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Chapter 7: Mrs. Woolf
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
Clarissa gets home with her flowers and sees Sally in the hallway as she’s on her way out to lunch with Oliver St. Ives, a movie star they both know. Sally asks if Clarissa needs help with anything, but Clarissa reassures her that she has the party under control. Clarissa thinks she feels something deathly in her hallway. Then she realizes it’s worse than death—it’s the idea that Richard is losing his whole identity to AIDS and won’t be able to grow old with her.
Once again, Clarissa’s flowers symbolize how beauty is fleeting, with Clarissa regretting how she missed an opportunity to spend a life with Richard due to how quickly the time passed. Clarissa’s fixation on the past and what she lost seems to prevent her from appreciating the relationship she has in the present with Sally.
Themes
Clarissa knows that she and Sally are wealthy by some standards, having two floors and a garden in the West Village, but she also feels that they aren’t wealthy by New York standards. She tries to appreciate what she has and make peace with the idea that she’s lucky regardless of whether the party goes well.
For all her flaws, Clarissa is often self-aware. Like Virginia, Clarissa struggles with wanting the best and most beautiful things but also not wanting to get them at the expense of others who are less fortunate.
Themes
Clarissa thinks about Oliver St. Ives, who used to pretend to be a heterosexual hero in thrillers but who recently came out in a Vanity Fair article. Clarissa thinks about how, when Oliver St. Ives invited Sally to lunch, he probably didn’t exclude Clarissa but just didn’t think of her. Clarissa tries to reassure herself that her life is in no way a failure.
The changing career of Oliver St. Ives shows how ideas about gender and sexuality have changed, particularly since the time of Virginia and Laura. But Clarissa and Sally continue to have trouble communicating with each other, showing one way that the challenges of relationships haven’t changed over time.
Themes
Clarissa thinks back to how Richard was in a relationship with her and Louis at the same time. Clarissa tried to have sex with Louis once, but it was clear they weren’t meant for each other—instead, their main bond was that they both loved Richard. As much as Clarissa tells herself her current life is good, she can’t help thinking of missed opportunities with Richard. While sex with Richard was not as satisfying as she hoped, but she still thinks back to the day when they kissed and went on a walk—when it seemed like her whole future would be full of happiness. She realizes now that the real happiness was in that moment of anticipation.
Unlike Virginia or Laura, Clarissa has had a chance to explore many of her sexual desires. And yet, despite Clarissa’s constant nostalgia about her past with Richard, the reality of their relationship did little to satisfy her at the time. Clarissa is maybe less repressed than Virginia and Laura, but she still has a longing for something more, suggesting that there is something universal about this desire. As Clarissa realizes, perhaps what she is really nostalgic for is the anticipation at the start of a relationship—the sense that time is working in her favor rather than taking things away from her.
Themes
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