- We start out with Bernard, who seems to be staring out of a train window at London, checking out all the scenery (chimneys, gasometers, cathedrals, etc.). He says he's on an early train from the North. Aww, Bernard says he's engaged to be married.
- He addresses some unknown person as "Dear Sir," asking why he is fidgeting. It appears he's speaking to someone else in the car.
- Bernard reflects on his connection to this other passenger, having taken the train all night with him. He claims to feel some kind of communal feeling with his fellow passengers. He doesn't want that feeling of connection to end.
- Bernard describes proposing to his fiancée and offers various other reflections as he's waiting to get off the train.
- Bernard has now exited the train and is waiting for the elevator. Everyone who was on the train scatters, breaking that communion Bernard had felt in the train. He compares himself to these people and reflects on the feeling of becoming more individual again.
- He also appears to be thinking about death, describing how, when he's about to step off a curb, his body stops him from falling into danger. He thinks about being mortal, reflects upon his sensations as he walks around, and watches the people around him.
- Despite some gloomy thoughts about death and mortality, Bernard seems to think that getting ready to get married and have kids has kept the Grim Reaper at a distance, as it is allowing him to "seed" another generation (4b.5). Eew. Our two least favorite words are "seed" and "moist."
- He thinks about what these kids would be like, and his defeated mood seems to lift a bit; he feels the potential to contribute to some kind of progress.
- He reflects on his feelings and identity some more, indicating that he doesn't really feel like himself and can't remember all the things that make him him.
- Then he says that something "returns," and suddenly he's not part of the street scene he's been walking through, but observing and wondering about other people and his surroundings, inventing stories about them (4b.6). That sounds like the old Bernard to us.
- Then he goes back to thinking about what makes him unique (e.g., his need to make phrases). He contrasts himself with Louis and Rhoda, who are most themselves in solitude (whereas we know Bernard needs others around). Dude's definitely back in his usual groove.
- He thinks about the other narrators as well, noting that they are going to meet tonight for dinner. There, they are going to say goodbye to Percival, who is leaving for India.
- Now he's in a French restaurant, watching people (and, as always, feeling impatient with being alone). He offers miscellaneous reflections.
- Now we're with Neville, who has arrived early to the restaurant where the friends are supposed to meet up. He watches the door obsessively, waiting for Percival. He says other diners are staring at him, and he feels a sense of cruelty and indifference from the world surrounding him.
- Neville sees Louis walk in and check himself out in the mirror. He thinks Louis looks dissatisfied with his appearance. Neville makes some observations about Louis and claims to quote what Louis is thinking/saying to himself (though how he could know this is unclear, since Louis is across the restaurant…). Louis then arrives at the table.
- Now we're inside Louis's head as he remarks on Susan's entrance. He observes that she has chosen not to dress up for the occasion. Susan makes her way to the table after catching sight of her friends.
- Louis then notes that Rhoda has come in unobserved, taking a circuitous road around the room, apparently to stave off the moment of being recognized.
- Meanwhile, Neville is still watching the door, eagerly awaiting Percival.
- Now we're with Susan, who is watching Jinny enter. She observes that everything kind of stops and centers around Jinny when she walks in; indeed, she and the others start adjusting and/or worrying about their appearance. Susan feels like Jinny is going to scoff at what she's wearing.
- Now we're with Neville again. He sees Bernard enter the restaurant (wait, wasn't Bernard already in a restaurant? Was that another one? Stop messing with our minds, Woolf.), his hopes that it would be Percival dashed yet again.
- Bernard comes to the table. Neville seems relatively happy to see Bernard, but notes the group won't be complete without Percival.
- Now we're in the head of Rhoda, who's also watching the door and contrasting herself with Susan and Jinny (in terms of their effect on others). She notes Neville's misery as he watches the door, waiting for Percival. And lo, she then notes that Percival has finally arrived.
- Back in Neville's mind, things are a lot better; he's super jazzed to see Percival.
- The others also observe Percival's arrival and reflect on him and his effect on others. He appears to have a calming effect on the group, drawing them together like birds in song (hmm, sounds like the introduction to this chapter. Tricky, Woolf—very tricky), according to Bernard.
- Also, Bernard just casually lets drop that Percival loves Susan. Say what?
- Louis declares an end to solitude now that Percival is there.
- The narrators then reminisce about childhood and their school experiences (it is unclear whether they share these thoughts aloud or if they remain internal).
- Louis then reflects on how they've all changed quite a bit.
- Neville, for his part, remembers the day he and Bernard sat by the river together, and he later gave Bernard his poem.
- Louis and Jinny, meanwhile, are thinking about their lives now.
- Bernard then reflects on the friends' connection to each other. Neville and Louis follow suit, thinking about the significance of being able to come together in a group like this.
- Louis resumes thinking about his own feelings of inferiority. He notes that he has skipped lunch so that he might score some sympathy from the girls for being too skinny. He says he admires Susan and Percival but "hates" the others because of feeling like he needs to impress them. He "speaks" at length about how the other narrators make him feel (4b.41).
- Jinny seems to respond to Louis's internal thoughts (we assume they are internal—would he really tell most of the people present that he hates them?) by saying he could never hate her, because he would always want her sympathy. She then reflects on her effect on others, thinking particularly about when she entered the restaurant that night.
- Neville then "responds" to Jinny (again, it's not quite clear whether this exchange is actually verbalized or somehow internal), saying her propensity for commanding attention shuts true intercourse down. He then reflects on various aspects of himself and his effect on others, contrasting himself with others.
- Meanwhile, Rhoda is experiencing a feeling of being not quite whole.
- Susan then thinks about her effect on the room when she entered that night. She also imagines what the rest of her life will be like and contrasts it to the lives of her friends. She says she hates Jinny for making her notice her chapped red hands. She also says something a bit odd about the object of her love being able to slip away using a phrase. Hmm, is she talking about Bernard?
- Now Bernard is thinking about himself, his feelings about words, and his inability to deal with solitude. He thinks about Louis and Rhoda and offers some memories of Neville and Susan. He also notices that some of the "boasting boys" from school are in the restaurant.
- Finally, he compares himself to the others, drawing favorable and unfavorable comparisons.
- Rhoda, Jinny, Louis offer miscellaneous observations about their surroundings.
- Now Neville notes that Percival is leaving.
- Bernard imagines India and Percival's life there.
- Rhoda reflects upon the impact Percival's impending departure to India has had, indicating that it allows them all to envision more of the world. She imagines him riding around on a "flea-bitten" mare (4b.54).
- Louis asserts that Percival makes the group aware that the narrators' attempts to differentiate themselves have been "false," suggesting that he is a kind of uniting force among them (4b.55).
- Jinny and Susan reflect on hate and love, with Susan explicitly wondering whether those emotions can actually be distinguished from each other. Susan reports feeling as though they are looking into roaring waters as they engage in these reflections, a sentiment that Neville then echoes.
- Neville seems to be thinking about Percival again (it's a bit ambiguous, but has Neville obsessed about anyone else to date?), and specifically about how it feels to lose sight of him and then have him return. Hmmm… why is he fixated on losing Percival? And why are these people always so glum?
- Now we're back with Jinny, who apparently has made another love connection, beckoning someone from across the room. It's not entirely clear, however, whether she's remembering this event or it is actually happening right there and then.
- Oh, Louis and Rhoda seem to be observing this love connection, so it seems to be happening in real-time. Rhoda notes that she hears drumming and sees dancing, imagining the scene as some kind of festival at which people are throwing violets at a great procession, and someone who is "beloved" gets decked with garlands. Sounds like a wedding.
- Louis continues her thought, saying he is observing some kind of "savage" ritual; he notes, "They dance in a circle" (4b.65).
- Rhoda then says that, as she and Louis watch the scene, they "forebode decay" (4b.66). Eep. Louis seems to agree, saying, "Death is woven in with the violets" (4b.67). Hmm, again, that seems pretty morbid.
- Meanwhile, Jinny is apparently quite cheerful, oblivious to all this gloom and doom that Louis and Rhoda perceive in her little mating ritual. Also, she drops in there that she and her friends are not yet twenty-five years old. So young, so beautiful, so freaking depressing.
- Louis makes some unflattering observations about "him" (by which he presumably means Jinny's suitor), remarking on "his" red ears in particular.
- Neville is now thinking about what the group will do next after dinner. He seems to feel generally hopeful, saying, "All is to come" (4b.70).
- Bernard "responds" to this (again, we don't know if this is inward or outward dialogue), saying "For you… but yesterday I walked bang into a pillar-box. Yesterday I became engaged" (4b.71). Sounds like he's really looking forward to married life.
- Susan then contemplates her surroundings and notes a new feeling of fixity, of things being set, now that Bernard is engaged.
- Louis agrees that he feels fixedness in that particular moment and invites someone (the reader?) to observe it before it is dispelled and "disorder" resumes (4b.72).
- Louis then notes that the moment does break. He, Rhoda, and Bernard provide their observations as it does.
- As they are about to leave, however, Louis notes that a "circle in [their] blood," which breaks often due to their differences from each other, closes again and "something is made" (4b.77). He, Jinny, Neville, Susan, Rhoda, and Bernard then reflect on all that is contained, in their view, in this moment or "globe" of communion (4b.77-82).
- Bernard then describes everyone preparing to leave. Sad times.
- Neville declares that he is in agony when the cab comes and takes Percival away…