# XIII explained — Night and Day

> Chapter companion for Night and Day by Virginia Woolf.

## What happens

Denham spends his lunch hour pacing Lincoln's Inn Fields, lost in thought. Mary Datchet finds him there and they talk. He is preoccupied and gloomy, mentioning family troubles. Mary invites him to Christmas at Disham, then returns to her suffrage office, where Mrs. Seal and Miss Markham await.

## Themes in this chapter

### Work vs. Dreams

Denham is absorbed in thought, walking in Lincoln's Inn Fields during lunch, while Mary balances committee work with personal reflections.

### Individual Identity and Autonomy

Mary questions her own feelings and independence, catching herself in the 'evil habit' of seeking Ralph's approval.

## Character check-ins

### Ralph Denham

Seen pacing Lincoln's Inn Fields, absorbed in thought; feeds sparrows; expresses gloom and irritation; mentions family troubles with Charles.

### Mary Datchet

Finds Ralph in the Fields; they talk; she invites him to Christmas at Disham; returns to suffrage office, where she meets Mrs. Seal and Miss Markham.

### Mrs. Seal

At the suffrage office, inducing a large dog to drink water; announces Miss Markham's arrival.

### Miss Markham

Has arrived at the suffrage office with her St. Bernard dog, Sailor.

## Key lines

> His brain worked incessantly, but his thought was attended with so little joy that he did not willingly recall it; but drove ahead, now in this direction, now in that; and came home laden with dark books borrowed from a library.

Denham's mind was constantly active, but his thinking brought him no pleasure, so he avoided reflecting on it; instead, he pushed forward in various directions and returned home carrying heavy books from the library.

_Describes Denham's restless, joyless intellectual preoccupation._

> She could not prevent herself from doing now what she had often blamed others of her sex for doing—from endowing her friend with a kind of heavenly fire, and passing her life before it for his sanction.

Mary found herself idealizing Ralph and seeking his approval for her life choices, a habit she had criticized in other women.

_Mary's self-awareness about her tendency to romanticize Ralph._

## Links

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