The relationship that Virginia Woolf offers between Clarissa and Peter is an interesting one to say the least. The reader learns so much about these two characters' tension through one day described in the novel. They each have flashbacks of more carefree times with one another, the most standout of those being their time in St. James Park.
What makes this relationship almost exciting to follow is the fact that there was (and even still is) an obvious love for one another in the past. They tell themselves that they know each other unconditionally and it is the fact that maybe they know each other so well that in a sense tore them apart. Peter had the small tendencies which annoyed Clarissa and Peter did not appreciate some of the qualities Clarissa had. This is obvious in their present reunion when Peter visits Clarissa at her home. He begins to play with his knife (out of nerve I think- I have the same kind of tendencies when I get nervous too) which immediately makes Clarissa think of the past.
The major thing which turned Clarissa off of Peter is the fact that she knew him well enough to believe that although he had a lot of potential, he never had the drive to move up in society. These two obviously have their likes and dislikes of each other, but it is this way with any relationship. Clarissa, even though it was never actually stated, to some extent regrets how her life turned out after not marrying Peter. She may be in a higher status now than she could have been with Peter, but to gain this she lost something else, love. She is not in love with Richard, whereas Clarissa's differences with Peter should not have been such a factor where she would give up on someone she loved.
In the final pages of the novel Peter attends Clarissa's party and gets alone time with her. He is excited and nervous at the same time, proving that he is in fact still in love with her. Virginia Woolf leaves it at this to let the reader wonder what happened between Clarissa and Peter in her home. No issue is resolved, and although Clarissa is with Richard now, Peter (and Sally) give Clarissa a memory of her past which she misses. It is obvious that the feeling is mutual and they love each other. If I were in the Dalloway household that night, I bet Clarissa would be thinking "what if" with Peter.
Monday, February 4, 2008
Mrs. Dalloway
I love the ending of Mrs. Dalloway. I like the type story that has an ending where someone life was improved or someone learned a very beneficial lesson. I feel that Peter has learned a very good lesson on the topic of love. Towards the end of the story Peter was at Mrs. Dalloway’s house (Clarissa) with a feeling of ecstasy or euphoria. I interpreted Peter’s feeling of happiness and excitement because he has experienced a love that has last over a lifetime. I am somewhat concerned of Daisy’s feelings, because I feel that Peter should have been open with his feelings about who he loves and has always loved. This is a common action throughout the story including in Clarissa’s own life.
Clarissa is clearly in the point of her life where she is overlooking the decisions made over time. Her curiosities in how her life would be with other lovers, such as Peter and Sally Seton, fit into a theme of secrecy. I believe that in relationships, especially spousal relationships, there needs to have honest communication, which is two parts, beings honest and the communication. I believe this is extremely difficult because being honest and communicating is not always something you would like to do or something you would like to hear because it is not always good things said or felt. However, at the end of the day it is giving your spouse or loved one the respect that they deserve to know the truth.
Lastly, Clarissa really shows that she has a mind when she follows her gut feelings about Dr. Bradshaw and feels happy that Septimus did not conform and is now free. I am sadden about Septimus’ death because in my mind it is not a peaceful to die, but I understand why Septimus felt like he had to do this.
Clarissa is clearly in the point of her life where she is overlooking the decisions made over time. Her curiosities in how her life would be with other lovers, such as Peter and Sally Seton, fit into a theme of secrecy. I believe that in relationships, especially spousal relationships, there needs to have honest communication, which is two parts, beings honest and the communication. I believe this is extremely difficult because being honest and communicating is not always something you would like to do or something you would like to hear because it is not always good things said or felt. However, at the end of the day it is giving your spouse or loved one the respect that they deserve to know the truth.
Lastly, Clarissa really shows that she has a mind when she follows her gut feelings about Dr. Bradshaw and feels happy that Septimus did not conform and is now free. I am sadden about Septimus’ death because in my mind it is not a peaceful to die, but I understand why Septimus felt like he had to do this.
Sunday, February 3, 2008
patterns of thought
At first, I had a difficult time getting into Mrs. Dalloway. I found Woolf's style of writing tough to follow, and thus could hardly sort out what was happening. She often chooses not to punctuate dialogue with quotation marks, making it hard to distinguish between a character's thought and speech. To further complicate matters, Woolf tends to jump around without warning from the mind of one character to another; this makes it confusing when trying to determine whose perspective is being shown. For example, one paragraph will be giving Elizabeth's thoughts about the city from the omnibus when suddenly the next paragraph is written from the perspective of Septimus Smith (136).
Despite these derivations from the standard rules of grammar, it didn't take long to adapt to Woolf's writing style. I suppose it just takes some adjustment because soon I felt that it all flowed rather easily in spite of the sometimes "jerky" thoughts. The characters in Mrs. Dalloway often interrupt their own thinking to question details or draw the reader's attention to another line of thought entirely. For instance, as Clarissa thinks about her own town, she second guesses the details: "For having lived in Westminster -- how many years now? over twenty, -- one feels even in the midst of traffic, or waking at night, Clarissa was positive, a particular hush, or solemnity" (4). Though it is not necessarily important exactly how long Clarissa has lived in Westminster, Woolf goes out of the way to trace that thought.
However, these somewhat complicated thought patterns are part of what makes Woolf's novel so realistic; such thought patterns are true to experience. By contemplating our own everyday thought patterns, we realize that others, too, would probably be confused if given a script of our brain's thoughts throughout a day.
Despite these derivations from the standard rules of grammar, it didn't take long to adapt to Woolf's writing style. I suppose it just takes some adjustment because soon I felt that it all flowed rather easily in spite of the sometimes "jerky" thoughts. The characters in Mrs. Dalloway often interrupt their own thinking to question details or draw the reader's attention to another line of thought entirely. For instance, as Clarissa thinks about her own town, she second guesses the details: "For having lived in Westminster -- how many years now? over twenty, -- one feels even in the midst of traffic, or waking at night, Clarissa was positive, a particular hush, or solemnity" (4). Though it is not necessarily important exactly how long Clarissa has lived in Westminster, Woolf goes out of the way to trace that thought.
However, these somewhat complicated thought patterns are part of what makes Woolf's novel so realistic; such thought patterns are true to experience. By contemplating our own everyday thought patterns, we realize that others, too, would probably be confused if given a script of our brain's thoughts throughout a day.
Dreams are always better than realities
Trapped in the past, Peter obsessively contemplates what could have been, allowing him to get lost in a world of implausible realities. Instead of stepping forward in his life, he consistently makes an effort to step backwards. Unlike the other characters in Mrs. Dalloway, who indulge themselves in thoughts of the past, Peter appears highly unsatisfied with the path his life has taken since Clarissa refused his proposal.
Although Peter attempts to move on, he is incapable of ignoring his feelings for Clarissa. He admits how it is “impossible that he should ever suffer again as Clarissa had made him suffer. For hours at a time (pray God one might say things without being overheard!), for hours and days he never thought of Daisy” (77). Consumed by his love for Clarissa, Peter rarely thinks about how he plans on helping Daisy divorce her husband or what their future together holds. Instead, he spends time imagining what possessed Clarissa to marry Richard all those years ago. At the conclusion of the novel, all of Peter’s thoughts for Daisy disappear and are replaced by thoughts for Clarissa.
Thus, the reader almost forgets that Daisy is the reason why Peter returns to England in the first place. One cannot help but accuse Peter of using Daisy as an excuse in order to return to England and see Clarissa. In the book’s final moments, Woolf confirms that Peter’s undying love belongs to Clarissa and not Daisy. When he declares, “what is this terror? What is this ecstasy? He thought to himself. What is it that fills me with extraordinary excitement,” the reader already knows that the “terror” and “ecstasy” he is experiencing is none other than Clarissa (190).
Even after all the arguments and years spent apart, he still experiences a knot in his stomach when he sees Clarissa; unfortunately, no real future exists for these past lovers besides the one in Peter’s head; nevertheless, one tends to make “up the better part of life,” according to Peter, a man whose dreams were squashed by reality (53).
Although Peter attempts to move on, he is incapable of ignoring his feelings for Clarissa. He admits how it is “impossible that he should ever suffer again as Clarissa had made him suffer. For hours at a time (pray God one might say things without being overheard!), for hours and days he never thought of Daisy” (77). Consumed by his love for Clarissa, Peter rarely thinks about how he plans on helping Daisy divorce her husband or what their future together holds. Instead, he spends time imagining what possessed Clarissa to marry Richard all those years ago. At the conclusion of the novel, all of Peter’s thoughts for Daisy disappear and are replaced by thoughts for Clarissa.
Thus, the reader almost forgets that Daisy is the reason why Peter returns to England in the first place. One cannot help but accuse Peter of using Daisy as an excuse in order to return to England and see Clarissa. In the book’s final moments, Woolf confirms that Peter’s undying love belongs to Clarissa and not Daisy. When he declares, “what is this terror? What is this ecstasy? He thought to himself. What is it that fills me with extraordinary excitement,” the reader already knows that the “terror” and “ecstasy” he is experiencing is none other than Clarissa (190).
Even after all the arguments and years spent apart, he still experiences a knot in his stomach when he sees Clarissa; unfortunately, no real future exists for these past lovers besides the one in Peter’s head; nevertheless, one tends to make “up the better part of life,” according to Peter, a man whose dreams were squashed by reality (53).
Saturday, February 2, 2008
Living Trees and Human Dogs
I find it interesting that Septimus’s delusions seem to play out in other parts of the story. According to Septimus the first “supreme secret” is that “trees are alive” (66). While true in a scientific sense and completely irrational, if by alive he means like a person, one particular tree takes on a very human role. Sylvie Dalloway was “killed by a falling tree” (76). In another example of a plant’s human-like qualities (or Clarissa’s lack of them), “People were beginning to compare [Clarissa] to popular trees” (191).
Another hallucination that seems to come to life is the idea of dogs turning into people. Septimus says, “It was turning into a man! He could not watch it happen…a dog become a man!” (66). Elizabeth’s two greatest loves are food and dogs. And Septimus describes his war experience with Evans like “two dogs playing on a hearth rug” (84). Both Elizabeth and Septimus certainly think of dogs in human terms.
Among the social, gender, and age conventions so clearly challenged in this book, is the traditional idea of sanity.
Another hallucination that seems to come to life is the idea of dogs turning into people. Septimus says, “It was turning into a man! He could not watch it happen…a dog become a man!” (66). Elizabeth’s two greatest loves are food and dogs. And Septimus describes his war experience with Evans like “two dogs playing on a hearth rug” (84). Both Elizabeth and Septimus certainly think of dogs in human terms.
Among the social, gender, and age conventions so clearly challenged in this book, is the traditional idea of sanity.
Friday, February 1, 2008
Saturday
Reading Saturday feels, in a way, like time is moving slower as in the course of reading the book than the pace at which the story progresses. All of Perone's individual interactions include such detail that it seems as though the scene is under water, moving in slow, calculated motion. The squash scene probably took around an hour to read, and the squash game itself probably took less than an hour. Perone's flashbacks occupy time as well, freezing the moment as he reflects on some distant memory. To Perone, the flashbacks take no more than mere seconds, but since we as readers have no idea what his memories include, the whole account is presented to us. McEwan's technique, the act of representing time in the novel, makes the experience of reading Saturday feel like the reader is experiencing every aspect of the day in real time.
McEwan compresses every single detail of this 24 hour period into 289 pages. This book is a work of compression because there is an unlimited amount of detail associated with any single day. He could have written 289 pages on one specific minute, if he desired to include every detail about that particular minute. This novel teaches the reader not to overlook any aspect of a scene, to focus and absorb and understand absolutely everything the author presents.
Saturday opinion
First journal entry
I have thought that Saturday was entirely too detailed, I lost interest several times trying to make it to chapter 2. I am not a fan of knowing the intimate details of everything; quick precise points with little detail going straight to the point would have done just fine and would have better depicted the story. My favorite aspect of the book is the fact that Henry Perowne is personable. There is a part in the book where Daisy wants her father, Henry Perowne to read a non medical book and he struggled to do so. This reminds me of a relative of mine, who too is a doctor, I would recommend reading a new Rebecca Walker book such as Baby Love or an autobiography and I don’t believe he would touch the book, but instead read the inside cover and get all the summaries of the book.
I think it is very important for an author to add a relatable character to the story and McEwan did that, but for me as said before it was in a too wordy way. Henry Perowne‘s family, sometimes remind me of my own and encourage imagination about what similarities, my family and his family will possess. For instance, Henry and Rosalind have a son and a daughter- Theo and Daisy and I have a boyfriend and we have two children which happen to be a son and a daughter as well. Rosalind and Henry have a loving relationship in which Henry is still in love with his wife and is not tempted to step outside their marriage.
When Henry stated that it is the familiarity of his wife that keeps him quite content, my eyebrows rose. Usually, at least in our Western culture, women (a lot of time) who are in long term relationships fear that their husbands will become bored of them or in other words used to or too familiar with them, so it is very interesting to see that that is not a turn off for this educated English man. I wonder if it is just Henry who feels like this about his wife or if this is true of the English culture as a whole?
I have thought that Saturday was entirely too detailed, I lost interest several times trying to make it to chapter 2. I am not a fan of knowing the intimate details of everything; quick precise points with little detail going straight to the point would have done just fine and would have better depicted the story. My favorite aspect of the book is the fact that Henry Perowne is personable. There is a part in the book where Daisy wants her father, Henry Perowne to read a non medical book and he struggled to do so. This reminds me of a relative of mine, who too is a doctor, I would recommend reading a new Rebecca Walker book such as Baby Love or an autobiography and I don’t believe he would touch the book, but instead read the inside cover and get all the summaries of the book.
I think it is very important for an author to add a relatable character to the story and McEwan did that, but for me as said before it was in a too wordy way. Henry Perowne‘s family, sometimes remind me of my own and encourage imagination about what similarities, my family and his family will possess. For instance, Henry and Rosalind have a son and a daughter- Theo and Daisy and I have a boyfriend and we have two children which happen to be a son and a daughter as well. Rosalind and Henry have a loving relationship in which Henry is still in love with his wife and is not tempted to step outside their marriage.
When Henry stated that it is the familiarity of his wife that keeps him quite content, my eyebrows rose. Usually, at least in our Western culture, women (a lot of time) who are in long term relationships fear that their husbands will become bored of them or in other words used to or too familiar with them, so it is very interesting to see that that is not a turn off for this educated English man. I wonder if it is just Henry who feels like this about his wife or if this is true of the English culture as a whole?
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