Research of Why The Endings of Modernist Texts Are Necessarily Unsatisfying

Introduction

A ‘satisfying’ ending to a novel often leaves the reader feeling emotionally fulfilled, with many problems presented in the novel being solved and loose ends optimistically tied. Examples of these ‘happy endings’ are predominant in popular literature and not hard to find in narratives ranging from A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare to The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien. But the endings of modernist texts, specifically Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf and A Handful of Dust by Evelyn Waugh, appear not to present simplistic resolutions such as ‘the guy getting the girl’ or ‘evil being finally defeated’.

Analysis of Mrs Dalloway and A Handful of Dust

Mrs Dalloway ends with an ambiguous conversation between Sally and Peter, whilst A Handful of Dust concludes with the funeral of the presumed-dead divorcee Tony who is imprisoned in a jungle. Arguably, modernist literature is characterized by a self-conscious break with traditional ways of writing, including a break with traditional happy endings, leaving ambiguity in its place. The endings of modernist texts are necessarily unsatisfying because they are an experimental means of communicating a complex modernist message about the flaws of society and uncertainty in many aspects of life. However, despite this, there are also ‘satisfying’ elements to both texts, including themes of prevailing love and hope.

There are unsatisfying elements to the ends of both texts that are necessary to demonstrate the flaws of society and the characters within it. Mrs Dalloway concludes with several characters failing to live up to expectations or being left with unresolved problems, a theme that also prevails in A Handful of Dust, demonstrated by Tony’s anticlimactic fate. Sally Seton, for example, who formerly plotted to reform the world and considered conservative marriage a ‘catastrophe’ is living a wealthy married life as a Lady with no apparent intentions to change, despite the fact she showed the greatest potential to be a character with true integrity. The kiss she shares with Clarissa was passionate and ahead of its time, as the two of them would have been completely rejected by society. Woolf uses anaphoric language to emphasise that Sally has lost the honourable attributes demonstrated in her youth; ‘the wild, the daring, the romantic Sally’ is a satirical description because Sally no longer lives up to these labels. She has become everything that she stood against, in a disheartening character progression. Woolf uses the necessarily unsatisfying nature of this ending to comment on the imperfect nature of humanity; it wouldn’t be fitting for Sally to make a dramatic stand against society.

This characterisation of Lady Rosseter is emphasised further when she says Clarissa is ‘at heart a snob’, a seemingly hypocritical and ironic comment from a woman that lives a privileged life and describes Bradshaw’s wife a ‘common woman’. Sally had great potential and hope for her future, which in a way came to nothing. Similarly, in A Handful of Dust, Tony loses his hope for adventure and ends up isolated and forced to read to Mr Todd ‘tomorrow, and the day after that, and the day after that’. This repetition brings to life the horror of his indefinite entrapment. Mr Todd is portrayed with a murderous lack of empathy, ‘his gun, cocked, on his knee’, to intimidate Tony into reading him Charles Dickens. This literary allusion is significant, as many see Charles Dickens as presenting elements of socialism in his writing, attacking ‘the selfishness and hypocrisy of bourgeois society’ (Andy Ford 2012) in novels such as Martin Chuzzlewit which is directly referenced as one of the books Tony is forced to read. The fact that Peter Walsh in Mrs Dalloway was also described as a ‘socialist’ in his youth, contributes to the sense that modernist writing explores alternative ways of making sense of society, especially since ‘the horrors of the First World War saw the prevailing assumptions about society reassessed’ (Catherine Morley 2012). Both texts have subtle references to this alternative and somewhat radical political ideology which, combined with the fact both endings fail to meet the expectations of the reader, creates an anti-climax. This is ultimately unsatisfying, but an entirely necessary technique for a modernist message to be illustrated; life is unstable whether it is the political ideology society is built on or the social expectation projected onto characters like Sally Seton. The unstable, conflicted society that Waugh and Woolf present makes the chances of a cliché happy ending unlikely.

In both novels the endings are necessarily unsatisfying because the societies presented are ones in which happy endings for characters are inappropriate. In the ending of A Handful of Dust, Tony is left by his wife and ends up isolated in the jungle with the sinister Mr Todd. This dramatized theme of downward social mobility, which Waugh previously explored in his 1928 novel Decline and Fall, is taken to a new extreme with the disturbing and unsatisfying nature of the ending, amplified further by the fact that the final chapter of A Handful of Dust fails to give the reader closure about Tony’s fate as his own narration is not captured. Similarly, the ending of Mrs Dalloway omits Clarissa’s viewpoint for the final eight pages and instead jumps between several different focalisations. Sally’s point of view is at the end of one paragraph and at the start of the next we have Richard Dalloway’s perspective on Elizabeth, who ‘felt him looking at her’. Woolf captures multiple interpretations which could be read as confusing and unsatisfying. This fragmentation of narration is a modernist technique that contributes to a sense of frustration as it is almost as if we hear from everyone except Clarissa as it would be satisfying but unrealistic to follow a single protagonist on a straightforward journey. This is because, despite the novel being predominantly about Clarissa, a wide range of minor characters are also living their lives and given a focalisation to represent ‘the infinite complexity of reality’ (Peter Faulkener 1977). Society is made up of interconnected individuals, a complexity that Woolf best expresses through the fragmentation of each character having their own unique problems. Woolf is representing the reality that not everyone has a neat, defined and happy ending. These multiple perspectives contribute to the de-stabling idea that truth itself could be considered a social construct, ‘testifying [to] the disillusionment of the modern society’ (Nasrullah Mambrol 2016). In A Handful of Dust, the narrator is omniscient throughout the novel, so the fact that the reader doesn’t hear from the protagonist himself at the ending is purposefully crafted. The reader is left with a series of unanswered questions; ‘Does Tony ever escape?’, ‘Does he die trying?’, which underlines the unreliability of human experience, a theme often touched on in modernist literature. The novel begins with satirical foreshadowing from one of Tony’s friends in the gentleman’s club stating ‘I often think Tony Last’s one of the happiest men I know’ since he seems to have it all; a ‘devoted wife’, enough money, a son and Hetton. This statement early in the novel contrasts the ambiguous ending, and brings situational irony as Tony loses everything, including Brenda, exposing his much-lauded social status as meaningless.

The theme of failed marriage is also displayed in Mrs Dalloway as Lucrezia compares what was once the loving arm of her husband to ‘a piece of bone’. Woolf uses this metaphor to portray the disheartening loss of marital feeling. The reader knows Lucrezia isn’t literally holding the bones of her husband so uses the ‘context’ to ‘interpret [the metaphor] accordingly’ (Knowles & Moon 2006). The sinister connotation of bones infers death and the countable noun ‘piece’ communicates the marriage isn’t even worth the whole bone, only a fragment. This is supported later through Septimus’ own focalisation, which says ‘his wife was crying, and he felt nothing’, demonstrating a cold lack of empathy and an almost inhuman contrast to a vibrant marriage. Septimus admitting that he feels ‘nothing’ confirms the deterioration of marriage depicted in Woolf’s metaphor. Waugh also uses metaphorical language and themes of death and mortality to portray marriage within A Handful of Dust. In a delirious state Tony reveals truths about the pain he feels in relation to the divorce: ‘She will say nothing cruel… but she will leave you’ which Waugh summarises in the line ‘Let us kill in the gentlest manner.’ In a similar way to Woolf, the deterioration of his marriage is linked to death. Waugh was dismayed when he filed for divorce in 1929 as it clashed with his Catholic beliefs, explaining why Tony’s divorce is described with such negative connotations. Waugh presents a ‘powerful twentieth century sermon on the breakdown of a Christian marriage’ (John Raymond 1984). Notably, Waugh wrote an alternative ending to the novel that he ensured never made it to final publication. American magazine Harper’s Bazaar published the story using this alternative ending, where Tony’s South American adventure is safe and successful, seeing him return to his wife, who falls pregnant with their child. The fact that Waugh chose not to incorporate this ending to the final publication suggests ‘apparent rejection of the novel’s traditional ethical obligations’ (Hans Bertens 2001), despite the fact Waugh ‘repeatedly denounced modernist formal experimentation’. Regardless of his intentions, Waugh wrote a novel with an ending so ethically unsatisfying that it is generally labelled as modernist literature. He even had the option to publish the alternate ending that met traditional obligations, such as the sanctity of marriage, but kept the misery and dark satire inspired by Tony’s indefinite isolation from a traditional society. In both texts the loss of marital feeling contributes to the sense that lives are empty of meaning. It seems there is no ‘happily ever after’ regarding marriage or in the novels as a whole. Rather, worlds presented are those in which certainty is lost and happy endings are inappropriate. This is seemingly a modernist trope, repeated in works like The Great Gatsby and TS Eliot’s The Wasteland, which provides both the title and the starting epigraph, ‘I can show you fear in a handful of dust’ perhaps symbolic of deterioration and decay.

From another perspective, the reader could interpret the ending of both novels in a way that is not as unsatisfactory as it first appears. The title ‘Mrs Dalloway’ is eponymous, so to focus on the downfalls of minor characters is a digression from what could have been Woolf’s intention for the novel - an honest love story between Peter and Clarissa. Throughout the novel Woolf makes it obvious to the reader that Peter and Clarissa still love each other, a typical trope of the romantic genre ‘maybe they don't know they're in love but the reader does’ (Joan Schulhafer 1982). Peter comes to London to arrange a divorce for Daisy Simmonds who he claims to love, yet he can’t help but see Clarissa. When Peter tells Clarissa that he’s in love with another woman she is ‘trembling a little’ as she cannot physically control or hide her feelings. Furthermore, Peter states that ‘having a Conservative husband, like the admirable Richard’ is bad for Clarissa. Woolf uses verbal irony, as Peter says this sardonically, hinting at feelings of jealousy. The last time Woolf deploys Clarissa’s narration she expresses she ‘must go back’ to Peter and the use of this modal verb ‘must’ shows how definite her choice is. Arguably, Brenda represents a similar theme of prevailing romantic love in A Handful of Dust by defying the social expectations of gender to follow her heart. The presentation of women in literature often depicts ‘helpless’ stereotypes (Hans Bertens 2001), so it could be interpreted as refreshing that Brenda isn’t scared to change to her life. ‘I hear Brenda disgraced herself’ illustrates the sneering attitude of a patriarchal society, condemning women that don’t settle for a bland, traditional life. Despite this pressure, Brenda leaves Tony to search for love. After an unfulfilling relationship with John Beaver, she marries Jock Grant-Menzies and despite being socially penalised ‘It didn’t take her long to get hitched up again’ (a degrading statement considering the italicised pronoun), in the end she finds happiness.

Woolf uses epithetical descriptions to illustrate love and passion between characters, with Clarissa describing Peter as ‘enchanting! Perfectly enchanting!’. This combination of punctuated exclamation and repetition of the adjective ‘enchanting’ highlights the strength of her feelings, as the lexical Woolf has deployed is flattering and romantic. Waugh also uses epithetical language to imply romantic connections. Before Brenda has even begun her search for love and fulfilment, Jock sings her praises using the alliterative phrase ‘grand girl’ to foreshadow their connection. The end for Brenda is satisfying, demonstrating triumphant romantic undertones as she gains the life she desired. Overall the ending of Mrs Dalloway may have a degree of ambiguity, but the satisfying elements mentioned above are mirrored by the structure of the novel. It starts with Clarissa speaking about Peter as he interrupts her ‘musing’ and ends with Peter speaking about Clarissa. This cyclical feature shows Woolf’s intentions for the characters as if they are destined to be together, their stories are interconnected. The final lines of the novel offer a unique and satisfying ending focalised in Peter’s point of view; ‘What is this terror? what is this ecstasy? he thought to himself. What is it that fills me with extraordinary excitement? It was Clarissa, he said. For there she was.’. Peter not only asks a string of questions that are all suggestive of his love for Clarissa, but the questions are an example of hypophora, meaning he immediately answers them and finishes the novel with an answer. And what’s the answer? Mrs Dalloway.

Mrs Dalloway and A Handful of Dust both share the theme of preservation, suggesting the endings do contain some satisfying elements relating to a sense of hope. Although the final chapter of A Handful of Dust captures Tony’s funeral, who is perhaps alive, there is still a strong element of hope. Tony’s legacy is continued by his relative Teddy who has the same ‘pride and affection’ to restore Hetton ‘to the glory it had enjoyed in the days of his cousin’, revealed in the ultimate sentences of the novel. This has great significance as other characters don’t share this passion for Hetton, ‘It’s a pretty ghastly house isn’t it’ Jock comments, using the inquisitive term ‘isn’t it’ to subject Tony’s pride to social ridicule. Even Tony’s former wife had a bored, resentful attitude towards Hetton, describing Tony as ‘madly feudal’, suggesting the love for his home was irrational and outdated. Despite this, at the end Tony’s Hetton gravestone commemorates him as an ‘explorer’. This has connotations of bravery, meaning he will be well remembered as an adventurer within Hetton grounds, rather than a sad divorcee. This theme of preservation could be seen as an echo of Septimus because although he kills himself, his military service means he is remembered in a more honourable light; ‘..men killed in battle were thus saluted, and Septimus had been through the war’, which contributes to a sense of hope in a troubled world. In the same way that Tony is honourably remembered as an ‘explorer’, Septimus’ legacy as a soldier ensures he is respected beyond the grave. Septimus commits suicide to ‘preserve’ his dignity and Woolf ensures that his sacrifice lives on through Clarissa who speculates on the suicide in her final focalisation. Instead of having ‘pity’ for Septimus she realises his ‘Death was defiance.’ Woolf’s choice of a short, simple sentence emphasises its significance. Overall Clarissa gains desired clarity from Septimus’ suicide by the end, transitioning from a repetitive fixation on her disappearing youth, ‘had [she] grown older?’ to coming to terms with mortality. Woolf’s use of an epigraph in Clarissa’s ultimate focalisation; ‘Fear no more the heat of the sun.’ references Shakespeare’s poem from Cymbeline which is written in consolation of the dead. Like the poem expresses, the ending of Mrs Dalloway sees Clarissa realise that death brings freedom from worldly anxieties. A connection can be drawn between her character and Septimus who seems to echo the same epigraph when contemplating taking his own life ‘Life was good. The sun hot’. Woolf uses two simple, symmetrical sentences to emphasise the clear decision that Septimus makes to preserve his dignity. This suggests that both novels have elements of satisfaction in their endings because, despite events throughout the novel, hope is not completely lost. The preservation of the legacies of Tony and Septimus mean that in a sense they live on, especially in Septimus’ case as his suicide inspires realisation and clarity for Clarissa.

Conclusion

To conclude, although there certainly are satisfactory elements, such as preservation, hope and love, these fleeting glimpses of hope contrast and thus emphasise the overwhelmingly unsatisfying endings to Mrs Dalloway and A Handful of Dust. The endings of modernist texts are necessarily unsatisfying to a great extent because the Modernist writer often sought to represent the ‘the infinite complexity of reality’ (Peter Faulkner 1977) which included exposing reality’s societal flaws- not everyone has a satisfying ending. The horrors of the First World War, which ended in 1918, brought new challenges to society’s values, by actively destabilising a range of social and political themes using conventional modernist techniques such as fragmentation and symbolism. Modernist texts attempt to make sense of individual’s lives and therefore society as a whole by exploring values such as the sanctity of love and marriage, definitive social class, alternative sexual orientation or political ideologies and unaddressed issues with both male and female mental health in a way that hadn’t been done before. In a society filled with complexities and uncertainties, it wouldn’t be fitting for a simplistic resolution such as ‘the guy getting the girl’ or’ evil being defeated once and for all’ as these satisfying tropes don’t match up to the harshness of reality that is captured in the necessarily unsatisfying endings of Mrs Dalloway and A Handful of Dust.

References

• Peter Faulkener, Modernism (1977)
• Nasrullah Mambrol, Techniques of Fragmentation (2016)
• Catherine Morley, Modern American Literature (2012)
• Knowles & Moon, Introducing Metaphor (2006)
• John Raymond quoted in Stannard (1984)
• Hans Bertens, Literary Theory, Abingdon: Routledge (2001)
• Andy Ford, Socialist Today issue 158 (2012)
• Joan Schulhafer of Pocket Books (1982)