Septimus Smith: In his own world
One of the big points Virginia Woolf is trying to make in the essay "Modern Fiction" is that each character is a world unto him- or herself. In Mrs. Dalloway , this is especially true of Septimus Warren Smith. Septimus's introduction is when he stands in the way of the motorcar. He does not do this intentionally; in fact, he does not notice the motorcar at first. Rather, what he notices is how the world around him seemed to come to a standstill, and that they all seemed to focusing, looking towards, being drawn to some point. His realization that he is in the way of motorcar is detached, not connecting the idea that he should get out of the way until Lucrezia tells him several times. Before Lucrezia interrupts him, he feels as though he has some great or grand purpose in that moment, but he has no idea what the purpose is. The other defining characteristic of Septimus's world is that he appears to hallucinate. When blocking the motorcar's passage, "The wo