Richard Dalloway's Relationship with Clarissa

About halfway through Mrs. Dalloway, we finally meet the character that fills the role of Clarissa Dalloway's husband: Richard Dalloway. Up until this point, we have learned a fair amount about Richard and his relationship with Clarissa, through Clarissa's own thoughts, as well as her flashbacks to when she was 18. However, we have never actually been exposed to Woolf's use of free indirect discourse through Richard himself. Clarissa describes her relationship with her husband Richard as fairly simplistic and uninteresting, claiming that Richard does not really care for Clarissa and that he never does anything significant for her. However, observing Richard's emotions and reactions in the scene after lunch at Lady Bruton's makes me think that Richard might not be so indifferent to Clarissa after all. More importantly, this scene shows that Richard and Clarissa's relationship goes deeper than the the shallow, superficial level that Clarissa makes it out to be.

Immediately after finishing lunch at Lady Bruton's, Richard and Hugh Whitbread walk across the street towards a jewelry shop. Richard, seeing Hugh walk into the shop after staring through the window, feels a moment of indecisiveness regarding whether he should enter the shop or not. Eventually, he decides to enter in after Hugh Whitbread. Richard's decision at this point is peculiar, as he even says in a following paragraph that he certainly would not enjoy shopping for jewelry with Hugh Whitbread. Why then did Richard decide to enter the store in the first place? The answer lies within the nature of Richard's relationship with Clarissa, as well as Richard's observations of Hugh Whitbread within the store. Once inside the store, Richard sees the determination and experience that Hugh expresses towards getting a present for his wife. At first, this act of Hugh's seems extremely odd to Richard, and he starts to think his history of buying jewelry for Clarissa. This prompts an anecdote in Richard's mind, in which he remembers one of the rare times when he bought Clarissa a bracelet as a present. He goes on to recount that this action of his did not end well, as Clarissa never wore the bracelet. It seems that in the heat of the moment, Hugh's vast experience in buying presents for his wife, along with the idea that Richard himself has rarely bought presents for Clarissa, overwhelm Richard. He starts to think impulsively and with anxiety as he frantically searches for the perfect gift for Clarissa. Richard's actions in this scene show that he is, in fact, considerate of Clarissa, as he is genuinely searching for the gift that will best appeal to Clarissa. While his character may be fairly basic and his mindset simplistic at times, we can observe Richard's true feelings towards Clarissa in this scene: he is simply trying to do his best to please Clarissa and receive a feeling of redemption for his past actions in this aspect.

Richard's charisma and true love towards Clarissa are even more apparent in the scene following the one at the jewelry store. After deciding on roses as the present to bring to Clarissa, Richard sets off on his journey home. All throughout his walk home, Richard is thinking about one thing: that he is going to tell Clarissa that he loves her. While a simple idea in itself, Richard's mindset in this scene is critical to understanding the relationship between Richard and Clarissa, from a perspective other than Clarissa's. The fact that Richard thinks of proclaiming his love to Clarissa the entire way home shows that Richard is indeed considerate and cares for Clarissa. It is true that he doesn't have all the time in the world to spend with her, but these events show a strict contradiction with Clarissa's notion that Richard doesn't care for her. He obviously cares for her, enough that he is willing to buy flowers for her and walk all the way home, simply to express to his wife that he loves her. We finally observe the depth in Richard and Clarissa's relationship in perhaps the most important scene pertaining to this idea of the validity of Richard as a substantial husband to Clarissa. Despite his constant thoughts about the passion with which he is going to say to his wife "I love you," when Richard actually arrives home and greets Clarissa, he can't muster up the strength to actually say the words. While some might think that this exhibits Richard's inability to communicate with Clarissa and might characterize their relationship as weak based off of this, I would argue the opposite. It is the fact that they are able to understand each other on a deeper level and the idea that their relationship exists, and maybe even thrives, on a level past the superficial that allows them to understand what each other are thinking during this heartfelt moment. Clarissa understands what Richard is attempting to get across, and Richard understands that Clarissa knows this. Because Richard and Clarissa share this intimate connection, they sit happily and are able to understand what they each are thinking with respect to each other, all without Richard having to say anything that even remotely resembles the phrase "I love you" to Clarissa.

Appreciating the Ordinary in The Mezzanine

At the most basic level, Nicholson Baker's The Mezzanine is a novel about the thoughts of a man as he rides the escalator up to the Mezzanine floor of the building at the end of his lunch break. This in itself as a concept for a book is enough to discourage potential readers from actually taking the time to give the book a chance, as from the outside, it seems like a boring, plot-lacking novel. However, it is what is occurring inside the head of this man as he rides the escalator back to his office that makes this book worth the read. Baker takes this idea of the escalator ride and uses it as a vehicle from which to digress and go off on tangents about the idiosyncrasies of daily life, going as far as to constantly remark on the most mundane, banal aspects of everyday activities. Baker uses extreme detail and passion to describe even the most ordinary objects in the book, and I feel that this is the reason why we should learn to appreciate Baker's approach to writing about the ordinary in The Mezzanine.

Perhaps the most obvious characterization of Baker's style is his tendency to break down and thoroughly explain any lingering thoughts that come across his mind in such vivid detail. This thorough description causes the reader to really relate with and appreciate Baker's points. While it could be argued that there are several other authors out there whose extent of description is on par with Baker's, it is the fact that Baker focuses so much of his attention on the aspects of life normally taken for granted that makes his style truly unique and goes as far as to change how the reader thinks about the world. For example, we can observe in nearly every major passage and footnote about some commonplace object/practice how Baker provides a complete description of the appearance of the object or an explanation of how something works. Baker takes a seemingly uninteresting topic, such as the timing of shoelaces snapping, and makes it interesting by explaining the processes behind it in such scrupulous detail that one simply can't help but to be sucked into his flow of events. To notice and think about the nuances of everyday life so often, let alone write a book about them, is a feat in itself. The fact that Baker takes these concepts of ordinary things to the next level through his stellar description and attention to detail completely altered the way I look at the world. Now, I pay more attention to the things that I once simply took for granted and take the time to stop and think about the importance of what I'm observing.

In addition to his extensive attention to detail in the things he observes, Baker's incorporation of feelings and emotions into his evaluations of the mundane caused me to really appreciate and enjoy his descriptions even more. All throughout his accounts and descriptions, Baker will constantly use exclamation marks and even italics to really drive home his (Howie's) points. This is quite ironic if you think about it, considering that he is placing these exclamation points and italics in the middle of these multi-page footnotes about the progression of milk delivery (or any other seemingly boring practice). Baker even goes as far as to use the second person at times, as if to connect with the reader and emphasize even more the value he sees in things usually taken for granted. Nonetheless, the enthusiasm with which Baker expresses his points significantly adds to the admiration of the ordinary. For example, I didn't even know it was possible to express so much dissatisfaction with the evolution of straws. This is just one example of the many things I have now come to realize are significant and deserve extensive evaluation. The sheer fervor and passion with which he discusses his observations in junction with the substantial detail he uses to describe his thoughts provide for an interesting, refreshing new way to think about and even appreciate the peculiarities of day-to-day life.