought in its entirety: “It was then that I realized you could either shoot or not shoot.” It seems that Meursault has some sort of realization, which likely caused him to shoot the Arab afterward. It is clear from the beginning of the novel that Meursault is indifferent to practically everything. For instance, his mom dies, and he hears Salamano beat his dog, but he never reacts to any of it. Up to this point, Meursault’s relationship with nature has been quite the opposite. The sun beats down on him and he feels too hot, later the sun makes him happy. He is very responsive to nature and its effects on him. With this in mind, one could ...
Read more

The Significance of the Escalator

Throughout the Mezzanine, it seems that most of the events of the lunch hour, the objects Howie sees along his way, and Howie's recollections from childhood aren’t spectacular or meaningful on their own until Howie’s enthusiasm and digressions make them seem so. For example, the narrator walks to buy a cookie, notices that urinals look like gargoyles, and remembers that his dad used to hang ties on doorknobs, none of which seem like irreplaceable ideas or events in the book; You could imagine that Baker would have had no trouble writing a book of 10 or 100 times the length of the Mezzanine—he wouldn’t run out of interesting things to notice or comment on. On a surface level, the choice of the escalator as the vehicle of the Mezzanine also seems like an arbitrary and insignificant choice by Baker. But after closer inspection, it appears that the escalator is intended as a metaphor, suggesting that Howie is not only rising to his office but also a different mental state with a ...
Read more