- We begin this chapter inside Bernard's head. He has said all his goodbyes, and leaves with his father and mother in a carriage. He is going off to school for the first time.
- Looks like Bernard has to take a train there; he's suddenly in a train station. On platform 9 and ¾? Oh, nope. Wrong English book.
- He appears to be a bit nervous and is trying to avoid crying. Louis and Neville are also there and preparing to leave. Bernard thinks they look "composed."
- Apparently Louis isn't. He wants to follow Bernard because he looks "composed." They pass through the booking office to the platform and get on the train. They then watch the scenery as the train leaves London.
- The boys present then start boasting about family members who are accomplished hunters. Louis feels he cannot join in because his father is a banker in Brisbane, and because of his accent. Aww, Louis. We think Australian accents are awesome.
- Now we are back in Neville's mind as they arrive at their new school. Neville walks by the school buildings, imagining what they contain within (e.g., labs or libraries). He thinks ahead to his Latin lessons and lolling about in the fields and under trees with his friends.
- He then sits and watches the Headmaster speak; he finds him "altogether too shiny" (2b.5).
- Bernard isn't a fan of the Headmaster (whose name is Crane, we now learn) either, asserting that his words were "too hearty to be true" (2b.6). He also notes that it is the boys' first night away from their "sisters" (2b.6).
- Meanwhile, back in the mind of one of those sisters, Susan laments that she is spending her first night at school, far away from her father. She mentions that a kitchen door slams, and "shot patters among the leaves when Percy fires at the rooks" (2b.7). Who is Percy, though, and what is he doing at a girls' school? She mentions that Rhoda and Jinny are off somewhere staring at someone named Miss Lambert (who sits under a portrait of Queen Alexandra). Susan is trying to avoid crying.
- Now we're with Rhoda, who says that she and others are "herded" together in what appears to be a schoolroom. She remarks, "...here I am nobody," and she is also trying not to cry.
- Someone give all these kids ice cream, please.
- Jinny, meanwhile, is admiring a dark woman with high cheekbones who is wearing a shiny dress. She remarks that the dress is fine for summer, but thinks about the kind of dress she would wear in the winter, which would be "thin as a veil" (2b.9).
- She then compares her imaginary dress to that worn by Miss Lambert, whose dress is "opaque" (2b.9). It's entirely possible that Miss Lambert is the woman with the high cheekbones, but Jinny does not specify.
- Back with the boys, Louis notes that they are marching two by two into chapel. He admires the orderliness of the process, and says that the boys "put off" distinctions as they enter (2b.10). Louis admires Dr. Crane's authority as he mounts the pulpit and starts to read from the Bible, saying that Crane sets his mind at ease and allows him to recover "continuity" (2b.10).
- Neville, however, calls Crane a "brute" who "menaces [his] liberty" (2b.11). He then leans over to pretend to scratch his thigh, allowing him to catch sight of someone named Percival (is this the Percy who was firing at the rooks? How is that possible?).
- He describes Percival in detail, with particular reference to the peculiar way he "flicks his hand to the back of his neck" (2b.12). "For such gestures," Neville notes, "one falls hopelessly in love for a lifetime" (2b.12). He says that other boys try to imitate the move, but can't get it right.
- Bernard—who, like Neville, has not been enjoying the sermon—declares that it ends "at last" and continues to describe Crane unfavorably (2b.13).
- He then gets seriously meta, reflecting on the words and phrases he used to describe Crane and noting that he will carry a notebook later in life to capture such thoughts. He gets distracted thinking about the people around him, asserting that he "fails" unless talked to (2b.13).
- Now we're back with Louis, who says they're moving outside to play, because it is a half-day. He says that some undefined "we" will lie around in the grass while "they" play cricket" and laments that he cannot join the cricketers. He watches Percival and compares himself to him.
- Neville invites Bernard to "burble on" telling stories while they watch the cricketers (2b.15). He also describes Bernard, his recitation style, and his effect on others in greater detail.
- Neville then notes Percival has joined them, guffawing and thereby allowing them to laugh as well. Neville says that both he and Percival are bored, which Bernard then notices. Percival says "No" to Bernard's attempt to jazz things up in his storytelling, causing Bernard's stories to trail off.
- Yikes, poor Bernard.
- Louis then says that he wants to try to fix this moment in time, saying, "This shall endure." They are all parting ways; some are going to "the nets," and he is headed to someone named Mr. Barker to show him an essay (2b.17).
- However, he notes that Percival destroys this moment by trouncing away through the grass trailed by boy admirers. He claims he needs Percival for this endeavor, "for it is Percival who inspires the poetry" (2b 18).
- Weird Modernist timewarp alert:
- Suddenly it appears we've flashed forward in time and made a spatial leap, because Susan (whose head we are in) claims that they have run up "these" stairs for many months and years, and that it is now "midsummer" (2b.19)—June 25th, to be exact. She claims that while other girls are praying, she is tearing days off the calendar and working the paper into a ball.
- She doesn't pray. She thinks of home, her father, and the land around her property.
- Susan is also thinking about Jinny, who apparently is always dancing and capering about. She notes that someone named Miss Perry loves Jinny, and that her eyes "smoulder" with admiration for her (2b.20).
- Jinny also mentions the looking glass, saying that she hates it because it cuts their reflections off at the head (and she doesn't think her face is pretty enough).
- She compares her appearance unfavorably with Susan's and "even" Rhoda's (2b.21). She then describes skipping past that mirror to get to the full-length one, and she outlines the way her reflection appears there.
- She then describes removing her "coarse" clothes, wanting to be the first to do so (2b.22). She puts on clean stockings and new shoes, and she ties her hair back, constructing an elaborate image of exactly how she will appear to others when she's leaping across the court.
- She appears to be getting ready to play a sport of some kind?
- Meanwhile, Rhoda sees her face in the looking-glass from behind Susan's shoulder, but ducks behind her to hide it, saying, "I am not here." She describes herself as living outside of the real world, constantly shifting and changing in ways that Susan and Jinny do not. Rhoda claims that they have real emotions, which she can only imitate (2b.23).
- Rhoda also notes that the other girls resent her for copying them, though Susan will sometimes help her (e.g., by teaching her to tie a bow), whereas Jinny keeps her knowledge to herself.
- Now the girls have apparently arrived at this game for which Jinny was dressing. Susan says that she and someone else (Rhoda?) are late and must wait their turn to play. While waiting, they lie down in the grass to watch Jinny, Mavis, Clara, and Betty play.
- However, Susan now says she's actually going to refuse to be a spectator, because she hates watching people play games. Instead, she's going to go make "images" of everything she hates most and then bury them in the ground. To this end, she designates a shiny pebble "Madame Carlo," who is apparently a piano instructor Susan found to be too "fawning" and "ingratiating" (2b.25).
- Susan then describes other things she hates (and even a few that she likes, like some trees). She apparently hates the school, saying she would bury the whole thing except for those aforementioned trees. Yikes.
- As Miss Lambert passes while talking to a clergyman, Rhoda notes that her classmates laugh and imitate Lambert's hunch; yet, Rhoda finds things improved and even "luminous" in Lambert's presence (2b.26).
- Jinny says that she has won her game, throwing herself on the ground to pant. She is apparently feeling pretty stirred up after all that exercise and reflects that she is beginning to feel like she wants to be "singled out" by someone who is attracted to her.
- She fantasizes about the moment in which that person comes to her (2b.27). She eventually calms herself down, however, so that she can go in and have tea (how British!).
- Now we're back with Louis, who notes that some young men he calls "the boasting boys" have driven off in a brake to play cricket. He describes these boys in detail, and his rundown is not favorable. But he says that he and Neville want to be them—typical.
- All these kids are haters. They're also pretty insecure.
- Neville says that Percival has gone off with the boasting boys, not even waving as the brake drove away. Neville asserts that Percival despises him for being too weak to play (although he is "kind" about it) and for not caring about the outcome of cricket matches (beyond caring that Percival cares, of course).
- He appears ambivalent about Percival, alternately admiring him and then describing his "stupidity" and asserting that he will become "coarse" in old age (2b.31). He says that Bernard is also left behind; he could have accompanied the others but arrived too late to do so.
- Bernard, for his part, calls the boasting boys "horrid" and yet also "beautiful." Since he can't go play cricket, he plays the piano while talking to Neville, telling him "the story of the doctor" (2b.33), which is his elaborate rendering of Dr. Crane's domestic life.
- He trails off in the middle of the story, however, finding it too difficult to continue imagining his headmaster's private life.
- Neville then says that he finds Bernard's stories amusing, but hates when he trails off like that, because it makes him feel alone. He says that Bernard's understanding is "blurred," so Neville can't talk to him of his "absurd and violent passion" for Percival (2b.34); he's too afraid it would become one of Bernard's stories.
- Neville then gets sad about not having enough people to share his feelings with. He is struck by premonitions and describes his feelings of the day before.
- Neville also thinks about wandering through nature for a while, but then realizes he really just wants to be alone in the firelight, and yearns for "the limbs of one person" (2b.35).
- Meanwhile, Louis is standing with his hand on the door belonging to someone named Mr. Wickham, wishing for night to come. He contrasts fantasies of himself in more exalted positions (e.g., as a Duke) with unflattering references to his body and other aspects of himself.
- Now we're back to Susan again. It's July 20th, and she says that in eight days, she'll be back at home again. She eagerly anticipates seeing her father, being at home, and wandering around outside her home.
- She compares herself to Jinny, saying that, unlike her friend, she doesn't need admiration; rather, she just wants solitude. Susan fantasizes about walking around her house and property and what she would see on the way.
- Now we're in Jinny's head. She describes her feelings as she wakes up, saying she hates darkness and sleeping and just waits for the day to come.
- She says she is often scolded for idleness, and someone called Miss Matthews calls her "feather-headed." However, she claims she doesn't let it get her down, and that she can't be prevented from "pirouetting" around behind Miss Matthews, even going into prayers (2b.39).
- Jinny also notes that the time is coming where she'll leave school, and she has a fantasy about her life then, including parties and being the sole object of a man's attention. She says she won't allow herself to get tied down to one man or, in her words, to be "pinioned" (2b.40).
- Meanwhile, Rhoda is fantasizing about being able to go to bed, even though it will be several hours until she can do so. She says she pretends she's a Russian empress when she's getting ready for bed but admits this is a "thin dream" that Miss Lambert blows down (2b.43).
- Rhoda then goes to take out a book to read, finds a poem about a hedge, and says she's going to go sit by the river to play with flowers. She describes having a variety of emotions and feelings she has in response to her activities and what she's looking at.
- Suddenly, we are back with the boys in Louis's perspective, and he says it's the last day of term. He is watching Dr. Crane—who he totally looks up to—as Doc Crane sees the boys off from the school. Louis notes that Neville, Bernard, and he will not meet there again; "Life will divide us," he says (2b.45).
- Now we're in Bernard's perspective. Oh jeepers, this perspective shifting is making us ill.
- He describes the process of saying goodbye to the school, and like Louis, says that many of them will not meet again. De-pressing. He thinks back on his time there and the boys he knew, and he mentions that they are all set to depart tomorrow.
- Modernist time warp alert:
- Now the narrative jumps forward in time and into Neville's mind. Neville says that they are about to depart, noting that there are boxes and cabs nearby. He believes that Percival will forget him and fail to answer his letters (or might reply with a postcard if Neville sent him poems). However, Neville claims that it is "for" all that that he loves Percival. What? C'mon Woolf, let us in on the joke.
- He predicts that Percival will leave his life, and Neville will move into others' lives. He says that "this" (by which he means their school experience, maybe?) was an "escapade," only a "prelude" to things as yet only "dimly perceived" that are drawing closer (2b.47).
- Neville thinks about his future life, reflecting that he will always want to "push through curtains" to what is private, pursuing "whispered words alone." He also predicts that he will "conquer after huge suffering" (2b.47). We would consider this optimistic, if it weren't for the whole certainty-that-he's-going-to-suffer thing.
- Now Neville says he's taking his seat in the train now, and he uses a book to hide his tears.
- Back with Susan, it is the first day of summer holidays, but she's not home yet. She's fantasizing about being there and contrasting her visions of the hedges and fields that she will soon experience with the "carbolic" smell of school (2b.48).
- Now she's thinking about how she will never send her children to school or spend a single night of her life in London. She's in a "vast" train station where "everything echoes and booms hollowly" (2b.49).
- Hmm, perhaps these thoughts were inspired by the fact that she's being forced to pass through London on her way home? She thinks about the fact that Jinny lives and walks her dog here and makes some other observations about the city as her train departs. She starts to see and smell nature again, and soon she's reunited with father.
- Jinny, meanwhile, is on a train going north, looking out the window and commenting the movement of the train. Also, she's checking out the guy who shares her compartment, and it appears he's checking her out too. She feels "heat and rapture" and lies back. When she looks back up (it appears she may have fallen asleep), the man doesn't appear to be there anymore; instead, she meets the gaze of a "sour" looking woman (2b.50). How disappointing.
- Rhoda is on a train, too. Like the other girls, she notes that it's the beginning of the summer holidays. In addition to looking out the window, she's thinking about some kind of humiliation she experienced at a garden party in midsummer. She observes the other people around her and remarks that the train is climbing up and over a summit. She stares at the moors as the train goes over.
- Louis says he is hanging "suspended without attachments" (2b.52). Like the others, he is on a train in some part of England. He remarks that his former classmates are headed to Oxford, Cambridge, or Edinburgh (or to other foreign destinations), while he is going off to make money. He also notes that he is in a third-class carriage. He then proceeds to make some other more general, abstract (Abstract? In a Virginia Woolf novel? Surely not!) reflections regarding the past and the present.
- He thinks about the "boasting boys" at school, some of whom appear to be with him on the train (and are living up to their name by boasting a lot). Neville is on the train too, but reading a French novel.
- Louis pictures Neville and himself in the future, saying that he himself will sit behind a counter, grow bitter, and mock these other boys. However, he also claims to envy their security as they continue in the "safe traditional ways" while he has to "consort with cockneys and clerks" (2b.52).
- Whoa, it seems Bernard is there, too. He notes that Louis and Neville are sitting silent, and Bernard conjectures that they feel the presence of other people as a "separating wall." In contrast, Bernard claims to enjoy being in the company of other people and is feeling quite chatty.
- Thus, when an elderly and apparently prosperous man enters their carriage, Bernard wants to approach him, saying he doesn't like separation. Bernard claims he wants to add to his collection of observations, presumably by talking to this dude.
- He thinks about some book he will write that will be quite long, and which will "[embrace] every known variety of man and woman" (2b.54).
- Bernard then gets the gentleman in the car to start talking and begins to infer things about his life. As usual, he manages to get surprisingly specific. He imagines this dude is a builder who is an indulgent husband, but not faithful. He thinks the guy's name should be Walter J. Trumble.
- Bernard makes other reflections and observations about himself and the way he reacts to things, contrasting himself and his reactions with Neville's. He also describes Louis in greater detail.
- Bernard now says they are approaching a junction, where he will have to change trains for Edinburgh.
- He's having trouble finding his ticket, but he's not super worried about it.
- Suddenly we're back with Neville, who notes that Bernard is gone, but without a ticket. Neville reflects upon on how easily Bernard talks with all kinds of men, speculating about B's feelings toward the people he talk to.
- Neville sees Bernard on the platform, having missed his train, waving goodbye. Neville says it doesn't matter because Bernard will just go talk to the barmaid about human destiny. Because of course he would.
- Now Neville is back to reading his book, raising it so it nearly covers his eyes. But he claims he can't read in the presence of horse dealers and plumbers (the very people Bernard is so skilled at talking to). He says that he doesn't have the capacity to ingratiate himself (2b.57).
- Neville claims that he's going to go take "refuge" at a university, become a don, and then go to Greece (so, we guess he's planning to be a Classics professor).
- Neville thinks upon particular aspects of his personality and compares himself to Louis, noting that, unlike our favorite Aussie, he doesn't waste time worrying about what people think of his father.
- Neville also makes observations about the world outside the train and thinks about Percival, who is on his way to Scotland. He guesses that Percival is probably reading a detective novel. Meanwhile, Neville's own train slows down as it arrives in London, and he thinks about how he is about to start an adventure as he steps out on to the platform.