After reflecting back upon the novel, I realized just how much Clarissa reflects longingly back upon the past. She seems to constantly wish she was back at Bourton, before she made the decisions that shaped her life into what it is now. She looks back and sees the other paths she could’ve taken, the other people she could’ve lived her life with. She could’ve gone with Peter or Sally instead of Richard. Clarissa has been attempting to live in the past for some time, attempting to not face the reality of her life which depresses her so. As a result of this, she has glorified her time at Bourton, seeing it as the perfect, fairytale life.
After seeing Sally at her party after all the time they had spent apart, Clarissa finally stopped living in the past. The shock of Sally’s change into Lady Rosseter caused Clarissa to realize that things change, that Bourton was no more and that she should stop living in the past. Seeing Sally, who she loved so much, not being who she used to be, snapped Clarissa into reality. Sally was now a traditional, upper class English wife. She was different, not as perfect as Clarissa remembered, and there was not the romanticized spark they shared in Clarissa’s memory. They had no life together and there was no possibility for one. Clarissa can’t even face this real Sally at her party because of her fear of the real world, of her real life. Eventually, after thinking deeply at her party, Clarissa finally accepts how her life is turned out and looks for Sally, finally wishing to talk to her. Seeing Sally as a real person, not as the romanticized, fantasy Sally that could’ve solved all of Clarissa’s problems, finally allowed Clarissa to move away from the past and become ready to live in the present.
2 comments:
And, to be clear, there's no indication in the text that Clarissa ever contemplated anything as specific as a "life together" with Sally, in the sense that this would be thinkable and quite do-able for two young women today. But it is remarkable how even their close friendship has to be sacrificed to marriage--as if there's no practical way for them to keep in touch, keep seeing one another, remain close friends, once they're married. And you're right: there's something sobering for Clarissa to see Sally in her "diminished" form at the party--up to this point, she's *only* continued to exist for her in her memory, still as an idealistic and brazen 18-year-old.
I completely agree with Iain, it seems that Clarissa really does live in the past. Although I think we could say the same thing about Peter. Peter is constantly being reminded of Clarissa and recalling the fun times they had in the past. The majority of Peter's memories that we read about are from their times at Bourton. At times it seems as though Peter is being attacked by all of these memories, he wants to move out of the past but simply can't. Peter seems very reminiscent of the past and is similar to Clarissa in that aspect.
Post a Comment