What Made Sally Seton Change?

This is something that has been nagging me as we've been reading "Mrs. Dalloway." We got a view of Sally Seton as this unique individual back at Bourton, this opinionated, passionate, free-spirited, rebellious, artistic girl. And I loved her. I loved this crazy character that came almost out of nowhere, and gave us a completely new look to Clarissa. I was smiling ear to ear as I read the passages about Clarissa and Sally, and not just because gay couples are the cutest couples, but because it made Clarissa seem real. It gives her depth, this teenage romance that goes beyond Peter or Richard, because we see a part of Clarissa that is most often hidden. Very few people will admit to having such a romance in their younger years, despite the fact that such romances occur quite frequently. The fact that Virginia Woolf brought this fact to light in "Mrs. Dalloway", and especially in a time such as the 20's, really makes me happy.

But I digress. Though this whole passage and discussion about love and women and Bourton is wonderful, it later leaves me questioning: What made Sally Seton change? We hear later, from Peter Walsh, that Sally, that rebellious young spirit against all things respectable, such as the admirable Hugh, has married a rich man and is living in a house near Manchester! No! It can't be! Not Sally Seton! It's such a jarring fact. How could Sally have gone from despising men like Hugh to marrying one similar to him?

Well. That's not completely true. We don't actually know anything about Sally's husband, except that he's rich. Still, there's a class and social air that comes along with that wealthy man and house, and that is definitely not a society that Sally at Bourton would've wanted to have been a part of. So what made her change? Did she fall in love with this rich man and change herself for him? Did she grow out of her rebellious spirit? Did she come to a realization that the life she was living wasn't truly the life for her? What was it that made Sally Seton change?!

This question drives me nuts. I mean, as much as I would've loved to have seen Clarissa and Sally skip off into the sunset hand-in-hand, that relationship was never going to happen. Clarissa was too set in her social class by Bourton, was raised in such a way that running off with a woman and shirking her heterosexual housewife duties was never a thought that crossed her mind. I mean, can you imagine Clarissa planning a dinner party with Sally? It just doesn't seem like Clarissa could last in Sally's world, even if she tried. I think the freedom and ease and rebellion would be too much for her.

Yet, how can Sally do the opposite, leave her world for Clarissa's? How?! Clarissa wouldn't make it in Sally's world, but there Sally could live! She was living! She has the most spirit and character out of anyone in this book, though Septimus is a close second, and to me it seems such a waste that she throws away her flower arranging for a wealthy man and house in Manchester. I just wish I knew what made her change.