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Chapter 8: 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
Laura is disappointed in how the cake she makes with Richie turns out, but she tries to love it even though she thinks it’s a failure. She doesn’t want it to distract her from taking care of the other items on her birthday to-do list. Just then, Kitty (Laura’s friend and neighbor two doors down) shows up at the back door. Laura is excited but also nervous at Kitty’s sudden appearance.
Laura’s previous chapter seemed to end with a moment of triumph, but the challenge that each character in this novel faces is that each hour brings something new. Laura’s change of mind about the cake may seem like a small matter, but Cunningham, like Woolf, tries to give dignity and importance to even everyday conflicts.
Themes
Kitty asks if she’s interrupting anything, and Laura says of course not. Kitty is younger and seems more self-assured to Laura. Kitty notices the cake and says it’s “cute,” which Laura takes as evidence of her failure. Laura is slightly terrified of how much she values Kitty’s friendship. Kitty seems more put-together than Laura, although Kitty’s one flaw, in Laura’s view, is her husband, Ray—Ray was prisoner of war in the Philippines, and now he looks prematurely middle aged and spits a lot when he talks.
This passage closely follows Laura’s viewpoint, making it difficult to tell how her perspective may be distorting things. For example, when Kitty calls the cake “cute,” it may in fact be a compliment, but Laura’s doubts from the previous passage have primed her to interpret the comment negatively. Similarly, although Laura dislikes Ray, the main flaw she dislikes about him is how he spits too much, suggesting that perhaps Laura only knows Ray on a superficial level.
Themes
Kitty takes some coffee and says she really likes it. She says she’s considering switching from Maxwell House to Folgers for coffee, like Laura. The women chat for a bit, and then Kitty admits that she has to go to the hospital soon to have a growth on her uterus looked at—it might be why she hasn’t been able to conceive a child with Ray. Laura is surprised to learn that Kitty is the reason they can’t have a child, not Ray.
Maxwell House and Folgers are both cheap coffee brands. Kitty’s comment shows how in late-1940s suburban culture, brands are a part of person’s identity, almost like rooting for a sports team. But Cunningham doesn’t depict Kitty as superficial—the growth on her uterus suggests that beneath her exterior as a successful housewife there is hidden pain.
Themes
Laura hugs Kitty and tells her everything will be OK. Their lips touch, but they don’t quite kiss. Kitty backs away first, but Laura worries that even though Kitty initiated the kiss, Laura is somehow the one who caused things to go “too far.” Laura worries when she notices Richie watching them. She promises to feed Kitty’s dog while Kitty is at the hospital. Kitty promises to call tomorrow with an update from the hospital. When Kitty leaves, Laura feels exhausted. Laura takes Richie into the living room, goes back to dump their cake into the garbage, then decides to make a new, better cake.
Like Virginia and like the character Mrs. Dalloway, Laura has desires that she can’t act on, partly due to the society she lives in and partly due to her own sense of shame. Laura’s guilt about kissing Kitty is not just about the stigmas around homosexuality at the time but also about her feeling that she should be content with her family and repress any desire for more. Ultimately, Laura’s decision to re-make the cake is not just about insecurity, but also a way for her to punish herself for momentarily dreaming of something more than her role as a mother and housewife.
Themes
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