Chapter 5 Summary

Two hours into her morning, Virginia is pleased with her writing. She has high expectations for her book, though she's aware that, by tomorrow, she may come to hate everything she's written today. Virginia thinks that her character, Clarissa Dalloway, must die at the end of the book by taking her own life. She stops writing and goes back downstairs to the printing room, where Leonard and his assistant Ralph are working. Out of loyalty to Leonard, she is deliberately cold to Ralph. Privately, Virginia thinks Leonard is too hard on his assistants, but feels it is her duty as his wife to reflect his attitude. She attempts to treat Ralph like a servant, seeking just the right tone that her mother would have used with her servants, but it comes off wrong and Ralph thinks she is taking his side over Leonard's...