Peter, Clarissa, and Happy Endings

     So for my second blog post, I decided I wanted to write a bit about Peter. Peter sticks out to me as the character with the most incomplete story. I feel like he hasn't been given a proper resolution. Now obviously we're only halfway into the book and it would be an odd choice on Woolf's part to wrap up all the plot lines so early, but what I mean is that if you look at all the characters' lives as of right now, they all seem like they're coming to an end of the rollercoaster. Sally found some wealthy man to marry and now lives what one can assume is a happy life up in a large mansion near Manchester. Septimus leads a life full of ptsd, suicidal thoughts, and hallucinations, with little to no obvious solutions. Rezia might be stuck with this suffering man for the rest of their lives (It would would be a sad one, but still a resolution to their story). Hugh found a wife, and as far as we know lives a pretty good life. And perhaps from an outsiders point of view, Clarissa is married to Richard, who she's known since she was very young. This leaves Peter. Peter, a once married man, now supposedly "in love" with another woman in India, pursuing young women at random on a whim, all the while thinking of Clarissa. Peter has not been able to settle down so far, and to the reader it seems like he never will until he and Clarissa are together. He constantly thinks about her, shows up to her house unexpectedly, and digs up memories of people (Sally) saying that he was the right partner for Clarissa, as these other men would just "stifle her soul." On Clarissa's end, her marriage seems to be losing it's spark. We can see this in the pain she feels when Richard eats out with another woman, and when she often thinks about what life would've been like with another man. 

    Once we're inside Clarissa's head as well, it seems like the possibility of her and Peter realizing their love for each other multiplies considerably. From a readers perspective it might seem like Woolf has been building up the story thus far for this to come to fruition. I definitely think it makes sense for the end of Peter's story, and it feels like a good way for Sally's to end as well. He gets the girl, she gets a more loving husband, everybody wins, happily ever after etc. But is this realistic? I mean they're both in their fifties, and Clarissa is in a stable marriage, with wealth, a nice home, and a daughter. Would she exit this marriage betting on a relationship with a man she can't even seem to get along with? I mean there's a chance running off with Peter would blow up in their faces, leaving them both without a partner and a happy ending. Would Peter have the audacity to request this from her? I mean he already asked her if she was happy, so that might not be too farfetched. I just don't know if these events would be so likely in real life. And while i do believe that it has happened, I think people being forced to abandon their (multi decade long even) unrequited love has also happened its fair share. Then again, it is a novel we're reading, we aren't necessarily dealing with realistic decisions. I'm not familiar with Virginia Woolf as a writer so I can't nearly say for sure how Peter and Clarissa's stories will end. I'll just have to keep reading and find out.