What is the significance of Clarissa's party in Mrs. Dalloway?

It is the assembly of the party where much of Clarissa's
energies are focused.  On many levels this holds significance.  The focus of Clarissa's
drive on the party helps to dislodge other, more substantive questions about the nature
of her being.  Her choices in life, the selection of Richard over Peter, as well as the
basis of her identity and how mortality plays a role in this can all be put to the side
if there is a party that needs to be assembled.  In this light, one can see Clarissa's
desire to put together the party as an attempt to stave off these more fundamental and
painful questions of consciousness in place of something more trivial and more light in
nature.