A Sketch of the Past, Part 2 Summary and Analysis

The reference to Woolf's mother in the preceding section seems to trigger a deeper consideration of her mother. Because her mother was continually surrounded by people, Woolf had been unable to form anything but an idealized impression of Julia's beauty, competence and generosity. Julia's exacting and demanding nature temper this image; even when Julia was dying, she corrected Virginia's posture.

Woolf comments on how difficult it is to come up with a realistic interpretation and/or understanding of a woman who died forty four years ago, adding that the only thing she can truly know is that her mother married two very different men, one proper, the other intellectual. Julia had been born in India, raised by a French governess, came of age in the intellectual/ artistic company of her mother's...