Both Virginia Woolf and Laura Brown live in suburban homes that they dislike, and both women struggle with feelings of inadequacy in their roles as homemakers and household managers. Clarissa Vaughan, on the other hand, lives it up in a high-end apartment in a neighborhood that she loves, and because her household responsibilities are choices rather than obligations, she tackles them with pretty genuine joy.
Homes in The Hours tell us a lot about the women who live in them, and by looking at those characters' feelings about the spaces they inhabit, we're able to learn even more.
Questions About The Home
- What does Virginia Woolf notice about the homes of her neighbors in Richmond? How do those homes compare to those she remembers from London?
- What specific features and qualities of her neighbourhood make Laura Brown uneasy?
- How much has Clarissa Vaughan's own taste influenced the decor in her apartment?
Chew on This
All three narratives in The Hours pay homage to earlier forms of women's writing that revolve—sometimes by preference, and sometimes by necessity—around the home.
Laura Brown can't stomach her role as Suzy Homemaker, and the pressure is literally making her ill. By walking out on her roles as model wife and mother, she gives herself the freedom to build a better, truer home for herself somewhere else.