AGENDA:
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Answer discussion questions on blog:;
3. Cunningham plays with the notions of sanity and insanity,
recognizing that there might be only a very fine line between the two
states. What does the novel imply about the nature of insanity? Might it
in fact be a heightened sanity, or at least a heightened sense of
awareness? Would you classify Richard as insane? How does his mental
state compare with that of Virginia? Of Laura as a young wife? Of
Septimus Smith in Mrs. Dalloway? Does insanity (or the received idea of
insanity) appear to be connected with creative gifts?
4. Virginia
and Laura are both, in a sense, prisoners of their eras and societies,
and both long for freedom from this imprisonment. Clarissa Vaughan, on
the other hand, apparently enjoys every liberty: freedom to be a
lesbian, to come and go and live as she likes. Yet she has ended up, in
spite of her unusual way of life, as a fairly conventional wife and
mother. What might this fact indicate about the nature of society and
the restrictions it imposes? Does the author imply that character, to a
certain extent, is destiny?
5. Each of the novel’s three
principal women, even the relatively prosaic and down-to-earth Clarissa,
occasionally feels a sense of detachment, of playing a role. Laura
feels as if she is "about to go onstage and perform in a play for which
she is not appropriately dressed, and for which she has not adequately
rehearsed" [p. 43]. Clarissa is filled with "a sense of dislocation.
This is not her kitchen at all. This is the kitchen of an acquaintance,
pretty enough but not her taste, full of foreign smells" [p. 91]. Is
this feeling in fact a universal one? Is role-playing an essential part
of living in the world, and of behaving "sanely"? Which of the
characters refuses to act a role, and what price does he/she pay for
this refusal?
Begin working on your HOURS MOTIF story.
HMWK: Finish reading the book for FRIDAY. Prepare for quiz.
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Delete3. The novel implies that there is a fine line between sanity and insanity. The nature of insanity can cause a person to take foolish actions. It is most likely heightened sense of awareness because of the trauma caused before in life. Yes, I would classify Richard as insane. His mental state compares to that of Virginia, Septimus Smith and Laura because he acknowledges death. The idea of insanity connects with creative gifts like the pills, the cake, and the water.
ReplyDelete4. Society imposes restrictions on the way a person can live. A person can do whatever they want, but they would still end up as the role that nature designed them to be. The author does imply the character to a certain extent their destiny as they seemed depressed and anxious because they don't want to be the role that society gave them, but have liberty.
5. This feeling can be universal because many people feel a sense of detachment of a role they play in life. Playing a role in the world makes the person behave sanely because they know that they have a duty and responsibility to do well because their role is to take care of others. Laura refuses to play the role of a wife and she decides to poison her husband with his birthday school. She pays the price of losing her sanity and her son's innocence.
3. I don’t think that it’s a heightened sense of awareness or sanity. I think it’s pure mental illness mixed with physical illness for Richard because he knows he’s dying and the closer he gets to it the more he loses himself to his illness. But for Virginia it seems to be a heightened sense of awareness because she knows what she wants and what was stolen from her and she knows that she wants to take it back and that there’s one way to get it back. Laura was gonna take the life of another when she realized she was unhappy but then came to her senses and that makes me believe it’s a heightened sense of awareness because she realized she was unhappy and was ready to end it all but then realized she has kids to live for and went back to her old life.
ReplyDelete4. Society makes it seem as if when you become a mother or wife or both you lose your freedom. The author implies that no matter the era if you’re tied down whether its with a ring or a kid or both you’re still a prisoner to yourself and sanity.
5. To seem “sane” is impossible because everyone has a different view on what being sane is. But to play a role to fit the norm of society is needed for most people because being an outcast is usually not seen as a good thing. Richard pays the price when he finally decides to let go and do the inevitable so in a way yes, he paid the price by jumping out of the window.
3. There is a thin line shown between the sane and insane, Richard falls in the latter. The novel shows that the people who are more mental disturbed tend to be more creative but lead a tormented life.
ReplyDeletethe heightened sense of awareness comes from the idea of being meta in a way that you realize the effect your life has on others but still never really reconciling your goal to be released from the mortal coil.
4. The society at hand discourages the ideas of homosexuality and relations to it. It is not a matter of destiny just a matter of compliance to a system that benefits a certain way of life.
5. The feeling she presents is a detachment from the world she lives in, it is a torment to her to not be satisfied with what is brought to her. She plays the role of care taker which shows how she wants to be apart of something but the feeling has become more of routine rather than out of care.
1. The novel implies that most of the people who we see as insane, have much more going on. They have secrets and struggles that lead them onto the crazy situations. I wouldn’t classify Richard as insane, but he was struggling with himself and his own secrets. Richard is already treated like someone is horribly sick because people are to see his illness, but for Virginia, no one can really see what’s going on in her head. They are treated differently because of what their peers can see.
ReplyDelete2.Maybe it’s implying that she wasn’t truly free and that she wasn’t really living a free life. She goes from Richard and her girlfriend and still tends to present herself as happy and wants to throw a party in the middle of her truly crumbling life.
3. This feeling must be a universal one. Most of the time people feel like they have to live up to other people’s expectations of them. Role playing is the way these women look regular and ordinary in society, it’s their way of living in the world of perfection or high expectations.
3.When it comes to a character's mentality there is the question of of whether they are sane or not. With Richard, I wouldn't classify him as insane. I believe that he just has a heightened sense of awareness along with Virginia. They both know that they aren't helping themselves with the way they are living now. They aren't happy or satisfied.
ReplyDelete4. Although you have the freedom to do what you want, your society will will have some restrictions to limit it. if your are destined do be or do something, you will no matter how free you are.
5.The sense of detachment from one's life is a universal feeling. Not everyone loves the life they are living or have lived. Something isn't right or they just aren't content. A lot of the times some of those people play the role that they are expected to play because it is the right thing to do and it's what everyone is looking for. I think Virgina didn't play her role. She didn't want to be the person/wife/author that everyone wanted her to be, she wasn't happy so she committed suicide.
3. Insanity in the book isn't looked at as crazy but more of knowing everything going on around the characters. They aren't necessarily insane, thy just tend to over-analyze every aspect of their life making them seem as if they are crazy to those around them. They all aren't in their best mental state as they all feel some sense of failure and desperation for their life to either change or just end.
ReplyDelete4. Even though the characters do have some variation of freedom, they live in very different time periods each and each time period has its own restrictions and expectations. Conforming to it is where the characters don't struggle but what they struggle with is realizing how mundane, normal, and every day their life is.
5. Although the characters do complain and think about how they want change in their life, they don't take any specific action to change it into something they want it to be.
3.) It shows that there is a very thin line between being sane and being insane. The people who are classified as insane are the ones who have had a traumatizing childhood or time in their life. In result they became mentally disturbed. I would think it’s just a heightened sense of awareness, I don’t think Richard is insane he just has his own problems and he doesn’t know how deal with them so instead he is just struggling causing him to seem insane.
ReplyDelete4.) It indicates that society gives everyone an image of what everyone should be whether they are men or women. Society tells us we have to look, dress, or act a certain way to be like everyone else and be average. If you don’t meet society's standards you generally aren’t accepted. The nature of society basically puts restrictions on being yourself. It’s rare when you can be yourself and meet society’s standards. I don’t think it’s destiny it’s just people’s willingness to be a certain way just so they can get certain benefits of the life they chose.
5.) It could be a universal feeling giving each character a feeling of detachment towards a certain role they are playing in their life. Everyone feels the need to play a role because essentially they know that it’s their responsibility in a sense. They know that they have to take care of others, to be a nurturer because it’s just their job. Laura decides to not accept her role, she refuses to just sit back and accept being the wife. So instead she poisons her husband. The price Laura pays is that she loses her sanity. I also believe that Virginia didn't play her role because she wasn't happy and couldn't be the person everyone wanted her to be. So instead she commits suicide.
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ReplyDeleteJustice and James
ReplyDelete3. Insanity isn't necessarily connected with creative gifts. Richie, Virginia Woolfe, and Laura are all insane. Richie and Laura both show no creative gifts (Unless you count cake making). However, Woolf does show creative gifts with her ability to create literary art. They show no sense of a heightened awareness.
4. Clarissa is not a conventional wife and mother, as she is married to another woman. That's not even conventional today, and it definitely was rare in 2002. However, it does imply that destiny will take us all, as the only purpose as human beings is to have children, so reproduction is our destiny.
5. Virginia Woolfe refuses to play the role of "not miserable" by moping around for her entire life. The price she pays is death. This is not universal in our times today, but during Woolfe's life, woman had to act a certain way. People like Clarissa and Laura couldn't have lived during the 20's because they wouldn't have acted in a manner as consistent as the woman of the time period.
3. I think the book plays with a heightened sense of both sanity and awareness carrying it out through different characters. Therefore, creating a very fine line between sanity and insanity. While Virginia carries much awareness, her mental state still lacks complete sanity. As for Richard, it seems he’s lost all of it.
ReplyDelete4. This fact indicates that even though you may be happy within yourself, society won’t freely open arms to what is not the norm or status quo. Therefore, leaving her free but with restrictions. Ironically, really never letting her be truly free as she’s tied to the conventional way of life.
5. This feeling is indeed universal. Universal in the way that people feel the need to conform to set standards in society, otherwise it is less likely you’ll be accepted. People may role-play because they are aware of the responsibilities they have and use it as a safety net to keep sane. Similar to Clarissa who has used this safety net as a wife and mother.
ReplyDelete3. The nature of insanity within the novel seems as if the concept is normal. Most of the characters within the novel are in fact insane and have reached the edge of their sanity. Part of me also thinks that the characters are not insane at all and the way they are coping with their problems is perfectly normal. I wouldn’t classify him as insane. Virginia and him both seem as if they are insane but I just think that they have a heightened sense of awareness; they just aren’t understood. What Septimus Smith, Laura, Virginia, and Richard all have in common is the thought of death and if they should kill themselves or not.
4. Both Virginia and Laura lived in very different times were some behaviors or traits weren’t accepted or tolerated. Clarissa lives in modern times in which such behaviors are not such a problem anymore.
5. Role playing is an essential part of living. Most people nowadays all they want to do is fit in and be accepted. If they act a certain way that isn’t “sane” at all they’ll be judged. I think that one character who refuses to act a role is Virginia. She is so different from everybody else and it shows. She suffered from depression and that led to her commiting suicide.
3. There is a thin line between sanity and insanity and many of the characters walk this line. Robert isn’t exactly insane but he has lost much of his humanity and thus sanity as he has grown sicker. Virginia is similarly at an ambiguous point leaning in and out of insanity. Virginia though tends to lean further away from sanity. She has this heightened awareness that seems to fuel her creativity but also drive her over the edge.
ReplyDelete4. A person can do whatever they want but in a society there will be consequences to those choices. Even if a society allows for the freedom to be yourself many will still be restricted by themselves. Their past and experiences may limit their present and future even if there is nothing and no one keeping them from being free. Society almost always disapprove of things that are uncommon. Though Virginia and Laura live in much stricter societies still share similar struggles with Clarissa.
3. Sanity and insanity are seen throughout the story line. The characters are dealing with their own problems and mental state. Though they are all suffering with something, they have gone through a lot and chose life except for Richard.
ReplyDelete4. Laura and Virginia lived during different times, but have gone through similar situations. Clarissa lives in a more modern time which kind of seems that her behavior is more tolerable.
5. The characters are thinking about making difficult decisions and have so many thoughts in their heads telling them things. They have trouble choosing what they really want for themselves.
(Vision got turned on before I could add the final answer)
ReplyDelete5. What the three women feel is something that is felt for many across the world. There is an expected role that many play into so they can blend in and be accepted. For some they'd rather just go with the flow instead of stand out and risk judgement.