Mrs. Dalloway vs.

The Hours
With Mrs. Dalloway being so slow of a reading (small does of it is probably conducive to a more plausible understanding of details), I picked up The Hours by Michael Cunningham, which I read years ago. Like the original work which has inspired Cunningham to write the modern-day treatise, The Hours also mirrors Mrs. Dalloways stream-of-consciousness narrative style (a style pioneered by Woolf and James Joyce) in which the flowing thoughts and perceptions of protagonists are depicted as they would occur in real life, unfiltered, flitting from one thing to another, and often rather unpredictable. stream of consciousness, of which Virginia Woolf is the master, is so prominent in this work. Cunninghams novel also employs the same time device in Woolfs Mrs. Dalloway the action of the novel takes place within the space of one day. In Mrs. Dalloway it is one day in the life of the central character Clarissa Dalloway. In Cunninghams book it is one day in the life of each of the three central characters; Clarissa Vaughan, Laura Brown and Virginia Woolf herself. Through this prism, Cunningham attempts, as did Woolf, to show the beauty and profundity of every day. Even the most ordinary, if not mundane. It also demonstrates in every persons life and conversely how a persons whole life can be examined through the prism of one single day. The reason I pick up The Hours is for a change of pace and social climate of the reading. Whereas Clarissa Dalloway had not recognized her sentimentality for Sally Seton during her young womanhood is homosexuality, The Hours concerns three generations of questionably lesbian or bisexual women. To some extent the novel examines the freedom with which successive generations have been able to express their sexuality freely, to the public, even to themselves. Its obvious that for Virginia and Laura to assert their sexuality freely during their time. The assertion of homosexuality would result in extremely dire consequences in a society in which homosexuality is illegal or denied. The undercurrent of anguish that plagues these women in The Hours is starkly different from that of Mrs. Dalloway, which is warfare, the British superiority, and fear of death. Maybe the role of homosexuality is a way of demonstrating how these three women feel distant from society