Pleasure Reading Virginia Woolf "Mrs. Dalloway" summary 6

In the evening all guests come to Dalloway's party. There one can see everybody from high society: Peter Walsh, Hugh Whitbread, Lady Bruton, Warren Smith's doctor, and even Sally Seton, mrs. Dalloway's old best friend. They have not seen each other for many years. It is a great surprise for Clarissa to learn that her joyous friend got married to a boring and old nobleman, gave a birth to five children and lives calm and peaceful life.
Clarissa cannot talk only with her friend and has to go from one group of guests to another. She tries to be cheerful but it looks unnatural. The reason is that she cannot stop thinking about Peter Walsh. She is also upset by the story about a suicide as she wants everybody to rejoice and not be gloomy.
Over and over again mrs. Dalloway's thought face towards her past and she realises that all her life has been full of fear: fear to choose by herself, to be responsible for her actions, to be herself. She understands that though now she knows more and will never repeat her mistakes, her youth is gone and she has nothing to do with it but just submit.