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Chapter 18: Mrs. Dalloway
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Hours, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
The Passage of Time
Suicide and Mental Health
Marriage, Relationships, and Personal Fulfillment
Reading and Writing
Summary
Analysis
Dan blows out his birthday cake, and although Laura applauds and says, “Happy birthday,” she is secretly angry at him for accidentally spitting on the cake. But when Dan puts his arm around her, she remembers how good he can be. Laura asks Richie if he made a wish too. Richie nods, even though he didn’t think of the idea—his wish, similar to Dan’s, is for things to stay the way they are.
Earlier, Laura justified to herself that Dan was a better husband than Kitty’s husband, Ray, because Ray spits too much when he talks. When Dan spits on the cake that Laura spent so much time worrying about, it not only shows that Dan doesn’t understand Laura’s hard work, but it also shows Laura that there might not be anything special about Dan compared to Ray after all.
Themes
Dan asks Richie to help him cut the cake. Laura goes to get dessert plates and thinks about her life compared to Kitty in the hospital. When she puts plates and forks on the table, she feels as if she has somehow miraculously succeeded at the last minute in her plans for the day. Laura watches Dan help Richie cut the cake. Laura imagines good will prevail in the world and even Kitty will get better soon. She savors the moment even as she feels like it’s a page in a book about to turn. She watches a smiling Richie lick icing off a candle and make another wish.
Laura is clearly disappointed by Dan’s reaction to the cake, but she tries to cope with it by focusing on anticipation for the future, as many other characters in the novel do. Richie embodies Laura’s hope for a better world—he is young and innocent, able to live in the moment without dreading the future. Undercutting the hopeful nature of this scene is the fact that Richie grows up into Richard, who is unable to escape the same feelings of hopelessness that his mother experiences and who ultimately dies by suicide.
Themes
