Tuesday, September 15, 2015
Reflections on Mrs. Dalloway
Recently, we finished reading Mrs. Dalloway, a fascinating book that explored many issues and ideas surrounding the end of World War I. While I thoroughly enjoyed the book, I did not like the ending at all. I'm the kind of person who likes a conclusive ending. I don't like cliffhangers unless there is a sequel, I want to know every little detail of what is to become of each character. While the abrupt ending was presumably a literary device applied by Woolf to provoke extra thought, I finished the book crestfallen, stuck in Peter's excitement as he sees Clarissa walk back into the room. This ending was ambiguous, and I found myself wanting closure to the story. There were innumerable paths the end of this story could take; Clarissa could realize she loves Peter and leave Richard, Richard could finally say "I love you" to Clarissa and they could live to a ripe old age and die, Peter could confess his love to Clarissa and be turned down, Clarissa and Sally Seton could have a surreptitious love relationship with each other (unbeknownst to their husbands, or maybe even known), Elizabeth and Clarissa could get in a large argument over their opposing beliefs and Clarissa could become alienated from her daughter, Sir William Bradshaw could receive a firm talking-to from Clarissa about how he was wrong in his treatment of Septimus, and really the list could go on and on. There is absolutely no indication from Virginia Woolf as to what happens to her characters, she leaves them "stuck in a moment that they can't get out of" (as said by the band U2 in their 2000 album, All That You Can't Leave Behind). So as we move on to Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises, I can't help but feel trace amounts of resentment towards Virginia Woolf for such an abrupt ending to such an interesting book.
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I agree with you about the unsatisfying ending to Mrs. Dalloway. After I finished reading the book, I too began to think about all the other potential paths the story could take. However, I feel that the abrupt ending full of loose ends may have been an intentional element of the book. The novel is simply one day in the life of Clarissa Dalloway. While this day seemed to be particularly eventful, it is just a day, and another will follow. Ask yourself if each of your days has a satisfying conclusion. The answer is probably no, and I think that is why Woolf's novel ends so suddenly.
ReplyDeleteIn a way, the open ending is more like the kinds of ending we see in modern short stories. But in a novel that isn't primarily motivated by plot, it might be fitting that the ending doesn't necessarily satisfy on a plot level. Of course, I'd really like to see the conversation with Peter, Sally, and Clarissa at the party--and I imagine Woolf was very tempted to write it. But the real drama (or "plot," in this novel's terms) is not what's going on between the people at the party; it's what's going on inside them. We've just gotten an extended section where Sally and Peter contemplate Clarissa and their interlocked past (and how they view her in the present, too), and Clarissa has just been off in a room alone wrestling with deep existential questions. She seems strongly compelled by Septimus's suicide, stares into the void, and chooses to reenter society, to be in the world, to keep living. As the conclusion of this deep and private struggle, "There she was" represents a significant triumph, and is a fitting ending to this particular novel's concerns.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that the ending, particularly the last paragraph or so were a cliffhanger of sorts, but I think that in the scheme of things, the novel did end at a good point. There's the ending corresponding to the end of the day in which this novel takes place, and there's also the self-revelation that Mrs. Dalloway comes to when considering herself and her parties after a long day of pondering a purpose in life. In the overall gist of things, I think it was a pretty good spot to stop on, but I agree with you that the ending seemed to bring in more possible plot, but leaves the reader hanging.
ReplyDeleteI'm with you on being the type of person that wants a definitive ending. This book has to have provided one of the most frustrating cliffhangers in literary history--especially considering all of the possible alternative endings that you've mentioned. Even with this in mind, if I were Woolf, I wouldn't know where else to have ended it. So, Peter and Clarissa and Sally all end up talking... then what? I feel like whatever would happen would either be so anticlimactic that readers would begin to complain of what a boring ending Mrs. Dalloway had, or so monumental that a sequel would have been required.
ReplyDeleteI get what you are saying about Mrs. Dalloway having and unsatisfactory ending. For me, not only was the end frustrating, but Woolf's writing style as well. When she snakes in and out of characters viewpoints with her free indirect discourse, we don't always know which character is talking or is narrating the story. This could just be a me thing, but not knowing who was talking was really confusing and I sometimes mixed story lines and character's personal opinions in my head. I have to admit that once we finished the book that I thought about what became of the characters. I would love to know what Virginia Woolf imagined her characters did next.
ReplyDeleteI get what you are saying about Mrs. Dalloway having and unsatisfactory ending. For me, not only was the end frustrating, but Woolf's writing style as well. When she snakes in and out of characters viewpoints with her free indirect discourse, we don't always know which character is talking or is narrating the story. This could just be a me thing, but not knowing who was talking was really confusing and I sometimes mixed story lines and character's personal opinions in my head. I have to admit that once we finished the book that I thought about what became of the characters. I would love to know what Virginia Woolf imagined her characters did next.
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