Peter is Weird
In the time that we got to see into Peter's mind, he has showed us that he is a weird person, who is kind of obsessed with Clarissa and thinks he knows what's going on around him when in actuality he does not fully understand the situation.
In the beginning of the memory we are told that this is when he was "passionately in love with Clarissa", we see how he criticizes Clarissa and list some traits she had that annoyed him. "He hadn't blamed her for minding the fact, since in those days a girl brought up as she was, knew nothing, but it was her manner that annoyed him; timid; hard; something arrogant; unimaginative; prudish". Then after Clarissa and Peter part ways, he immediately goes into depression mode,which is red flag number one, as a healthy relationship would have anyone be a little sad that the one they like is gone, but not enough do that the color drains from the world and everything is grey now. After which, he goes on to say that this is the way things usually happen, which is even more worrying because that would make it a cycle, and it becomes clearer than he is obsessed with Clarissa, but besides his company she seems to enjoy, we don't see nearly the same thing from her. Not to say that they should both be obsessed, but saying that Peter's obsession is one sided.
At
the end of that there is the failed confession that Peter gave to
Clarissa, he goes into yet another depression, or maybe all of these
should be considered tantrums since they don't seem to last very long
and are somewhat frequent, and sobs as Clarissa walks away from him. We also see how he uses Clarissa as a basis for all women, and he says that women don't know what passion is, and don't understand it like men do, all because he thinks of Clarissa as cold because he thinks her actions are without meaning.
Later in the story we see him summarize an argument that he witnessed as just being young, like he knows and relates to what happens between them, when all he is doing is jumping to conclusions.He then goes on the say that he always had a weakness for impressions, and in India it was the impressions that the women made on him. He says, "After India of course one fell in love with every woman one met. There was a freshness about them...and the his eye the fashions had never been so becoming; the long black cloaks; the slimness; the elegance; and then the delicious and apparently universal habit of paint". This paragraph to me was a little bit creepy, almost an excuse or his rationalization for his actions.
Overall I'm kind of worried about this man, or what he might do or be involved in when we read more of the book, because he seems to be very emotionally driven, especially when it comes to Clarissa.
I'd definitely agree that there's something unhealthy to Peter's relationship with (or perhaps more so relationship towards) Clarissa, and I'd like to dig deeper into the reason why he criticizes her so much. I think it could easily be a result of his own feelings of inadequacy that lead him to try to bring others, especially Clarissa who he puts on an unreachable pedastal, down. I also think that Peter may subconciously be quite aware of how unrealistic and unhealthy his love for her in a long term way, as he almost seems to use seeing Richard and Clarissa talk, basically just one time, as an excuse to begin his grieving process and finding the reason to get over her (again, probably tied to his own insecurities as he doesn't seem to think he's good enough for her at times).
ReplyDeleteI also found myself worrying about Peter's mental health, especially during the section that follows his point of view. His episode where he follows a woman around Trafalgar Square showed that something was definitely wrong with him mentally. He created meaning for himself through a fantastical romantic pursuit rather than attempting to in real life.
ReplyDeleteIt's definitely clear to see what a conflicted man Peter is. I think he'll turn out to be an interesting character, since he has relationships with all the main characters, and like you said, even he hasn't fully understood or processed all of these relationships yet, so I'm looking forward to seeing him struggle to comprehend his relationships as the story unfolds.
ReplyDeleteSomething else that I was thinking about is Peter's dream in which a "solitary traveler" has a vision of a woman (Well, kind of. He actually "endows" the branches and sky with "womanhood") who bestows charity, comprehension, and absolution. I interpreted this as Virginia Woolf's way of hinting that Peter wants a woman who will "save" him from his discontentment with life, which seems problematic.
ReplyDeleteI agree with a lot of the points you bring up about Peter's emotional and mental health through the passages that we have read so far. His run-in experience with Clarissa reflects a lot about how much "real-estate" Clarissa takes up in his head. As we are taken through the door of Clarissa's house with Peter, his perspective does seem does seem to give off vibes of a world without color. The fact that this is most likely a recurring cycle, as you mentioned, in Peter's life is definitely worrying. I'm interested to see what his character development will be in the coming passages. Awesome post!
ReplyDeleteI wonder how many of us would seem "weird" to a reader who had access to our private thoughts and interior monologue. One thing I always remind people as we read this novel and assess its characters is that *they don't know we're listening*. The idea is that we are getting un unfiltered, unself-conscious reflection of what they're thinking about. Absent this interior perspective, we wouldn't even necessarily know that Peter is following that nurse, let alone "stalking" her and engaging in these wild imaginative fantasies. He doesn't tell anyone about this, and he betrays nothing in his outward behavior. There is something disconcertingly intimate about having this deeper access to a character's interiority, as if we're "eavesdropping" on their private thoughts and feelings.
ReplyDelete