Depression in the Hours

In Michael Cunningham’s The Hours Virginia Woolf, Laura Brown and Clarissa Dalloway’s lives have a common undertone. In each story the three women are forced to confront one of society’s most controversial topics: mental illness. Mental illness is such a controversial topic mainly in part from fear. Many people in today’s society fear the unknown, they fear that in which they do not fully understand; mental illnesses such as depression and schizophrenia. Michael Cunningham shows a different side of mental illnesses using Virginia, Laura and Clarissa to convey his message: Mental illness is something that is not a one dimensional kind of issue.

In Cunningham’s The Hours, Virginia Woolf and Laura Brown both suffer depression. In today’s society doctors are able to properly diagnose and treat many forms of depression, one of which Virginia suffers from. Virginia shows little interest in eating and goes as far as to lie to her husband, Leonard about eating breakfast. When Leonard calls her on her lie, Virginia simply tells him, “I’m having coffee with cream for breakfast. It’s enough” (Cunningham, 33). Virginia also has very low self esteem, refusing to look into the mirrors while getting ready in the morning feeling as if, “The mirror is dangerous; it sometimes shows her the dark manifestation of air that matches her body, takes her form, but stands behind, watching her, with porcine eyes and wet, hushed breathing” (31). Even though Virginia recognizes that there is something slightly off about her behavior she continues to hide it from her friends and family, just like Laura Brown hides her depression from her son, Richie and her husband, Dan.

Laura Brown although suffering from depression like Virginia, has a different form of ...

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...cer, the depression worsened. For Virginia, the depression she suffered from became too much and in the prologue, her husband finds her suicide note but as the reader knows, Virginia has already drowned herself. Cunningham’s ability to show not only the different forms of depression, but the way it manifests into their everyday lives, shows the reader how mental illnesses, like depression are anything but one dimensional. Cunningham shows that illnesses such as depression are influenced by outside factors as well as past experiences and the individual’s brain chemistry.

Works Cited

Chakaburtty, Amal. "Psychotic Depression." 1 Mar 2010. n.pag. Depression Health Center. Web. 13 Nov 2011.

Chakaburtty, Amal. "Atypical Depression." 12 Sep 2009. n.pag. Depression Health Center. Web. 13 Nov 2011.

Cunningham, Michael. The Hours. New York: Picador USA, 1998. Print.