Mrs Dalloway and the good atheist.
“Oddly enough, she was one of the most thoroughgoing sceptics he had ever met, and possibly (this was a theory he used to make up to account for her, so transparent in some ways, so inscrutable in others), possibly she said to herself, As we are a doomed race, chained to a sinking ship (her favourite reading as a girl was Huxley and Tyndall, and they were fond of these nautical metaphors), as the whole thing is a bad joke, let us, at any rate, do “our part; mitigate the sufferings of our fellow-prisoners (Huxley again); decorate the dungeon with flowers and air-cushions; be as decent as we possibly can. Those ruffians, the Gods, shan't have it all their own way,—her notion being that the Gods, who never lost a chance of hurting, thwarting and spoiling human lives were seriously put out if, all the same, you behaved like a lady. That phase came directly after Sylvia's death—that horrible affair. To see your own sister killed by a falling tree (all Justin Parry's fault—all his carelessness) before your very eyes, a girl too on the verge of life, the most gifted of them, Clarissa always said, was enough to turn one bitter. Later she wasn't so positive perhaps; she thought there were no Gods; no one was to blame; and so she evolved this atheist's religion of doing good for the sake of goodness.”
I didn't like Clarissa at all, she represented all that I detested. (I remember this sentence from The Great Gatsby.) She is a pretentious old woman. She has been pretending all her life. All her choices were made according to the image she wanted to project, not what she really wanted. Something not real and not genuine were my only feelings towards her.
The quote I pasted above touched me so much. She lost faith in God, but she kept her virtue, he good making. She made up her own atheist's religion. Part of this, I think, is to fulfill the image she wants to reflect. She wants to do what is righteous and good, so that she is known as the good Lady Clarissa. Does she really believe this is good or does it only for the illusion of good. I think, she is all into the illusion, and deep in her restless soul she believes not.
“Oddly enough, she was one of the most thoroughgoing sceptics he had ever met, and possibly (this was a theory he used to make up to account for her, so transparent in some ways, so inscrutable in others), possibly she said to herself, As we are a doomed race, chained to a sinking ship (her favourite reading as a girl was Huxley and Tyndall, and they were fond of these nautical metaphors), as the whole thing is a bad joke, let us, at any rate, do “our part; mitigate the sufferings of our fellow-prisoners (Huxley again); decorate the dungeon with flowers and air-cushions; be as decent as we possibly can. Those ruffians, the Gods, shan't have it all their own way,—her notion being that the Gods, who never lost a chance of hurting, thwarting and spoiling human lives were seriously put out if, all the same, you behaved like a lady. That phase came directly after Sylvia's death—that horrible affair. To see your own sister killed by a falling tree (all Justin Parry's fault—all his carelessness) before your very eyes, a girl too on the verge of life, the most gifted of them, Clarissa always said, was enough to turn one bitter. Later she wasn't so positive perhaps; she thought there were no Gods; no one was to blame; and so she evolved this atheist's religion of doing good for the sake of goodness.”
I didn't like Clarissa at all, she represented all that I detested. (I remember this sentence from The Great Gatsby.) She is a pretentious old woman. She has been pretending all her life. All her choices were made according to the image she wanted to project, not what she really wanted. Something not real and not genuine were my only feelings towards her.
The quote I pasted above touched me so much. She lost faith in God, but she kept her virtue, he good making. She made up her own atheist's religion. Part of this, I think, is to fulfill the image she wants to reflect. She wants to do what is righteous and good, so that she is known as the good Lady Clarissa. Does she really believe this is good or does it only for the illusion of good. I think, she is all into the illusion, and deep in her restless soul she believes not.
No comments:
Post a Comment