Michael Cunningham's, The Hours, while a tribute to the legacy of Virginia Woolf also touches heavily on a common Bloomsburian theme, the importance of connections between people. Of the text's several characters, Richard Worthington Brown best demonstrates the vital nature of connectivity. Afflicted with terminal AIDS and often operating under the effect of numerous prescription medications, Richard's is a most tragic case. The dying poet appears (at least in the text) only to have regular meaningful interaction with his female friend, and onetime object of desire, Clarrissa Voughn. Abandoned by his former male lover, Louis, Richard lives alone in a shoddy apartment where even sunlight is barely permitted to shine. Yet, the awfulness ceases to end there. Richard's own mother, the main character named Laura Brown, is later revealed to have abandoned her family. A powerful influence in Richard's life, Mrs. Brown became both a figure of admiration and loathing in the man's published poetic works. As if to sprinkle sugary granules of misfortune upon Richard's undesirable cake of life, the reader also learns that the poet's father passed away of liver cancer and that his sister was the victim of a drunk driving accident. With none left close to him, save a caring friend whom is a constant reminder of a dream never to come true, Richard commits suicide by jumping from his apartment window down to the sidewalk below.
The deathly ill Richard was faced with a horrid reality, one he could not bear to weather alone, or even with the comfort of his only close friend. With no one to support him, the poet collapsed under the strain. The unsavory story of Richard Brown serves to underscore the need for humans to establish bonds with others of their species, and the terrible effects of connections ripped away by death or other misfortune. The Hours takes the classic Bloomsbury theme further, perhaps reading something like this: Only connect, it may just save your life or someone else's.
National Gallery on Writing
16 years ago
Yes! Connections are so important in the lives of people. I think he was abandoned by everyone in his life. Clarissa did serve as a motherly figure in Richard's life, and then directed her attention to Sally. His mom abandoned him literally when he was young. His father and sister are dead. And his former boyfriend is no longer in his life. The biggest connection that he loses is with himself! The disease is taking over his mind and he can no longer rely on his own body or thoughts. He never had any control in his life.
ReplyDeleteFirst things first: Your blog's black background, coupled with the red and blue fonts, makes this webpage look like it's in 3-D.
ReplyDeleteSecondly: Your description of Richard provides a nice contrast to Virginia. She is someone with many connections, from Leonard to Vanessa, and also because of a disease, succumbs to the same suicidal desires as Richard.
Oh, if only one were safe from the ravages of disease!
Great post! Connections are very important in the novel and also in life as a whole. Richard had lost the connection with all of the people whom he held dear to him. But what's even worse is that he also lost the connection with himself. How traumatic! It's one thing when a person loses the connection with people but its a BIG thing when someone loses the connection with themself. For Richard, the disease had caused static and the connectivity had been lost! I think thats why he turned to suicide! He needed an escape.....
ReplyDeleteYour post painted Richard in a new light for me. It sounds horrible, but I thought his suicide was finally an end to all his ills. Having AIDS is a SERIOUS disease. I have empathy for Richard and his decision. However, your post highlights the connections missing from Richard's life. It's a horrible thought to think of Richard's lack of connection. Loneliness is a disease in its self, I hope Richard wasn't suffering from both AIDS and loneliness.
ReplyDeleteI gently disagree. You state that "The Hours takes the classic Bloomsbury theme further, perhaps reading something like this: Only connect, it may just save your life or someone else's." But this is clearly not the case. Despite Clarissa's attempt to save him, to be close to him and to give him everything he needed, Richard still chooses to end his own life. He committed suicide not because he felt completely disjointed from social contact, but because he recognized that social demands do not lessen because he's sick. He knows that there is no way society could accept him defeated, mangled by this disease, and still applaud him as the "man of the hour." Not without an overwhelming amount of pity.
ReplyDeleteThe same is true for Virginia Woolf. Leonard definitely tried to connect with her, to keep her grounded, and even followed her to ensure she was safe and did not escape. In this case, his attempts to connect with her can easily be mistaken for smothering which, one could argue, is the same case for Clarissa Vaughan.
Ultimately, I just feel that connecting with other people is not necessarily the main focus of The Hours, although it is an underlying theme.
I do like Laura's act to flip a switch to make her leave was really admirable. Not to say she doesn't love her son, but she is old enough to say that she can move on.
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