A Summing Up

In “A Summing Up” we accompany the introspective Mrs. Sasha Latham in a stroll through the diminutive garden of Clarissa Dalloway. — For those who enjoyed immensely reading Mrs. Dalloway, those short stories with small scenes passing during her party are such a treat! — Mrs. Latham is very appreciated by her society, whom ignore the fact that she might be as fragile as any of them. There is a poignant loneliness in her that is mostly felt, rather than described. And yet, it does not convey sadness, but reflection. During all of this episode she is accompanied by a gentleman by the name of Mr. Bertram, who talks too much—yet she does not listen. It is established early on that all of it is rubbish and she occupies herself inwards while on his company. How many times have we not done the same? Absorbed in thoughts, body present, mind miles and miles away? Beautifully done as one can always expect from Woolf, it entices the reader to a poetic narrative of self.