Maria Fernanda Arias T.English literatureMay 20th, 2015

SUMMARY ABOUT THE LEGACY BY VIRGINIA WOOLF

Virginia Woolf(25 January 1882 28 March 1941) was an English writer and one of the foremostmodernistsof the twentieth century. As part of her life, Woolf was a significant figure in London literary society and a central figure in the influential Bloomsbury Group of intellectuals. Her most famous works include the novels Mrs Dalloway (1925), To the Lighthouse (1927) and Orlando (1928), and the book-length essay A Room of One's Own (1929), with its famous dictum, "A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction." Woolf suffered from severe bouts of mental illness throughout her life, thought to have been the result of what is now termed bipolar disorder,[1] and committed suicide by drowning in 1941 at the age of 59.As part of her literary work, Woolf wrote certain tales, in which we find The Legacy, published in 1944. But, why is it called The Legacy? Angela, a very sincere, careful and helpful woman who is the main character of this story, leaves ironically fifteen volumes of the diary she is never willing to share inside her desk before she dies. One day Mr. Clandon, his husband, discovers it and starts to read it. But more than just a notebook, it represents an evidence of Angelas thoughts, detailed events and scenarios; the truth about the life Mr. Clandon is never into. He is instead a busy man, worried about political issues and work rather than his wife. He also discovers a little box with some letters on it For Sissy Miller who is Angelas secretary, which contains a dolphin brooch. In this way, Angela, before and as she knew she would die, leaves different little boxes with special objects inside them for each of her friends.As Mr. Clandon reads on Angelas diary, he realizes many details about her intimate life, yet he does not pay attention to them and thinks of them as insignificant and pointless facts, just until he finds a particular name: B.M., who is apparently a lower class radical with critical views on the upper class. Gilbert instinctively disapproves of him and is shocked to learn that she had invited BM to dinner on an occasion when Gilbert himself was giving a speech at the Mansion House. Mr. Clandon gets more and more desperate, incensed with retrospective jealousy and feels a shattering blow to his own ego at the uncertainty of knowing the identity of those initials, as this man had become an essential and permanent part of Angela's life, meanwhile he becomes even more insignificant and invisible to her.

Finally, the diary records BM pressing Angela to make a sort of decision, coupled with some sort of threat. Anxious to know the identity of BM, Gilbert telephones Sissy Miller and demands to know who it is. Sissy reveals that it was her brother, who committed suicide and Gilbert realizes that his wife Angela has done the same thing.Now, there are details that are worth highlighting. To begin it was pertinent that Gilbert had a chance to read Angelas diaries to see how he had gotten lost in his work and left Angela behind and she eventually found companionship elsewhere. I found it very peculiar that even after her death and also reading how he had emotionally abandoned her, he was still focused on himself and his work. Additionally, the fact that while reading the diary he found himself replaced by someone else, was the actual reason why he became that obsessed and upset, above just knowing he was losing Angelas love and affection, denoting a wounded male ego. Overall, I believe when Gilbert found out about the emotional affair through reading her diary, he still hasnt realized that he is self-absorbed and that his wife was very unhappy. He had received his legacy and he didnt want to accept the reality so that is why he resists to listen to any other explanations by Sissy regarding Angela and his brothers affair.