‘The door opened.
“There is my Elizabeth,” said Clarissa, emotionally, histrionically,
perhaps.’ (pg. 48). Peter was very upset
when Clarissa said this when Elizabeth walked in and I was very confused as to
why this upset his so much. However,
after thinking about it some more, I realized that Peter may be upset because
Clarissa was pretending to be two different women. In one, she is a carefree spirit who is
concerned only with her wants and desires.
This New Woman attitude is present when she is talking with Peter and
acts on her impulse to kiss him.
However, Clarissa is also playing the role of the traditional woman in
her reaction to Elizabeth. When
Elizabeth walks in, Clarissa puts on her motherly hat and is very over
enthusiastic about calling her daughter “my Elizabeth.” This all seems like an act to Peter, rather
than Clarissa’s true personality. I
believe that Peter is so upset because he saw Clarissa as the New Woman, and
liked her spirit then, but as soon as Elizabeth walked in, Clarissa’s persona
changed. This quick diversion from
either one of Clarissa’s personalities was something that Peter did not find
appealing.
I also noticed that this passage was important, but I was not sure why. There were two instances when Peter talked about the way Clarissa said "MY Elizabeth." The first instance was on page 49, and the second was on page 56. It seemed like he was accusing her of "overdoing" things to make her relationship with Elizabeth seem like something it was not. I completely agree with you that this displays how Clarissa was pretending to be two different women. The memories and experiences she discusses in the book almost display a dilemma within Clarissa about which type of woman she really wanted to be. It was also clear that Peter was only attracted to her when she was portraying the side of her which was a strong, opinionated woman.
ReplyDeleteI was also confused with why Peter was upset when Clarissa said, "There is my Elizabeth" (pg, 48). However, I kept reading and thought he was upset because she is not the same young women she was in Burton. Another thing that struck me was when Peter says, "She over does it" (pg. 56). This quote points to the idea that Clarissa was portraying her relationship with her daughter as something that it is not. Ultimately, making Peter notice now Clarissa has changed. I personally think that Peter is disappointed that Clarissa has changed because Peter loved her for the women she was.
ReplyDeleteI also thought that the scene where Peter gets upset when Clarissa said "There is my Elizabeth" was very weird. I did not know why he would get mad at Clarissa who calls her daughter "my Elizabeth." When I read this part, I assume that, at some point, it was "MY Elizabeth" and not "Our Elizabeth" which made Peter upset.
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