Michael Cunningham an author of the book The Hour, the most praised gifted writer of his generation, shows the work of Virginia Woolf, the writer in the novel, who tells a story a group of characters with contradictory claims of inheritance and love as well as despair and hope. Just before Virginia Woolf committed suicide, her narrative showed the counterpointing of the fictional stories of Richard, the talented poet whose life was shadowed by his mother, Laura, and Clarissa his lifelong friend, who struggles in forging a rewarding and balanced life in spite of family, friends and lovers demands (Cunningham 98).
The novel shows that all actions took place in a single day in three different years and the writer alternates among all actions throughout the film. In the film, Woolf the author started writing the book, Mrs. Dalloway, in her own home in 1923. In 1951, the talented and troubled woman Laura Brown reads the book Mrs. Dalloway and finds ways of escaping from her dreary life. in 2001, however, Clarissa Vaughan is the picture of Mrs. Dalloway’s title character as she spends her day making arrangements for the party she is hosting in her own house for the honor of Richard, a life long friend living with AIDS, who was to receive a career achievement award. In most cases Richard was referring Clarissa as Mrs. Dalloway.
In the novel, Laura’s life is almost similar to that of Virginia Woolf. Laura Brown is reading Virginia Woolf’s novel whose first line states that Mrs. Dalloway sworn to buy flowers herself. She is a pregnant woman with her second child and does not feel like waking up regardless of the fact that it was her husband’s birthday, Dan. It is difficult for her to play the role of a good wife and mother even though she appreciated both her husband and child, Richie. After forcing herself to wake up she decided to prepare a cake for Dan as Richie helps her. Laura Brown’s act of creation is parallel to Virgina Woolf’s imagery: Making a birthday cake for Dan in the help of Richie. Laura considers her cake making and other achievement in life as her art that is similar to that of Virginia Woolf in writing novels. She is not pleased with the kind of life she lives as a wife and mother.
In the next section of the novel Laura is seen to have completed making the cake but not happy with it. Just like Virginia’s efforts on working on her book, Laura placed all her efforts on the cake like a real artist but failed to make it as per her desires. In comparison to Virginia’s life, Laura was annoyed with her husband’s treatment because he was never upset with anything she does. Virginia’s husband on the other hand scolds any wrong she does. Laura contemplates on the good and bad where she tries to convince herself that her difficultness is good, but suddenly compares herself with Virginia who pockets a stone on her coat and walks down into the river to relieve stress. Her thoughts of connecting herself with another desperate housewife are interrupted by a knock at the door.
Just the same line that Laura was reading in the morning is the same line that Virginia wrote in the morning. As Virginia was writing her novel, she felt tired and that she needed some rest. She left for the printing room where she felt worked with workers and husbands attitude towards her. She then decided to take a walk as she thinks of ideas for her novel. In the thinking she felt Clarissa Dalloway would end her life and so she needed love but from her husband but from a girl she knew since her childhood (Cunningham 115). This is mirrored Cunningham’s Clarissa who had an affair with her girlfriend that she knew since childhood. Many thought crossed her mind about the novel where she felt that she was very vulnerable to mental health. She then walked back home with a feeling just like that one of Laura whereby she felt as if she was impersonating herself. Just like Laura, she felt a true feeling of art that would help her maneuver her ways.
As Virginia was continuing with her work of giving assistance in the printing room, she received a visitor who happens to be her sister. This is a similar action as that of Laura where she also received a visitor as she was making a cake for her husband’s birth day. Both Laura and Virginia seem to be destructed by the visitors they receive who results to a nasty ending. As for Luara, she invited Kitty and was excited as well as panicked. Although Laura was always fearing domestication Kitty realized her efforts of making the cake (Hare 312). Kitty fits so well in domestication world which was contrary to Laura’s world. The difference is that Laura is capable of giving birth but Kitty could not despite her desires. That is only area Laura was excelling in domestic sphere. Just like Clarissa and Sally, Kitty and Laura are Lesbians. As the two were sipping coffee, Kitty admitted that she needed to visit the hospital in her check up on her Uterus problem which caused her infertility. Laura embraced Kitty as way of comforting her but felt jealous of Kitty’s husband, Ray. Kitty and Laura gave in to the moment and continued holding each. Eventually Laura kissed kitty’s forward but Kitty retaliated by raising her head to kiss her in the lips which both enjoyed. Richie was all along watching them where Kitty hurriedly left the house. Laura felt that her world was jolted and too full just like Virginia Woolf’s novel. She struggled returning to reality and attended her one as she threw away the cake and decided to make another better one.
Virginia on other hand, after receiving her sister Vanessa, they both went into the garden together with her sister’s children who found a dying bird in the garden. Vanessa as the same character as Kitty where she felt that she was better in matters of domestication than her sister whose mental problems created fear to the maids. Vanessa would cope very well with the maids and take proper care of her children but Virginia is very incompetence in such areas. As she stared on the dead bird she got a feeling that her character Clarissa is different from her for she cannot commit suicide. She related the death bed for the bird with her character who will commit suicide.
Clarissa Vaughan in the novel of Cunningham who is the picture Virginia’s character Clarissa Dalloway announces that she will be the one buying flowers for the party she is hosting in the honor of a friend. As per Virginia’s novel, the first line states that Dalloway stated that she will buy flowers herself. This brings similarity between the two novels when Michael’s Clarissa is the mirror of Virginia’s Clarissa. Similarly to Laura and Kitty, Clarissa had a female sexual partner, sally, who was left in the house as she left to purchase for flowers in the nearby market. As she walked, she kept on reflecting on her past life that made her day look even more beautiful unlike Virginia who took a walk but was thinking about her character in the novel who contributed to her headache.
Just like Vanessa and Kitty were received as visitors, Clarissa dropped by Richard’s house and was also welcomed. Clarissa also received a visitor as she was preparing for the party who happened to be Richard’s partner, Louis. Her visit to Richard did not also result to a happy ending. Richard was used to addressing her as Mrs. Dalloway since she shared Dalloway’s first name Clarissa and also the fact that they both share the same destiny. Clarissa has been has been a close friend to Richard who always to good care of him (Foerster 138). Similarly to Laura and Virginia, Richard was also suffering from mental illness that was brought about by his illness of AIDS. Virginia’s mental illness was as a result of her writing while Laura’s was of her denial of her identity. Clarissa walked around Richard’s house looking at Richards’s life that he had deserted. This made Richard resigns from the day’s activities that were to take place. He felt that he would not attend that party prepared by Clarissa in her house. Just like other character’s in Michael’s novel, Clarissa also felt bad about the kind of life she was living but got relieved when she realized that her life is hers alone and that she needed no other. Immediately Clarissa left Richard also felt bad about his life and realized that he was struggling to live with the disease all because of Clarissa and he could not take it any more. Due to this feeling he never hesitated before he jumped through the window to his death.
Through Richard’s death, Laura was revealed to be Richard’s mother. After Laura received shocking news of her son through Clarissa, she revealed her secret about reasons for abandoning her family immediately after her daughter’s birth. According to her, she was not fit enough to be a mother and so she had to do so, in-order to maintain her sanity.
The film brings out a theme of depression where the three women were suffering from the same. Virginia was depressed with her realization of her lesbianism and her life was full of disparities. Vanessa’s daughter placed an emotion on her through a dead bird (Hare 275). She is also depressed by the fact that the doctors cannot allow her move to London where she wanted to live with her husband. Laura is also depressed in fear of being irresponsible mother to her two children. Her life was torn between two worlds whereby she was to choose between running away and living a miserable life with her happy husband. Clarissa on the other hand is a lesbian who is not sure of her love if it is for Richard or Sally. At the end the film raises a question if one should live for his or her own happiness or for others.
In conclusion, Cunningham’s novel, the hour has character with lots of similarities. The three women were suffering from depression concerning the kind of life they were living. In most cases they were concerned about others happiness forgetting that one should his or her own life.
Work cited
Cunningham Michael, The Hours, Canada: Harper Collins, 2010, 12-240.
Foerster Richard, The Hours: Summary, New York: Red Hydra Press, 2007, 78-147
Hare David, The Hour: A screen play, Chicago: Miramax, 2009, 212-345