Prisoners of the Soul

     "...she knew nothing about them, only jumped to conclusions, as one does, for what can one know even of the people one lives with every day? she asked. Are we not all prisoners? She had read a wonderful play about a man who scratched on the wall of his cell, and she had felt that was true of life– one scratched on the wall." (Woolf 192)

      Sally's revelation about human nature reigns true to one of the critical themes of the novel: people strive to make meaningful connections, however, our separate and concealed souls make this difficult. As Clarissa compares the human soul and its ability to make connections to two separate rooms, Sally relates it to a prison cell. While in separate houses, Clarissa and her neighbor can glimpse into eachother's rooms through the adjacent windows, but cannot fully experience them. These rooms represent the human souls and our inability, due to their separateness, to make connections with those around us. However, this doesn't stop Clarissa from longing for relations to people; she often finds herself staring into her neighbor's room, representing her desire for human conntections.

     Similarly, Sally compares the soul to a prison cell and our consciousness to a prisoner, forever scratching at the walls. Because the prison of our soul prevents us from reaching our ultimate desires of human connections, we are forever trying to break free of its confinements. Thus, the soul embidies both solace and lonliness, similar to being trapped in one's own or cell.