hat is actual and tangible about Jacob. The truth of Jacob cannot be stretched any further than that he is attractive but awkward at the same time. Woolf is not oblivious of these feeling about Jacob that her reader may have, in fact it is more than likely her intention. Woolf shows us the true portrait of Jacob, one free of bias and personnel interpretation. Jacobs room is able to give us, at the very least, proof that Jacob does exist and is visible without the corruption of human analysis. The room is described with a certain somber tone to it- the room is filled with books and other material objects that represent concrete and palpable life. Yet, listless is the air in an empty room, just swelling the curtain; the flowers in the jar shift. One fibre in the wicker armchair creaks, though none sits there (200). Our proof of Jacob is still empty, alone, and isolated, the same melancholy portrait we had of Jacob from the vague perceptions of the other characters. Jacobs room furthers the disconnection and isolation that is found throughout the novel.This portrait of Jacob is finished at the end of the novel, but it is ended suddenly with Jacobs death in the war. The growing portrait of Jacob is terminated, with the reader having a sense the loss of Jacob is more of gain in understanding his character. Jacobs death is more understood than his life, his death has more existence than his vitality. In life, Jacob was an absence of person, a life that is never fully understood can never truly endure. Jacob seemed more of a need for love and palpable attention from those who surrounded him than an individual existence. Jacob was more of an idea, a spirit that filled countless letters and thoughts, but never fully digested. The final pages of the story leave the reader with Bonomy and Betty Flanders trying to come to terms with Jacobs life more than his death. Such confusion everywhere! (201) is Bettys best attempt on how to describe the omi...
