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Chapter 6: Mrs. Brown
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 walks up Mt. Ararat Road in Richmond, planning how and why her character Clarissa Dalloway will die by suicide. She imagines it will be due to a woman, one Clarissa knew and loved when she was young, before she decided to marry a man. She thinks about how women have to be more sensitive to small details, right down to the choice of a hat, and so she figures Clarissa will probably kill herself over something that seems very small on the outside.
Despite living with her husband and being surrounded by servants and guests, Virginia still feels isolated in many ways. Because she has no one that she could talk to about a subject like suicide, she instead uses her fiction as a way to make sense of the issue. Through her writing, Virginia manages to find the understanding she seeks, but much of it comes after her death, from strangers like Laura and Clarissa who read her novels.
Themes
Virginia reaches Hogarth House (her home, named after her publishing company Hogarth Press) and goes inside, where she finds Nelly downstairs in the kitchen, rolling out a pie crust. Nelly describes what she plans on serving for lunch, including yellow pears for the pudding, adding that she could do something different if Virginia wants something fancier. Virginia is disappointed by the pears but doesn’t want people to think that she needs fancy things, so she goes along with it.
This passage shows the complicated power dynamics at play in Virginia’s household. Although Virginia often defers to Leonard’s authority, she herself has authority over servants like Nelly. As is often the case, Virginia struggles with her own desires, wanting the best food but also caring about what Nelly thinks of her, not wanting to appear too controlling or privileged.
Themes
Virginia reminds Nelly that Vanessa and her children are arriving in the afternoon for tea. She wants to give them China tea and sugared ginger, but Nelly says it would take a trip into London to get those things. Virginia replies that there’s plenty of time for Nelly to get to London and back. Virginia feels maybe she is punishing Nelly for the pears and wishes she could be more skilled with servants, getting Nelly to not serve pears while still having Nelly love her. Virginia decides to make Clarissa Dalloway more skillful with servants.
Once again, Virginia’s desires conflict with each other, as she wants to offer the best hospitality to Vanessa while still keeping Nelly happy. On top of this, a part of Virginia also resents Nelly for the pears in the previous passage. Like the characters that she writes about, Virginia’s ordinary life has conflicts that are far more complex than they might initially seem on the surface.
Themes
