Answer:
"The New Dress' by Virginia Woolf tells the story of a woman's insecurity about her appearance while attending a party, which leads to her coming to a decision of transforming herself through self improvement. She then leaves the party, after thanking the host for a lovely party.
Step-by-step explanation:
Virginia Woolf's short story "The New Dress" tells the story of Mabel Waring who had been invited to a party by Mrs. Dalloway. Mrs. Dalloway is the character of another of Woolf's book, "Mrs Dalloway". Some people also have the view that this short story is part of the novel "Mrs. Dalloway".
The protagonist Mabel Waring had gone to the party wearing a dress that she thinks is way inferior to the dresses worn by the other people. She was poor and had been unable to afford the latest trends, so she had a yellow silk dress made from an old pattern. Thinking herself to be so out of place, she berates herself for even trying to attend the party or be among the other better dressed people. Even when others complimented her for her dressing, she took it more as a mocking instead of being praised. her inferiority led to thinking everything negative, and thinking of the life she had been living. Through a stream of consciousness narration, the novel moves from reality to her thoughts, back and forth. After thinking of her unhappy life, accepting that she had been happy maybe just two- three rimes in her life, she thinks that only the dressmaker was happy to really see her and help her. Accepting that she deserves to be berated and mocked by the other party-goers, she thinks of their 'supposed' comments "What a fright she looks! What a hideous new dress?". She then berates herself again for thinking what others' opinions may be, and why she should care about them. She then decides to leave the party, but not before telling the host Mrs. Dalloway, that she enjoyed herself at the party.