Regret

From the very start of the novel, nostalgia sets in for Clarissa as she looks back on the moments she has already lived as sweeter than the present. She wonders about how her life could have been different had she made different choices: she wonders if she would have been happier had she followed her heart and not simply done what society expected from her. With this, Woolf is making a statement about the fleetingness of life, with the subtle push to urge all readers to buck convention if they so desire, so that when they are older, they don’t look back and wonder what could have been. Clarissa serves as a cautionary warning for all readers – make the most of your time now, so you won’t regret it later in life.