Womens Rights, Responsibilities, & Sexuality

in The Hours
Amy J. Riordan, Assistant Professor of Communication

Written by Michael
Cunningham
Published in 1998
Winner of the 1999

Pulitzer Prize for Fiction

Winner of the
PEN/Faulkner Award

Released Dec. 18, 2002

Virginia Woolfs Mrs.
Dalloway weaves
together 3 women
living in 3 different
decades
Virginia Woolf in 1920s,

Richmond, England
Mrs. Brown in late
1950s, Los Angeles
Clarissa Vaughn in early
2000, New York City
From rottentomatoes.com

Author, Journalist
Great innovator of
modern fiction
Mrs. Dalloway (1925)

Stream of Consciousness
A Moment/A Day

Moments of Being in
Virginia Woofs Fiction,
Nicole L. Urquhart at
Colorado State
University

from biography.com

Woolf as Feminist
A Room of Ones
Own (1929)
Duality of A Room
Physical Location
Opportunity

Symbolism of A Room
Equality
Exploration of hidden
realities
from biography.com

The Evolution of A Room

Womens Rights
Womens Responsibilities
Womens Expression of Sexuality

Some Viewers May Find Scenes Offensive or

Disturbing
Language
Sexual situations
Suicide

The films transitions from woman to woman,

across decade to decade, create intimate
connections between the characters.
What does this powerful cinematic device
reveal about womens moments of
being?
What argument does this cinematic device
produce about womens equality?

Both Virginia Woolf and Mrs. Brown long for

freedom from the restrictions of their eras and
societies. Clarissa Vaughan, however, apparently
enjoys every liberty: freedom to be a lesbian, to
come and go and live as she likes. Yet, despite
this, she ends up a fairly conventional wife and
mother.
What might this indicate about feminism,
equality, and/or the evolution of a room of
ones own?

Each of the novels three principal women feels

a sense of detachment, of playing a role.
Is role-playing an essential part of living in
the world, of being a woman?
Do any of the characters resist role-playing?
If so, what price does she pay for her
resistance?

Suicide is a central theme in every one of the

womans lives.
What does the possibility and reality of death
represent to the various characters?
What makes some of the characters decide to
die and others decide to live?