Mrs. Dalloway

 Word Count: 279

Mrs. Dalloway

    I chose the scene when Pete and Clarissa are arguing about their future. Clarissa has chosen not to marry Peter, but instead marry Richard Dalloway. She feels safe with Richard, and he does not have the same extravagant expectations for Clarissa like Peter does. Peter wants her to do more with her life than stay at home and be a mother and wife, but that is not what she wants. This is a direct contrast from the other novels we have read. In these other novels, women want to marry for love and do more with their lives than stay at home. We explicitly see this in The Awakening by Kate Chopin. In The Awakening, Edna yearns for a life more than what she has been given. We also see the older Mrs. Dalloway contemplate on this point. She wonders if she made the correct decisions when she was younger. This contemplation is very interesting, because she was given other options when she was young, and other young women of the time were not. 

    I think this movie creates an interesting conversation around the topic of autonomy. For a very long time, women were not given the option to make their own choices. This movie presents a woman that is given the opportunity to have a life with autonomy, but she decides against it. When she ponders her life decisions, we see another opportunity for her to make a choice, just as the man who committed suicide did, but she decides against it. This movie exemplifies the effect that choices make on a person's life, and the importance of autonomy for women, even if they chose the safe option.

Comments

  1. Julianna HigginsMarch 28, 2021 at 7:55 PM

    I really liked the scene you chose to analyze because I think it was an important part of the film, as well as interesting to compare to other pieces we have studied. It's quite interesting how Clarissa chose the more traditional route with Richard, in a time where women often didn't have the option to live a non traditionalist way in which Peter offered her.

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  2. Caroline HersheyMarch 29, 2021 at 2:14 PM

    I agree with Julianna. I think talking about how she really does want to stay home and be a mom is really out of the norm for women of these times, but it was a really good explanation. As you said most women wanted to make a "name" for themselves and have a brighter future than just being a housewife, but Clarissa wanted a different path for herself.

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  3. Rebekah CrawfordMarch 31, 2021 at 6:33 AM

    I enjoyed how you contrasted Mrs. Dalloway to Edna and how opposing their views on independence were. I think this scene showed lots of relevance throughout the film because in every scene that Peter and Clarissa share, he continually asks her if she's happy in the life she's leading. Peter seems to show more concern for her freedom than she does.

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  4. Madison DreissMarch 31, 2021 at 2:49 PM

    Just as Rebekah stated, I thought the comparison from Mrs. Dalloway and Edna's view of independence was an interesting thing to look into. I also agree that she wanted to "feel like a woman" but one that wanted to stay home and stay traditional. At this point in time, women were almost acting out and being their own people, rather than "someone's wife" so I thought this was a good scene that explains that. It also shows that you can truly be yourself and go after what you want, regardless of what society thinks you should do.

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  5. Liam GabrielMarch 31, 2021 at 6:07 PM

    I enjoyed the way that you tied Mrs. Dalloway together with The Awakening. It was nice to relate two vastly different pieces to one another. Mrs. Dalloway was presented with a choice between Richard and Peter but did not go with the untraditional route and marry Peter but married Richard. This was something I discussed in my blog as well and found intriguing throughout the reading.

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