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Dan is a former war hero who somewhat unexpectedly decides to marry the bookish Laura. Together, they have a young son named Richie. Although Dan seems supportive of Laura and even sympathetic to her mental health issues, he ultimately fails to understand her on a deeper level, forcing her to seek out understanding in other ways, like reading Virginia Woolf. As a loyal husband who nevertheless fails to see many important things about his wife, he is yet another man in the story who resembles Richard Dalloway from Mrs. Dalloway.
Dan Quotes in The Hours
The The Hours quotes below are all either spoken by Dan or refer to Dan. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 3: Mrs. Brown Quotes
She inhales deeply. It is so beautiful; it is so much more than…well, than almost anything, really. In another world, she might have spent her whole life reading. But this is the new world, the rescued world—there’s not much room for idleness. So much has been risked and lost; so many have died.
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This quote describes Laura Brown’s reaction to reading Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway, which is so rapturous that it causes her to stay up late at night reading and then stay in bed the next morning to read more. Laura sees Mrs. Dalloway as being more alive and beautiful than her own life, even though the novel famously focuses on everyday matters. And so, this passage captures the power of writing, which can transform stories about ordinary events into something so thrilling that they become an escape from the everyday. Laura’s thoughts about a “new world” where “much has been risked and Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Per
Chapter 6: Mrs. Brown Quotes
It seems suddenly easy to bake a cake, to raise a child. She loves her son purely, as mothers do—she does not resent him, does not wish to leave.
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This quote describes Laura making a birthday cake for her husband, Dan, after Dan leaves for work that day. At first, Laura felt anxiety about being left alone with her son, Richie, and about having to finish a cake for Dan before he returns home, but after Laura gets started on the task, she finds that it goes better than she expected. Making the cake gives Laura an opportunity to bond with Richie, who can be an emotional child. As this quote reveals, Laura’s feelings toward Richie are complicated—while she does love him, particularly in this moment, she also seems Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error.
Chapter 12: Mrs. Brown Quotes
Leaving the desk, she can hardly believe she’s done it. She has gotten the key, passed through the portals.
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In this quote, Laura can’t believe that, in order to find a private place to read Mrs. Dalloway in peace for a couple hours, she actually checked out a room at a reasonably nice hotel for a whole night. The idea that it’s possible to do such a thing shocks her, not because she’s doing anything particularly immoral, but because she didn’t feel that she could ever escape the watchful eye of Richie or the duties she has for Dan. Laura feels that the hotel is like a portal to somewhere new, where her domestic duties are a distant concern. Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accus
Chapter 19: Mrs. Brown Quotes
The candles are lit. The song is sung. Dan, blowing the candles out, sprays a few tiny droplets of clear spittle onto the icing’s smooth surface. Laura applauds and, after a moment, Richie does, too.
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This quote describes the culmination of Laura’s day. After trashing her first cake to make a new, better one, she watches Dan accidentally spit onto all her hard work. Although Laura is clearly disappointed, she feels she has to clap, and this signals to Richie that he should clap, too. One of the reasons why this passage is significant is because earlier, Laura tried to overcome her insecurities around Kitty by rationalizing that at least Dan doesn’t spit everywhere like Ray when he talks. When Dan spits on Laura’s cake, even though it’s an accident, Laura realizes that maybe Dan Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta im
Chapter 21: Mrs. Brown Quotes
“So,” Dan says after a while. “Are you coming to bed?”
“Yes,” she says.
From far away, she can hear a dog barking.
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This quote comes at the very end of Laura Brown’s story in the 1949 timeline. Dan has already asked if Laura will come to bed, but she didn’t respond, so now he asks again. Even though Laura says this time that she’ll come to bed with Dan, the chapter cuts off before she actually goes to bed. Even though Dan asks Laura a question rather than giving a command, this chapter still makes it clear that Dan expects sex from Laura, adding yet another item to her list of supposed responsibilities. The barking dog that ends this chapter has symbolic Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Po
Chapter 22: Mrs. Dalloway Quotes
They settle into another silence, one that is neither intimate nor particularly uncomfortable. Here she is, then, Clarissa thinks; here is the woman from Richard’s poetry. Here is the lost mother, the thwarted suicide; here is the woman who walked away. It is both shocking and comforting that such a figure could, in fact, prove to be an ordinary-looking old woman seated on a sofa with her hands in her lap.
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In this quote, Clarissa finally meets Laura, who has grown much older in the time since that day decades ago when she baked a cake for Dan and rented a hotel room for herself. Clarissa and Laura have a lot in common, having both acted in a maternal role toward Richard (literally in Laura’s case, figuratively in Clarissa’s. They also both have gained a keen understanding of the burdens and pressures of domestic life. Clarissa thinks at first that Laura must be the mother figure from Richard’s poetry, not considering the possibility that, just as Richard misrepresented Clarissa in his Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. P
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Dan Character Timeline in The Hours
The timeline below shows where the character Dan appears in The Hours. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 3: Mrs. Brown
...of reading in bed, she should be getting up to make breakfast for her husband, Dan, and her three-year-old son, Richie. But she decides to stay in bed, figuring that she...
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...and finds it very beautiful. She thinks about how just five years ago, she heard Dan was dead, only to learn two days later that he was still alive (and someone...
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...her that Virginia had. At last, she gets ready and goes down to breakfast with Dan and Richie. Laura thinks of the cake she’ll make later in the day and the...
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Laura says Dan shouldn’t have let her sleep in on his birthday, but Dan says she needed the...
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Dan leaves for work. Alone with Richie, Laura often feels uncertain of what to do. She...
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Chapter 6: Mrs. Brown
...that maybe everything in her life is fine—that she will continue to be devoted to Dan and Richie and that she’s all prepared for their second child.
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Chapter 12: Mrs. Brown
...her lips touched Kitty’s and realizes that she desires Kitty, although she also still desires Dan.
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Chapter 17: Mrs. Brown
...takes Richie home, saying they should have just enough time to get everything ready before Dan comes back. All of a sudden, Laura hears Richie say “I love you” in a...
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Chapter 19: Mrs. Brown
Dan blows out his birthday cake, and although Laura applauds and says, “Happy birthday,” she is...
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Dan asks Richie to help him cut the cake. Laura goes to get dessert plates and...
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Chapter 21: Mrs. Brown
Laura finishes brushing her teeth, thinking of Richie already in bed and Dan waiting for her. She won’t be able to read because Dan will want to have...
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Laura closes the cabinet and heads into her bedroom. Dan says he had a great birthday and invites her to bed. Laura says she’s coming,...
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Chapter 22: Mrs. Dalloway
...Laura attempted suicide at one point and fled her family, but has somehow outlasted both Dan, who died of cancer, and her daughter, who was killed by a drunk driver.
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