Chapter 13 Summary

Virginia sits in the kitchen, having tea with her sister; for this brief moment, she truly appreciates her life. She begins to reconsider killing off Mrs. Dalloway. How could she leave this domestic bliss behind? Nelly arrives on the scene with the sweetened ginger and China tea, furious that Virginia has prepared tea without her and wasted her time by sending her to London. When Nelly turns her back on the two sisters, Virginia leans forward and kisses her sister on the lips; Vanessa returns the kiss. The kiss feels as delicious as forbidden pleasure to Virginia.

Chapter 13 Analysis

Virginia's decision to let Clarissa live, based on her own present happiness, is Cunningham's way of showing us that Clarissa Dalloway was strongly based on the true-life Virginia Woolf. Virginia's thoughts of suicide prompted her to want to kill off her character, but now...