The Hours

by

Michael Cunningham

Laura Brown is an avid reader who lives in Los Angeles in 1949. She’s married to Dan and has a son named Richie. Like Clarissa in the present-day timeline of The Hours, and like Mrs. Dalloway in Virginia Woolf’s novel Mrs. Dalloway, Laura’s timeline follows a single day in her life. Also like Mrs. Dalloway and the other protagonists of The Hours, Laura spends her day preparing for a party. In Laura’s case, this includes baking a cake for Dan’s birthday. Laura loves to escape her daily life through reading and feels that Virginia Woolf must have understood the exact same things Laura is going through—like Woolf, Woolf’s character Mrs. Dalloway, and Clarissa, Laura feels stifled by her domestic life, particularly by her attraction to other women, which she feels unable to act on. Laura desires her neighbor and good friend Kitty. At one point, the women share a passionate kiss, but the intimate moment ends abruptly before either can acknowledge what happened between them. While a part of Laura resents having to spend so much of her time on her family, another part of her feels that it is her duty to be the best wife and mother possible, motivating her to throw out the first cake she makes for Dan and try to make a better one. Her commitment to her domestic obligations repress her need for solitude and individuality, and as a result, she experiences constant anxiety and frequent suicidal thoughts. At one point, in order to give herself a few uninterrupted hours of reading time, she leaves Richie with a babysitter and secretly rents a hotel room and spends the afternoon reading there. She subsequently spends the rest of the day feeling guilty and ashamed of her impulsive decision. Laura reappears in the novel’s present day as an elderly woman following the suicide of her adult son, Richard.

Laura Brown Quotes in The Hours

The The Hours quotes below are all either spoken by Laura Brown or refer to Laura Brown. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
The Passage of Time Theme Icon
).
Chapter 3: Mrs. Brown Quotes

She inhales deeply. It is so beautiful; it is so much more than…well, than almost anything, really. In another world, she might have spent her whole life reading. But this is the new world, the rescued world—there’s not much room for idleness. So much has been risked and lost; so many have died.

Related Characters: Laura Brown, Virginia Woolf, Dan
Page Number: 39
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 5: Mrs. Woolf Quotes

She decides, with misgivings, that she is finished for today. Always, there are these doubts. Should she try another hour? Is she being judicious, or slothful? Judicious, she tells herself, and almost believes it. She has her two hundred and fifty words, more or less. Let it be enough. Have faith that you will be here, recognizable to yourself, again tomorrow.

Related Characters: Laura Brown, Virginia Woolf, Leonard
Page Number: 72
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 6: Mrs. Brown Quotes

It seems suddenly easy to bake a cake, to raise a child. She loves her son purely, as mothers do—she does not resent him, does not wish to leave.

Related Characters: Laura Brown, Richard/Richie, Dan
Related Symbols: Cake
Page Number: 79
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 9: Mrs. Brown Quotes

Laura releases Kitty. She steps back. She has gone too far, they’ve both gone too far, but it is Kitty who’s pulled away first. It is Kitty whose terrors have briefly propelled her, caused her to act strangely and desperately. Laura is the dark-eyed predator. Laura is the odd one, the foreigner, the one who can’t be trusted. Laura and Kitty agree, silently, that this is true.

Laura glances over at Richie. He is still holding the red truck. He is still watching.

Related Characters: Clarissa Vaughan, Laura Brown, Richard/Richie, Kitty
Related Symbols: Cake
Page Number: 110
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 11: Mrs. Dalloway Quotes

The truth is that he does not love Hunter and Hunter does not love him. They are having an affair; only an affair. He fails to think of him for hours at a time. Hunter has other boyfriends, a whole future planned, and when he’s moved on, Louis has to admit, privately, that he won’t much miss Hunter’s shrill laugh, his chipped front tooth, his petulant silences.

There is so little love in the world.

Related Characters: Clarissa Vaughan, Laura Brown, Virginia Woolf, Richard/Richie, Louis
Page Number: 134
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 12: Mrs. Brown Quotes

Leaving the desk, she can hardly believe she’s done it. She has gotten the key, passed through the portals.

Related Characters: Laura Brown, Virginia Woolf, Richard/Richie, Dan
Page Number: 148
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 13: Mrs. Woolf Quotes

Nelly turns away and, although it is not at all their custom, Virginia leans forward and kisses Vanessa on the mouth. It is an innocent kiss, innocent enough, but just now, in this kitchen, behind Nelly’s back, it feels like the most delicious and forbidden of pleasures. Vanessa returns the kiss.

Related Characters: Laura Brown, Virginia Woolf, Leonard, Vanessa, Kitty, Nelly
Page Number: 154
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 17: Mrs. Brown Quotes

He will watch her forever. He will always know when something is wrong. He will always know precisely when and how much she has failed.

Related Characters: Laura Brown, Richard/Richie, Mrs. Latch
Page Number: 193
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 18: Mrs. Dalloway Quotes

“But there are still the hours, aren’t there? One and then another, and you get through that one and then, my god, there’s another. I’m so sick.”

Related Characters: Richard/Richie (speaker), Clarissa Vaughan, Laura Brown, Virginia Woolf
Related Symbols: Cake
Page Number: 197
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 19: Mrs. Brown Quotes

The candles are lit. The song is sung. Dan, blowing the candles out, sprays a few tiny droplets of clear spittle onto the icing’s smooth surface. Laura applauds and, after a moment, Richie does, too.

Related Characters: Laura Brown, Richard/Richie, Dan, Kitty, Ray
Related Symbols: Cake
Page Number: 205
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 21: Mrs. Brown Quotes

“So,” Dan says after a while. “Are you coming to bed?”

“Yes,” she says.

From far away, she can hear a dog barking.

Related Characters: Laura Brown (speaker), Dan (speaker), Richard/Richie
Related Symbols: Cake
Page Number: 215
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 22: Mrs. Dalloway Quotes

They settle into another silence, one that is neither intimate nor particularly uncomfortable. Here she is, then, Clarissa thinks; here is the woman from Richard’s poetry. Here is the lost mother, the thwarted suicide; here is the woman who walked away. It is both shocking and comforting that such a figure could, in fact, prove to be an ordinary-looking old woman seated on a sofa with her hands in her lap.

Related Characters: Clarissa Vaughan, Laura Brown, Richard/Richie, Sally, Julia, Dan
Related Symbols: Cake
Page Number: 220
Explanation and Analysis:

And here she is, herself, Clarissa, not Mrs. Dalloway anymore; there is no one now to call her that. Here she is with another hour before her.

“Come in, Mrs. Brown,” she says. “Everything’s ready.”

Related Characters: Clarissa Vaughan (speaker), Laura Brown, Richard/Richie, Sally, Julia
Page Number: 226
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire The Hours LitChart as a printable PDF.
The Hours PDF

Laura Brown Quotes in The Hours

The The Hours quotes below are all either spoken by Laura Brown or refer to Laura Brown. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
The Passage of Time Theme Icon
).
Chapter 3: Mrs. Brown Quotes

She inhales deeply. It is so beautiful; it is so much more than…well, than almost anything, really. In another world, she might have spent her whole life reading. But this is the new world, the rescued world—there’s not much room for idleness. So much has been risked and lost; so many have died.

Related Characters: Laura Brown, Virginia Woolf, Dan
Page Number: 39
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 5: Mrs. Woolf Quotes

She decides, with misgivings, that she is finished for today. Always, there are these doubts. Should she try another hour? Is she being judicious, or slothful? Judicious, she tells herself, and almost believes it. She has her two hundred and fifty words, more or less. Let it be enough. Have faith that you will be here, recognizable to yourself, again tomorrow.

Related Characters: Laura Brown, Virginia Woolf, Leonard
Page Number: 72
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 6: Mrs. Brown Quotes

It seems suddenly easy to bake a cake, to raise a child. She loves her son purely, as mothers do—she does not resent him, does not wish to leave.

Related Characters: Laura Brown, Richard/Richie, Dan
Related Symbols: Cake
Page Number: 79
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 9: Mrs. Brown Quotes

Laura releases Kitty. She steps back. She has gone too far, they’ve both gone too far, but it is Kitty who’s pulled away first. It is Kitty whose terrors have briefly propelled her, caused her to act strangely and desperately. Laura is the dark-eyed predator. Laura is the odd one, the foreigner, the one who can’t be trusted. Laura and Kitty agree, silently, that this is true.

Laura glances over at Richie. He is still holding the red truck. He is still watching.

Related Characters: Clarissa Vaughan, Laura Brown, Richard/Richie, Kitty
Related Symbols: Cake
Page Number: 110
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 11: Mrs. Dalloway Quotes

The truth is that he does not love Hunter and Hunter does not love him. They are having an affair; only an affair. He fails to think of him for hours at a time. Hunter has other boyfriends, a whole future planned, and when he’s moved on, Louis has to admit, privately, that he won’t much miss Hunter’s shrill laugh, his chipped front tooth, his petulant silences.

There is so little love in the world.

Related Characters: Clarissa Vaughan, Laura Brown, Virginia Woolf, Richard/Richie, Louis
Page Number: 134
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 12: Mrs. Brown Quotes

Leaving the desk, she can hardly believe she’s done it. She has gotten the key, passed through the portals.

Related Characters: Laura Brown, Virginia Woolf, Richard/Richie, Dan
Page Number: 148
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 13: Mrs. Woolf Quotes

Nelly turns away and, although it is not at all their custom, Virginia leans forward and kisses Vanessa on the mouth. It is an innocent kiss, innocent enough, but just now, in this kitchen, behind Nelly’s back, it feels like the most delicious and forbidden of pleasures. Vanessa returns the kiss.

Related Characters: Laura Brown, Virginia Woolf, Leonard, Vanessa, Kitty, Nelly
Page Number: 154
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 17: Mrs. Brown Quotes

He will watch her forever. He will always know when something is wrong. He will always know precisely when and how much she has failed.

Related Characters: Laura Brown, Richard/Richie, Mrs. Latch
Page Number: 193
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 18: Mrs. Dalloway Quotes

“But there are still the hours, aren’t there? One and then another, and you get through that one and then, my god, there’s another. I’m so sick.”

Related Characters: Richard/Richie (speaker), Clarissa Vaughan, Laura Brown, Virginia Woolf
Related Symbols: Cake
Page Number: 197
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 19: Mrs. Brown Quotes

The candles are lit. The song is sung. Dan, blowing the candles out, sprays a few tiny droplets of clear spittle onto the icing’s smooth surface. Laura applauds and, after a moment, Richie does, too.

Related Characters: Laura Brown, Richard/Richie, Dan, Kitty, Ray
Related Symbols: Cake
Page Number: 205
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 21: Mrs. Brown Quotes

“So,” Dan says after a while. “Are you coming to bed?”

“Yes,” she says.

From far away, she can hear a dog barking.

Related Characters: Laura Brown (speaker), Dan (speaker), Richard/Richie
Related Symbols: Cake
Page Number: 215
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 22: Mrs. Dalloway Quotes

They settle into another silence, one that is neither intimate nor particularly uncomfortable. Here she is, then, Clarissa thinks; here is the woman from Richard’s poetry. Here is the lost mother, the thwarted suicide; here is the woman who walked away. It is both shocking and comforting that such a figure could, in fact, prove to be an ordinary-looking old woman seated on a sofa with her hands in her lap.

Related Characters: Clarissa Vaughan, Laura Brown, Richard/Richie, Sally, Julia, Dan
Related Symbols: Cake
Page Number: 220
Explanation and Analysis:

And here she is, herself, Clarissa, not Mrs. Dalloway anymore; there is no one now to call her that. Here she is with another hour before her.

“Come in, Mrs. Brown,” she says. “Everything’s ready.”

Related Characters: Clarissa Vaughan (speaker), Laura Brown, Richard/Richie, Sally, Julia
Page Number: 226
Explanation and Analysis: