The Curious Case of Septimus Smith

            In the novel Ms. Dalloway, one of the most dramatic and introspective characters is a veteran named Septimus Smith. In the story, Virginia Woolf uses Septimus to provide commentary on post WWI ideas. Wolf does this by providing the reader with the juxtaposition of Septimus’ psyche before and after the war. We initially find out he once possessed an idealized sense of confidence when he decides to depart from his house at 14, chasing his dreams of being a poet. This type of brash confidence often leads to either a path of artistic immortality or a path of self-destruction. Unfortunately, Septimus found that the path to artistic immortality was more treacherous than he envisioned. Seeking a newfound sense of manliness, he enlisted in the army.

            During the war, Septimus becomes close with a higher ranking officer, Evans, who tragically dies in front of Septimus’s eyes. Septimus becomes detached from the world, and becomes a hollow version of himself (from what we now call PTSD). However, rather than a Disney-esque journey to rediscover himself, Woolf shows us the hope for Septimus is fading.

Now this begs the question of what happened to Septimus’s psyche. His transformation from an ambitious poet to a shell of himself after the war I believe has largely to do with the “suck it up” culture of post WWI England. In fact, the reason he went to war in the first place was due to his "lack of masculinity" according to his own boss. When Evans was killed, Septimus wanted to grieve. However, toxic post-war culture led Septimus to bury his grief so deep inside his subconscious, he became unable to feel anything whatsoever.

To put Septimus’s narrative in a broader context, Woolf clearly put him in the story to provide commentary on a greater narrative during the Post-War era. “Shell Shock” (later PTSD) was finally becoming destigmatized as she was writing the book. However, I think the message is even broader. Perhaps her criticism is more emblematic of the suffocation of normal human emotion by masculine culture. By not allowing men to grieve, society forced men into a metaphorical Hell on earth, being able to communicate with others but being unable to have any sort of emotional feeling. An arm or leg may never grow back, but it won’t touch your spirit. Severe psychological damage arguably has a much farther lasting impact. Septimus shows that perhaps the greatest wounds in war are the ones we can’t see.