One of the main questions we grappled with during group discussions was whether or not Mrs. Dalloway is happy. I think that the answer becomes clearer as the book goes on, and my conclusion is yes, she is happy. Clarissa thinks about Peter Walsh a lot throughout the book, and she ponders what her life could have looked like had she married Peter rather than Richard. Clarissa’s thoughts on this subject led our class to wonder whether or not she is happy, and who she would have been happier with. The book does not give us a clear answer as to who she loves more or who she thinks she would be better off with. When Peter is about to ask Clarissa if she is happy, he gets cut off, much like when Richard fails to tell her he loves her, depriving the reader of the opportunity to hear her response. I think it is unfair of the reader to take Clarissa’s thoughts about Peter, and what their life could have been, as a sign that she is unhappy. We all think about what might have happened if we made a different decision, but that does not mean that we are unhappy. Sometimes I wonder what my life would have been like if I chose not to attend Uni, but that doesn’t mean I am not happy here at Uni, and I think the same can be said for Clarissa.
I also think it is unfair of us to base all her happiness on which man she is with. Other things should be taken into account, like her daughter. I think a fair share of her happiness comes from Elizabeth. It could be argued that a main thing that makes Clarissa unhappy is her lack of education and the insecurities surrounding that. This proves that not all her happiness can be attributed to which man she is with. Clarissa often thinks of Sally Seton (who she did love), but at the end of the book when she sees Sally at the party, she has no thoughts of leaving Richard, and no thoughts of how unhappy she is with Richard. During the party, Clarissa thinks “it was due to Richard; she had never been so happy” (Woolf 101). And, at another point in the book Clarissa also thinks that she is happy (I couldn’t find the exact quote). We cannot exactly determine who Clarissa would have been happier with, but the reader should be content knowing that Clarissa is happy in her current life.
You make a really good point that we've been discussing Clarissa's happiness in terms of which guy she is with. Certainly, Clarissa's life isn't all about being a wife/girlfriend of someone else and there are so many other important parts of her life that allow us to determine how happy she is (by the way, also want to point out that there isn't just one definition of "happy"). For example, we could partly notice that she was happy when she was walking down the streets of London at the beginning of the book and admiring how beautiful the city is. Kind of went on a digression here, but I think Mrs. Dalloway allows us to see happiness in multiple dimensions and shows how difficult (or perhaps impossible) it is to measure how happy someone is.
ReplyDeleteI think you make a great point about Clarissa's happiness not being defined by who she married: there are plenty of other factors. However, we also discussed this idea in class that marriage for Clarissa meant choosing an identity for the rest of her life, an identity complimentary to whatever her husband decided to do. So, in choosing to marry Richard, she chose to be stuck as a politician's wife, eternally party-planning. In choosing Peter, she may have been allowed to be more of a political visionary or something along those lines. So now she is left wondering which one would suit her better, and if one could allow her to be seen.
ReplyDeleteI think you are completely right. There is nothing specific in the book that shows a repeated unhappiness in Clarissa because she married Richard. Although I do think that there are times where it is quite explicit that she feels like things might have been better if she married Peter, I think in the long term she seems to be happy with Richard.
ReplyDeleteI found your post really interesting! I definitely think that in the beginning of the book she seems unsatisfied with her life, especially because she keeps on thinking about the past and pondering whether she made the right decisions or not. I definitely agree though that her happiness is filled with other things besides whoever she marries. She does end up living a stable life with a daughter and a husband that loves her.
ReplyDeleteI agree that Clarissa seems to be happy with her life overall. The fact that she has doubts and insecurities about her decisions only serves to make a more realistic and relatable character. As you point out, we all have reservations about the decisions that we make, it doesn't mean that we made the wrong one. In fact, sometimes there is no "right" decisions and maybe Clarissa's insecurities reinforce that idea. Maybe she would've also been happy with Peter, or carving out a very non-traditional life with Sally (though she doesn't imply that's actually an option). She probably could have been happy in many different circumstances.
ReplyDeleteI don't think we discussed Clarissa's happiness in my class period (5th hour) much, but I typically thought of her as an unhappy character. I know you said that she is happier with Richard Dalloway than Peter Walsh, which I agree with, but I think there are many other parts of life that she is upset about. And, all of these center around her need to look perfect to others. For example, she becomes the "perfect hostess", despite hating this description of her, to make others at her party happy. She spends so much energy worrying about and talking to people that she barely knows, just to please them. This people-pleasing behavior seems to rule all of her decisions, and it's a theme that I noticed kept reappearing throughout the book. I wish that she had a bit more development at the end (though she definitely had some when learning about Septimus), where she confronted this problem more.
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