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Day and night book8/10/2023 ![]() When the characters return to London, a number of seemingly solidified bonds are in flux. Over the course of a few days, many relationships start to change: Ralph proposes to Mary but she rejects him, knowing he is in love with Katherine, and William Rodney comes to understand that Katherine does not love him after all. As Mary and Katherine cross paths, each woman becomes interested in the lifestyle of the other and wonders what an alternative path may look like.ĭuring the Christmas season, all of the characters travel to the English countryside: Ralph and Mary to stay with Mary’s family, and Katherine to stay with the Otways, relatives of hers who share the famous ancestry of her family. Meanwhile, Katherine becomes engaged to William Rodney, a well-to-do poet of whom Katherine’s family heartily approves. As Ralph and Mary continue to spend time together, however, Mary starts to wonder if she would prefer marriage to work, and realizes quickly that she is falling in love with Ralph. Hilbery, who believe that marriage is the only option for a woman in Katherine’s social position. The author positions Mary as a counterpoint to many of the other women in Katherine’s life, notably Katherine’s mother, Mrs. Mary is also a single woman in her twenties who works as a secretary for the Suffrage Office in London. Katherine and Ralph continue to meet in a number of circumstances, one of which is a meeting of literary scholars at a room owned by Mary Datchet, Ralph’s close friend. He admits that he noticed something different about her that he isn’t used to seeing in members of the social elite, and this mysterious quality of Katherine’s continues to draw Ralph to her. Yet, in the days following their first meeting, Ralph cannot get Katherine out of his mind. Ralph and Katherine do not start off on good terms as he criticizes her for her privileged position and accuses her of not understanding the value of labor. ![]() One of these working middle class characters is Ralph Denham, a lawyer in his thirties whom Katherine meets at the beginning of the novel during a tea party her family is hosting. Set primarily in London, the story features a number of characters from the upper and middle classes of English society. The novel follows 25-year-old Katherine Hilbery, a beautiful and privileged member of a historically renowned family, as she navigates the options available to young, single women in late nineteenth century England. ![]() The following version of this book was used to create this study guide: Woolf, Virginia.
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