I feel Peter’s pain in regards to his lack of closure, but I think there’s something deeper to be discovered. He’s a World War One Veteran who is lamenting the loss of a love he never experienced. In a way, Wolfe is presenting this as a metaphor for Britain’s lament of what could have been before the war broke out. Before World War One, Britain was struggling to maintain itself as a super power. In the aftermath, the country laments what it lost in the midst. Thus the characters are symbolic of this. Mrs. Dalloway is reflecting on what she could have had, despite what she gained while Peter was away. Peter himself laments not embracing the love he felt for her, thus asking the question of why one must experience loss, as well as how one can go on living with the pain and such that it brings. I’ve seen something like this with many a young crewman as I’ve traveled these skies. Men leave port to fulfil their duties as crew members, much like young men do when going to war. In either case, someone laments their absence or loss. In a nut shell, Wolfe created such a metaphor within her story as a means of expressing the country’s state of being.

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