The political message of Virginia Woolf`s writing derives from the `dialogic` relationship into which she places heterogeneous discourses. `Dialogization` functions to deprive an authoritative, official discourse of its privileged status and to relegate it to one among many discourses within the given narrative. Stripped of its silencing authority and concealing rhetoric, the `truth` of the official discourse is made to meet the unofficial `countertruths` of other discourses on equal terms. In Mrs. Dalloway, the imperialist/masculinist discourse of postwar British society is first introduced within a sub-narrative about Peter Walsh. It provides an ideological axis for Peter`s story, pervading the latter`s proud recollection of his colonial life and his admiration of the civilization of the Empire. This hegemonic discourse, however, does not dominate the scene but is soon interweaved with other `unorthodox` dis-courses. As a result, the valorization of the Empire voiced by Peter is discredited and contradicted by Septimus`s disquieting narration. The sub-narrative about Septimus presents the war hero`s excruciating recollection of his own participation in the Empire`s war and its dire consequences. Septimus`s psychosis, which resulted from his compelled cultivation of aggressive masculinity during the war, is evidence that refutes Peter`s glorifying view of the Empire and imperial service. The hegemonic discourse is also voiced by Sir William Bradshaw. Bradshaw is one of the guardians of the Establishment in the sense that he polices the thoughts of individuals. Those who are not satisfied with the current regime and its Ideological Order are labelled by him as mentally ill and thus quarantined and penalized. It is not just malcontent underclasses alone who suffer from the oppressive culture of the Empire. The racial Other is also subjected to the same kind of oppression in the mane of `Progress` and `Civilization.` Bradshaw not only justifies but also glorifies this domestic and international oppression of the Empire. His rhetorics about the `benevolent` governing classes and the Empire are, however, belied by the bitter critical sub-narratives about the agonizing Septimus and Lucrezia. Sub-narratives in Mrs. Dalloway constitute meaningful units, considered alone. However, when they are put together and made to interact with one another, the total effect of the orchestration spells more than a mere sum of the message in each sub-narrative. Those sub-narratives are arranged by the author in such a way as to ensure an `engagement` among them. The result is that the hegemonic discourse of post-war British society is challenged, undermined and mocked by the unofficial, unorthodox discourse of marginalized social group. The attitude of Mrs. Dalloway toward the dominant culture of the Empire can be found in this subversiveness effected by the `dialogization` of discourses.
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