Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Sally and Clarissa

For my paper, I am thinking of writing about the relationship between Sally Seton and Clarissa Dalloway. My main passage will be the one on pg. 35 where Clarissa explains the kiss between her and Sally. She describes it as exquisite, and says that "the whole world might have turned upside down". The kiss was like a freeing moment for Clarissa; she feels supressed by society, and therefore, Sally was something different from the norm. Mrs. Dalloway constantly is trying to be the perfect hostess, and she is often referred to as that. Also, on pg. 33, Clarissa says that she has always envied "a sort of abandonment, as if she could say anything, do anything; a quality much commoner in foreigners than in an Englishwoman". Again, this shows how Sally is different and out of the ordinary. Sally opened Clarissa's eyes to how sheltered life was in Bourton. Then, when Sally arrives as Lady Rosseter at Clarissa's party, Clarissa sees that she has conformed. Sally is now married has 5 strong children. This is a disappointment to Mrs. Dalloway because now even Sally is part of the routine, stiff world that Clarissa has been a part of.

1 comment:

David Lavender said...

I'm glad we had a chance to talk about this yesterday, and I think your approach (and your focus on the passage containing Sally's kiss) is a good one. Don't get too bogged down in the notion of Sally's conventionality (at the expense of exploring the very nature of the "exquisite moment" itself).

Have some fun with this!