I disagreed with Peter's interpretation of that moment. I believed that Clarissa said "my" as an indication of possession. At the moment just before Elizabeth breezes in, Peter is in the midst of interrogating Clarissa about her happiness - if she is truly happy with Richard, which I believe (hope) was in a mostly platonic fashion. Although Clarissa was fantasizing about what life might have been like if she had married adventurous Peter instead of conservative Richard, her loyalty still lies with her real husband. So when she is caught in a slightly compromising position (Peter is holding her shoulders) by her daughter, she introduces Elizabeth with a "my" in an effort to make a distinction about where her place in this world lies, about where she is supposedly happy.
Or perhaps Peter's interpretation concerning the seeming existence of nonexistent bonds is not far off the mark. I read that the 'strong bond' was to be shown between Clarissa and Elizabeth. But perhaps Peter was referring to the bond between Clarissa and Richard, and simply used Elizabeth as an intermediary as she is their daughter.
I think there are many ways to interpret this scene. Thoughts?
A very interesting observation. Although it is Elizabeth's birthday in the book there doesn't seem to be a lot of mentions about her. Clarissa seems to spend a lot of her time thinking about the choices in her past and Elizabeth is just an extension of Richard. So maybe as Peter was saying she wants to show that they have a strong bond to prove her choice was correct.
ReplyDeleteI think the moment seems to re enforce the idea that Peter is pretentious and pretends to be all knowing. He is judging on the intimate bond between mother and daughter and pretends to know what's going better than Clarissa
I agree more with you than with Peter. I thought that the use of"my Elizabeth" was to solidify, both to Peter and to herself, that she is a part of the family and she has ties to Elizabeth and to Richard (because a few paragraphs before, she was thinking about what could have happened if she married Peter). Woolf notes that she says this rather theatrically, so it appears to me that she said it to prove a point, rather than to simply introduce her daughter.
ReplyDeleteI disagree with Peter's analysis of the situation. As discussed in class, Peter in general is just the type of person to be a bit judgmental and over-analyze situations he doesn't really know that much about, and this scene just goes to prove that about him. Clarissa genuinely loves her daughter and has a pretty okay relationship with her from what it seems, so I don't think she was saying that phrase as a way to cover things up.
ReplyDeleteI agree that Peter, who can be critical and judgmental, could be reading the situation wrong. I agree that Clarissa said "my Elizabeth" to indicate to Peter that she is happy with her current life and family. I wonder if Clarissa calling Elizabeth "My Elizabeth" is a routine thing. If it is, Peter's assessment that their relationship may be weak holds some merit.
ReplyDeletePeter's annoyance at Clarissa's introduction of Elizabeth stuck out to me as well. What's also interesting is that on page 44, Peter refers to Daisy as "his Daisy" in his thoughts. I wonder if that means Peter's feelings toward Daisy are insincere, since he that's what he thought of Clarissa calling Elizabeth "her Elizabeth".
ReplyDeleteEither way, I think Peter saw the "my Elizabeth" as a personal insult. I liked your point about Clarissa saying that to show where her loyalties lie and that she's happy with Richard. I think that, even if Clarissa didn't mean it that way, that's how Peter took it. Peter seems to still be bitter over Clarissa's rejection, so, when Clarissa said "my Elizabeth", he took it as a declaration of her devotion to her family and called it insincere because he wanted her to regret not marrying him.