One of the things I kept focusing on when reading Mrs. Dalloway was flowers. The first mention of flowers is in the first sentence. “Mrs Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself” (3). As we discussed in class this sentence is open to interpretation, but from the very beginning I started noticing mentions of flowers. In fact there are thirty-three mentions of flowers in the book! That is a lot!
There are several characters that flowers Clarissa Dalloway, Moll Pratt, Aunt Helena, Richard Dalloway, and I mean there is a character named Daisy. So flowers are mentioned a lot in the book, and relate to several characters. I want to focus on flowers meaning for Richard and Clarissa Dalloway.
Traditionally flowers are a traditional symbol of love and femininity. Richard goes and buys Clarissa roses when he wants to say he loves her. To him flowers are his way of showing love. Yet for Clarissa flowers also represent the joy and beauty in everyday life. Clarissa loves looking out the window and seeing the flowers. She takes pleasure seeing all of nature. “Looking at the flowers, at the trees with the smoke winding… (3)”, she just enjoys seeing nature.
So when Richard gives Clarissa the roses, although he is too nervous to say that he loves her he feels that she understands that the roses symbol his love for her. Clarissa thinks that, “he stood for a moment as if he were about to say something; and she wondered what? Why? They were roses. (181)”. I do not think Clarissa understands that for him the roses symbol that he loves her, because to her they also represent beauty.
Clarissa hosting a party misinterprets Richard’s love gesture as a kind gesture to help beautify her party. Richard does not say he loves her so therefore Clarissa does not know, because she views flowers as more than just a symbol for love.
I find it so interesting when different people have different meanings for things. It happens all the time. People misinterpret what other people mean when they say things all the time, so therefore it only makes sense that Clarissa can not understand what Richard means by the flowers. Language both spoken and implied can be so difficult to understand because of how easily interpretations vary. This is part of the reason it is so interesting to me to try and understand.