“It was January. Snow was falling; snow had fallen all day. The sky spread like a grey goose's wing from which feathers were falling all over England.”
The essence of the novel is the vivid descriptions of the changing weather in Britain through different time periods. Woolf pays close detail in offering the elaborate features of the setting before delving into human interactions. The features majorly dwell on the weather in that particular environment giving an objective touch to the narrative contrary to the human dramas. In the assertion Woolf describes the winter in England, utilizing vivid imagery and similes to bring the scene to life.
“It was better to die, like Eugenie and Digby, in the prime of life with all one's faculties about one.”
Death is a key motif in the narrative thus the different time periods cover the deaths of various characters. In the passage of time characters such as Eleanor grieve for a number of family members from her mother to her paternal uncle Digby and the wife Eugenie. Therefore she gets to observe the different ways and ages at which people lose their lives as time passes. In the statement, she refers to how the two passed on while still physically capable and not suffering to the point of losing one’s faculties. In contrast to her parents particularly his father who has outlived his peers and he is living in poor health. The assertion comes from a place of grief and how it impacts her perspective regarding mortality.
