Mrs Dalloway (Clarissa) Quotes

Year in year out she wore that coat; she perspired; she was never in the room five minutes without making you feel her superiority, your inferiority; how poor she was; how rich you were; how she lived in a slum without a cushion or a bed or a rug or whatever it might be, all her soul rusted with that grievance sticking in it, her dismissal from school during the War – poor embittered unfortunate creature! (1.21)

Miss Kilman is defined by feeling rejected by society. She considers herself to always be on the outside – resentful, impoverished, and inferior.

Sally it was who made her feel, for the first time, how sheltered the life at Bourton was. She knew nothing about sex – nothing about social problems. (2.12)

Sally Seton changes Clarissa’s life by making her aware that there’s more going on than tea parties at Bourton. Before Sally, Clarissa was very sheltered. Do you think she's any different after her relationship with Sally?

Then somebody said – Sally Seton it was – did it make any real difference to one's feelings to know that before they'd married she had had a baby? (In those days, in mixed company, it was a bold thing to say.) He could see Clarissa now, turning bright pink; somehow contracting; and saying, "Oh, I shall never be able to speak to her again!" (4.12)

Sally’s views are shocking to Clarissa’s family – and to Clarissa. When she hears that someone has had a baby out of wedlock, Clarissa vows never to speak to that person again.