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July 15, 1997
Dear Pat,
While rereading The Voyage Out I was struck by the very first sentence: "As the streets that lead from the Strand to the Embankment are very narrow, it is better not to walk down them arm-in-arm." Because I know that Rachel died in the end, it is easy for me to speculate about the meaning of "narrow" which prevents the "arm-in-arm."
Walking arm in arm means to me a companionable relationship full of communication and understanding. It means you are friends, in a comforting presence. However in this case, the streets are narrow and thus it is better not to walk in that way. It causes others discomfort. They glare at you because you make them go out of their way. Having a companion is uncomfortable for everyone else.
I see this as a metaphor for marriage. It was inconvenient to everyone if a couple were friends (the "narrow" view). It made everyone uncomfortable. They would stare accusingly to prevent the companionable-ness from spreading, to reveal their displeasure because that was just not the way things were supposed to be done.
Rachel felt this—felt the impossibility of true communication between her and her fiancee. That is why she gave up and died. She didn’t want to face a future of the loneliness that would inevitably result from such a ban on closeness.
This is the only way I can explain the sadness of Rachel’s death, which made me cry the first time I read it. Does this make sense to you as a viable explanation?
Tanica