Jotting down some thoughts.

(This blog post is more for my own benefit. I want to keep track of my views on these characters as the reading progresses.)

I really, really dislike Macon Dead Sr. He has an attitude that needs to go. His behavior towards his family is abysmal, and his conduct in regards to others is equally horrifying. But I still hesitate to condemn him for I know he has had a troubled childhood, and based on my previous experience with tough and rough characters like him, I want to believe in him and his ultimate love for his family. However, it's hard to find justification for his behavior towards Pilate. He cares for her, and yet feels ashamed about her and her poverty, which I feel like is a moot point since he can help her with his money.

As for Pilate herself, I find her interesting. She has an air of mystery that begs for examination. I wonder why both her daughter and granddaughter call her Mama, why she sings so well, and why she makes wine.  There is a connection between her and Milkman that intrigues me too. She cares for Ruth and her brother too. She does mention that there are three Deads still alive - which makes me wonder who is the last one that we haven't met.

Ruth strikes me as a confusing character. She seems to suffer under a light form of mental disease. Her behavior is childlike, which annoys Macon. And her insistence on breast-feeding her son is almost obsessive. Yet she is incredibly pitiful. Her role as the oppressed and misunderstood housewife is one that almost always attract sympathy.

Peter Walsh: Romance Extraordinaire

If there ever was a fascinating character in Mrs. Dalloway, it would be the overlooked Peter Walsh. With his fumbling knives, with his childish sayings, and his dull letters, Peter has arguably had the greatest influence on Clarissa. He knows Clarissa better than she knows herself, and yet still manages to be "passionately" in love with her. His adoration of her isn't blind, and that is what makes it so compelling; it takes one glance for him to realize that the woman of his dreams will marry another man, and it will take him much more than a lifetime to forget her haunting. For even though he has given his love to a faraway Daisy, it is Clarissa whom he weeps before.

Peter, for me, symbolizes the complex and varying shades of human love. The feelings he possesses for Clarissa is far more complicated than any Disney movie; he hates her, derides her, and pities her. But it is her who stirs the most curious spark within him. After reuniting with her for the first time in years, he leaves, miserable, and dreams of "a solitary traveller" wandering down a path with the majestic "sky and branches" endowed with womanhood; he hears murmurs of "sirens lolloping away on the green sea waves" and sees his past, so tragically romantic. There are no perfect love stories, only snapshots. There is perhaps a human instinct that clings to the happier side of romance, but it is only the complete story that can be so compelling.