Quote 1
For
Heaven only knows why one loves it so, how one sees it so, making
it up, building it round one, tumbling it, creating it every moment
afresh; but the veriest frumps, the most dejected of miseries sitting
on doorsteps (drink their downfall) do the same; can’t be dealt
with, she felt positive, by Acts of Parliament for that very reason:
they love life.
This quotation, part of Clarissa’s thoughts
as she walks to the flower shop in the early morning and Big Ben
chimes the hour, reveals her strong attachment to life and the concept
of life as her own invention. The long, galloping sentence, full
of commas and semicolons, mirrors her excitement at being alive
on this June day. Clarissa is conscious that the impressions of
the things around her do not necessarily hold beauty or meaning
in themselves, but that humans act as architects, building the impressions
into comprehensible and beautiful moments. She herself revels in
this act, in the effort life requires, and she knows that even the
most impoverished person living on the streets can derive the same
wonder from living. She sees that happiness does not belong to a
particular class, but to all who can build up a moment and see beauty
around them. Later her husband Richard sees a vagrant woman on the
street but classifies her only as a social problem that the government
must deal with. Clarissa believes that every class of people has
the ability to conceptualize beauty and enjoy life, and she therefore
feels that government intervention has limited uses. She
does not equate class with happiness.
