Question

Which theme is common to the two excerpts? A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

by James Joyce (excerpt)
He had not died but he had faded out like a film in the sun. He had been lost or had wandered out of existence for he no longer existed. How strange to think of him passing out of existence in such a way, not by death but by fading out in the sun or by being lost and forgotten somewhere in the universe! It was strange to see his small body appear again for a moment: a little boy in a grey belted suit. His hands were in his side-pockets and his trousers were tucked in at the knees by elastic bands.

Mrs. Dalloway
by Virginia Woolf (excerpt)
Did it matter then, she asked herself, walking towards Bond Street, did it matter that she must inevitably cease completely; all this must go on without her; did she resent it; or did it not become consoling to believe that death ended absolutely? but that somehow in the streets of London, on the ebb and flow of things, here, there, she survived, Peter survived, lived in each other, she being part, she was positive, of the trees at home; of the house there, ugly, rambling all to bits and pieces as it was; part of people she had never met; being laid out like a mist between the people she knew best, who lifted her on their branches as she had seen the trees lift the mist, but it spread ever so far, her life, herself. A. the absence of love. B. the fragile nature of existence C. the question of reality D. disillusionment with the world

Answer 1

B. Fragile nature of existence.

Step-by-step explanation:

Answer 2

B. Fragile nature of existence.

Step-by-step explanation:

Both the novels 'A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man' by James Joyce and 'Mrs. Dalloway' by Virginia Woolf, displays the psychological states of mind in the context of human existence, through the use of a stream-of-consciousness technique which is quite significantly prompts to exemplify this central idea of the author. These excerpts clearly exemplify the theme of the "fragile nature of human existence". Both the protagonists suffer a state of psychological conflict between the world and their individual conscience. They both go through the development of their consciousness while attempting to understand the frailty of the human world and its presence. Thus, option B illustrates the correct description of these excerpts.