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He talked almost incessantly; he smiled to himself and again began to talk, as if the smile had been an answer.
The elderly eccentric, although it might be easy to view his speech and behaviors as comic, merits empathy. His caretaker rarely speaks, apparently being interrupted each time that he might, and he offers little of what the old man actually seeks. The old man talks incessantly, in conversations held primarily with himself. He is cut off and isolated from others. He is even viewed as a curiosity, an outcast, by the women who wander the garden behind him. They are clearly fascinated by him and with just a quick glance, they appear to collectively form opinions about him. However, the old man’s underlying goal, revealed in those isolated conversations with himself, indicates a tragic condition. He longs to enter human community. He longs for love and companionship. He wants to help widows contact the dead, has had glimpses of community through his own conversations with spirits, and is so desperate to connect with others that he tries to engage with a strange woman in the distance. Even his fantasy, a product of his mental illness, suggests his quiet and lonely desperation as he reminisces about visiting the forests of Uruguay with a beautiful young woman.
[T]here was a bill that he would pay with a real two shilling piece, and it was real, all real, he assured himself, fingering the coin in his pocket, real to everyone except to him and to her; even to him it began to seem real; and then—but it was too exciting to stand and think any longer, and he pulled the parasol out of the earth with a jerk and was impatient to find the place where one had tea with other people, like other people.
The young man who accompanies Trissie initially might be viewed without compassion or empathy; after all, he seems to be something of an antagonist. He dodges or is unable to answer her question, “Isn’t it worth sixpence?” His hand is heavy atop hers, and, although she longs to linger, he eventually pulls her away from the flowerbed. He speaks to her as if she were a child. However, Woolf includes subtle, redeeming details as she presents his thoughts. He is not immune to the beauty of the garden, nor does he discount its value, as their initial conversation might suggest. He is, instead, overwhelmed and feeling out of place. When Trissie mentions tea, he senses an underlying significance in her words, as if something substantial looms behind them. If anything, the intensity of his feelings for her contributes to his seemingly antagonistic behavior. When he pulls her away from the garden bed, it's because the excitement was too much to endure the contemplation any longer. Although the relationship may face challenges or even be doomed, the young man, as Woolf presents him, is subject to the emotions and confusions of early and overwhelming affection.
