Oh, here's death!

“Oh!  thought Clarissa, in the middle of my party, here’s death, she thought.”  (Woolf 279).

This quote, from Clarissa’s point of view, shows how frivolous she is; but also her happiness.  Clarissa is upset because, at her party, people are discussing a young man’s death—his suicide even.  Clarissa, although her life is centered around time and its importance, as is shown by the incessant striking of the hours throughout Clarissa’s day, does not like to think about the future.  She lives only, exactly, in the present, not thinking about death or what comes later.  But, at the same time, because she does not think about it, she does not fear it—her mind is never troubled, never bothered.  Time controls her, yes, but only in a instantaneous way—the hour strikes, then dissolves.  Another hour strikes, and that one, too, leaves.  She need not worry about death, because it is inevitable.