Jesse’s Reviews > The Voyage Out > Status Update
Jesse
is on page 100 of 381
what’s beautiful here: Rachel, never having conversated with men before, is enthralled by Mr. Dalloway, and at one point he impulsively kisses her. Woolf’s description of Rachel’s feelings—so intense that they’re painful, trying to steady her nerves, thoroughly having enjoyed the kiss but still terrified at the universe of gender relations that has opened before her, and her aunt Helen shepherding her.
— Jun 11, 2026 02:04PM
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Jesse
is on page 50 of 381
Woolf delivers one of the main points of the novel early on in a beautiful passage that describes the ship as a character, alone but free, as a metaphor for Rachel’s imminent metamorphosis. I am enjoying how each of the characters on the boat seems fully-envisioned, including the Dalloways, who have just stepped aboard. I am aware that the Missus will be followed up on in her own novel of mental dissolution.
— Jun 01, 2026 01:37PM
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keeping in mind that Richard is almost twice as old as Rachel and travelling with his wife. This indiscretion doesn’t amount to anything beyond Helen having to explain what goes on between men and women to Rachel. The dream she has afterward is a dark and all to real nightmare, like being elated that you have been noticed but now you can be pursued, and the terror of that.
Also Rachel’s realization of why she can’t walk out alone, immediately leaping to “men are brutes!” but also “I liked him, and I liked being kissed”, like she’s so real
These segments and the bit with Mr. Pepper deciding to leave the villa underline how Woolf is concentrating on the difficulty we have in really knowing anyone apart from ourselves, and how difficult this makes communicating
‘You’re peaceful,’ she said. She became peaceful too, at the same time possessed with a strange exultation. Life seemed to hold infinite possibilities she had never guessed at. She leant upon the rail and looked over the troubled gray waters, where the sunlight was fitfully scattered upon the crests of the waves, until she was cold and absolutely calm again. Nevertheless something wonderful had happened.”