Quote by Virginia Woolf

Now as I climb this mountain, from the top of which I shall see Africa, my mind is printed with brown-paper parcels and your faces. I have been stained by you and corrupted. You smelt so unpleasant, too, lining up outside doors to buy tickets. All were dressed in indeterminate shades of grey and brown, never even a blue feather pinned to a hat. None had the courage to be one thing rather than another. What dissolution of the soul you demanded in order to get through one day, what lies, bowings, scrapings, fluency and servility! How you chained me to one spot, one hour, one chair, and sat yourselves down opposite! How you snatched from me the white spaces that lie between hour and hour and rolled them into dirty pellets and tossed them into the wastepaper basket with your greasy paws. Yet those were my life.


Now as I climb this mountain, from the top of which I shall

Summary

The quote reflects the narrator's resentment and disillusionment towards a group of people or society that they have encountered before climbing a mountain. The brown-paper parcels symbolize the burdens and negativity that have been imprinted in the narrator's mind. The faces represent the individuals who have stained and corrupted the narrator, evoking a strong aversion. The description of the people dressed in dull shades and lacking individuality suggests a conformity that the narrator finds suffocating. The narrator expresses frustration at being imprisoned by social expectations, forced into mundane routines and interactions that strip away the essence of their own life.

By Virginia Woolf
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