"Now, there is no obvious connection between a person's happiness and the way he tells stories about himself. But I think there's a not-so-obvious one. When you insist [...] that you're both lucky and indebted to other people, well, you're sort of prepared to see life as a happy accident, aren't you?
It's just very different than if you tell yourself that you simply deserve all the good stuff that happens to you. Because you happened to be born a genius or suffered so much or worked so hard-- that way of telling the story-- well, it's what you hear from every miserable bond trader at Goldman Sachs, or for that matter, every other a-hole who ever walked the earth."Obviously, one can connect the second half of the quote to a certain "intolerable ass" in Mrs. Dalloway--Hugh Whitbread--who all characters see as an annoyance because he acts superior to everyone.
But I think that the first half of the quote is an accurate description of why Richard Dalloway is the happiest character of the entire novel. Richard is content, and he considers himself lucky to be living like he is. Richard has everything he ever wanted, and in one particular point in the book is he in awe of the fact that his life turned out so well and that he was able to marry Clarissa.
"Indeed, his own life was a miracle; let him make no mistake about it; here he was, in the prime of life, walking to his house in Westminster to tell Clarissa that he loved her. Happiness is this, he thought." (114)
Richard is also happy because he loves and is very proud of his daughter Elizabeth. "But he had his Elizabeth; he adored his Elizabeth." (111)
Richard's happiness and contentment spills over into his relationships with the people around him. Richard--unlike Clarissa, Sally, and Peter--is never described as self-centered or egotistical. Instead, his interactions with others are almost always genuinely friendly (with the exception of Hugh). For example, when Peter is brought up at Lady Bruton's lunch Richard immediately thinks about how much he likes Peter instead of hating him for being in love with Clarissa (104).
In contrast to Richard, I don't think that the other characters of Peter, Clarissa, and Ms. Kilman are truly happy or content. They may have their small moments of happiness, but in the end they're all just judging each other and comparing themselves to the people around them. Peter judges Clarissa for being shallow, Clarissa is mad at Peter for being so critical, and Ms. Kilman hates Clarissa for flaunting her wealth.
None of them are content either. Clarissa is obsessed with hosting parties to distract her from her depression and thinking about what her life would have been like had she chosen Peter, Peter is still not over Clarissa, and Ms. Kilman hates herself because she sees herself as poor and unattractive. They all think that they deserve more than they have, or that they aren't living life they way they wish they could--they're left feeling sorry for themselves and wondering if it's all really worth it. It's no wonder that they're unhappy.
I regret we didn't get to read more parts from Richard's perspective, because he might have been my favorite character. I find that there is a lot to admire about his approach to life, and I would agree he seems the most content of the adults in the book. I would, however, toss out an idea that Peter implies, which is that Richard is not truly living life. He is going through life as an overgrown child, living a naive, safe life without experiencing the intense emotions of what it means to be human. I am not sure if Peter is right about this or not, but there should be some happy medium between being displeased with everything around you and refusing to acknowledge the bad things.
ReplyDeleteBut at the same time, this is coming from Peter, a man who dashed off to adventure in India, loved (and lost) multiple times; his picture of life is of him conquering it. For him to see a man like Richard just chilling and doing his thing is like to see himself just let life go by without his putting his mark on it. It has to do with his worldview more than anything to do with Richard. It's not like Richard refuses to acknowledge the bad things. He recognizes Hugh as an "intolerable ass" and deals with it (by leaving him), and it's implied that he's been very supportive of Clarissa's illness. His view on things is just more laid back than Peter, and that's why they don't quite understand life in the same way.
Delete"Happiness" is the big question in this novel, isn't it? Peter tries to challenge Clarissa on just this point (he's asking, "Are you happy?" point-blank) when Elizabeth busts in and interrupts (which is a big part of why he's so irritated by Clarissa's "my Elizabeth"--he sees it as more fake charm). I don't know how she would have answered Peter, and I don't know how she'd answer that question herself. At times, she seems quite happy--and feels herself "lucky" much like Richard does. She has moments where she's overwhelmed by sheer love of live, the joy of being out in London, the sheer sensory experience of being alive. Does this mean she isn't afflicted with thoughts of death, intimations of mortality, lingering doubts about the course her life has taken, about her daughter and what she's up to, etc.? Of course not.
ReplyDeleteRichard seems like a rare and uncomplicated person--he's "gifted" with the ability to be content, to count himself as "lucky," to roll with the punches. For Clarissa, as for most of us, the "happy" question is maybe not a simple yes/no true/false kind of binary.
I imagine her response, had she not been interrupted, to be some version of, "It's complicated."