Why does Susan say her "eyes are hard" when suffering an emotional breakdown in the Waves (Virginia Woolf)?

Question

>"I love," said Susan, "and I hate. I desire one thing only. My eyes are hard. Jinny's eyes break into a thousand lights. Rhoda's are like those pale flowers to which moths come in the evening. [Bernard's] grow full and brim and never break." Source: The Waves (Virginia Woolf) This describes Susan's emotional breakdown when seeing Jinny kissing Bernard. Critics have noted that this is describing what the children are seeing, and not the appearance of the eyes. But I am having trouble understanding the imagery of the eyes here. Why are Susan's eyes being described as "hard", Jinny's as "breaking into a thousand lights", and so on?

Answer 1

She is detached from herself. Jinny is present.

Answer 2

Virginia Woolf is expressing how the character feels about what is taking place.The action is astonishing to the character Susan.She is unable to speak therefore she is not able to truly believe what she is seeing. The devastation of seeing the two kiss has blinded Susan from the stance that she can not imagine how nor why this is happening.