She notes that if she retains her weight, then there is a higher chance of her and Leonard moving back to London, which is what she wants. .
"The rest cure, these years among the delphinium beds and the red suburban villas, will be pronounced a success, and she will be deemed fit for the city again" (Cunningham, 1999:34). .
Here, in the beginning of The Hours, Virginia has a clear idea of what she wants to happen and she is sure that it will be achieved. From this one can see that Virginia dislikes living in Richmond and yearns to move back to London. This desire forms one of the main reasons for Virginia's despair and alienation, which eventually lead to her suicide.
One of the reasons for Virginia and her husband moving to Richmond was because she was ill and plagued by painful migraines. She was "banished" to the country in order to recuperate and it is because of this that she feels depressed and isolated. The pain of her headaches is something that also causes Virginia to be trapped. When she has no pain, she has periods of freedom, although, she says that these always feel provisional. It seems as though to Virginia, the headaches are something that assume possession of her, they have a tenacious hold on her, which seems to rarely be released. The pain seems to take over Virginia as a person. The pain has such power over her that its colonizes her.
"Its advance is so forceful, its jagged contours so distinct, that she can't help imagining it as an entity with a life of its own" (Cunningham, 1999:70). .
The pain adds to her feeling of depression and despair because it is responsible for her being in Richmond, a place she dislikes and does not feel at home in. Obviously, the pain is also, in itself, painful, which cannot help but contribute to depression to some extent. Virginia sees it as something to overcome and she is lucky as she has been free from it for some time now.
