One thing that stood out to me in Margaret Blanchard's article, 'Socialization in Mrs. Dalloway' was her argument that as Septimus was able to communicate better, he became cured. It was not a major point of the article, but I haven't been able to stop mulling over it. I think this fascination might be because the idea was something that I didn't think of before, but which I think rings incredibly true.
I looked back on it and noticed that the closer to 'the end' he gets, the more he communicates - particularly with Rezia. She even notices this, thinking, 'For the first time in days he was speaking as he used to do!' (on page 139) and 'He had become himself then, he had laughed then' (on page 141). Not only does this interaction make Rezia incredibly happy, but Septimus too. On page 141 he thinks, 'It was wonderful. Never had he done anything which made him feel so proud. It was so real, it was so substantial, Mrs. Peters' hat.' His communication with Rezia seems to cure him, if only temporarily. In the beginning of that section, He is incredibly worried about whether or not things are actually real. As the section progresses, and he becomes more involved with Rezia and the hat, he relaxes. He gets less paranoid as he gets more invested in dialogue.
In fact, the section right before the suicide (from pages 138-147) is probably one of the most dialogue-dense sections of the book. You'll notice that, as he devolves, the actual dialogue becomes more sparse. At first, when he is helping Rezia with the hat, laughing, and carrying on a normal conversation, there are roughly four quotes per page. However, when Rezia leaves to return the paper girl to her mother, Septimus starts freaking out again, giving us more thoughts in his head and less dialogue - whether filtered through thoughts or not. From then on, we get less and less dialogue until Dr. Holmes' final spoken line, 'Let her sleep.'
I think that Woolf uses clear, unfiltered dialogue for a couple of reasons. For one, it can represent the way that Septimus is thinking more clearly. Earlier in the day, he is barely able to register the things that other people are saying to him before his mind goes off on a tangent. Compare that to this point in time, where he can not only register what his ears are hearing, but can respond in a coherent manner. Second, I think Woolf uses straight dialogue to show us the connection that Rezia and Septimus are making. Although we do get each person's thoughts on what is going on, the dialogue is not being processed through the judgmental filter of people's brains (which are just another layer of separation between human beings).
His ability to carry on a conversation with Rezia definitely shows that he is not as paranoid and not hallucinating (at the moment), meaning that he is healthy enough to be thinking properly. However, I also think that his investment in the conversation is part of what helped him get better (even if temporarily). You know how, if you are feeling pain, you can become invested in another thing and use that to distract yourself and, for the time being, no longer feel the pain? I think that that is what is happening to Septimus when he is holding the conversation with Rezia. His whole self is invested in that interaction, so he almost completely forgets about his issues. I believe that his communication is not only a sign that he was becoming cured, but also a means to be cured.
This makes a lot of sense: Septimus's terror, at root, seems to revolve around the sense that he's in possession of some great truths about the world, but that he has no way to convey them. He's aware that what he dictates to Rezia is often gibberish, and this furthers his sense that he's cut off from "human nature" and society more generally. The final scene with Rezia and the hat could indeed represent a new possibility for communication, but it's notable that he's not actually conveying anything "important" (in terms of his revelations about the universe). They're kidding around, making fun of Mrs. Peters' gaudy taste in hats, and the "lightness" of the discourse undermines any sense that real communication is taking place. Or, rather, it's an *emotional* communication, and Rezia truly feels a renewed sense of connection, of Septimus being "normal" again, but "human nature" in the form of Holmes soon makes Septimus believe again that the world will not accommodate him and his vision.
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