A Search for Freedom and Happiness

While I was reading the novel, my major doubt was “Why does Cunningham writes this novel as if it were a movie?,” but later on, when we started to discuss the novel in classes, I reached the point where I could not care less about that.

Why? You may ask, because of the simple fact that at some point we started talking about freedom and happiness present in the novel, which were two concepts about that I could not wrap my head around, I could not imagine how the life of those three women could portray happiness and freedom.

First we have Virginia, who had been struggling with her mental illness for quite a while by the time the novel is set. Leonard, her husband, is and has always been her rock; he has done whatever is in his hands in order for her to have the best conditions to cope with her illness, as recommended by the doctors. But later she realizes that this puts Leonard under a lot of pressure and decides to kill herself. By doing this, she liberates herself from the voices in her head, thus her unhappiness, and the guilt she feels because she is a burden for Leonard, leaving him “free” from her and letting him fulfill his dreams without anything to hold him back.

Second, there is Laura, who was a very unhappy suburban wife and mother, being a lesbian and having married a man she obviously did not love, planned to kill herself and her unborn baby girl. Eventually, after much thought and with help of the novel Mrs. Dalloway she chose life and decided that she was going to live her family instead, being this her way of feeing herself from her dull life in order to be happy.

Last but not least we have Clarissa, she started to reevaluate her life with her partner Sally after realizing she could have had a life with her best friend Richard, who has AIDS and is being taken care of by Clarissa. Later on, she is forced to let him go after he committed suicide, which represents freedom both physical, as she no longer has the responsibility to take care of him, and mental, as the confusing thoughts of whether she should continue her life with her partner stop, and decides to live her life as it is.

Honestly, at first I could not understand the three women’s decisions, as for me, they did not make any sense at all, but then I realized that I was in no place to judge, as “each woman's decision, fueled by the circumstances which surround her, is reached after much thought and deliberation” (Aquing 2), and at the end, it all depends on the circumstances you are in when you make these important decisions.

We also have to bear in mind, and this was what helped me understand their decisions is that each one of them was under a lot of pressure, trying to fulfill society’s and their personal expectations. (Aquing 2)

What do you think about these three women’s decisions? Do you agree with what they did? Do you really believe they liberated themselves and found happiness?

References:

Aquing, Michelle. "Massachusetts Institute of Technology Open Courseware." 27 Novemver 2004. 22 October 2014. <http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/writing-and-humanistic-studies/21w-730-2-the-creative-spark-fall-2004/assignments/much_given.pdf>.

Yeung, Jessica. "Women’s Quest for Happiness in Michael Cunningham’s The Hours ." Essay. n.d.