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Chapter 4: 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
Virginia checks her clock and sees that about two hours have passed. She feels good about what she’s written, although she knows she might not feel the same way about it tomorrow. She’d like to write for the whole day, but she fears that if she writes for more than a couple hours, her headaches will return. When she reaches her goal of 250 words, she reluctantly decides that’s enough for the day.
Completing 250 words in a day is a fairly small amount for a writer, suggesting how much Virginia’s fear of headaches is slowing her down. Although Virginia’s headaches seem to be related to writing, an earlier chapter revealed that the real reason she fears them is because she needs to remain in good health if she ever wants to get back to London—suggesting the headaches may be about more than just writing.
Themes
Virginia goes down to the printing room, where Ralph and Leonard are working on page proofs. Leonard is in a bad mood due to the number of errors in the pages, but Ralph is more optimistic about their progress. Ralph is an assistant, and under Leonard, many assistants come and go. Virginia reassures Ralph that the book will be done soon enough, but she is really trying to reassure Leonard more than Ralph.
Virginia struggles to communicate with Ralph—at first, she doesn’t want him to be discouraged, but as soon as she encourages him, she feels that she has gone too far. Their relationship shows how even though Virginia is in power as the employer, she nevertheless struggles to take agency in her household, where Leonard is the patriarch.
Themes
