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  • Essay / The detail of the “Self” in “The Waves” by Virginia Woolf

    'Let us record the atoms as they fall on the mind in the order in which they fall, trace the pattern, even if it is disconnected and inconsistent in appearance, which each sight or incident marks on the consciences. “Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned"?Get the original essay Above is an excerpt from Virginia Woolf's influential essay "Modern Fiction," in which she argues for of a new way of presenting experience and reality in the novel. While defending her unique style, the essay strives to develop a theory of realism and establishes the relationship between art and the real world in the new conditions of the 1920s. Woolf, as one of the most important figures most prominent in literary modernism, created works that became renowned for their distinctive narrative method, particularly characterized by his use of the stream-of-consciousness mode. The Waves, published in 1931, undoubtedly Woolf's most poetic work, particularly adopts this device. Described by Woolf as a “playful poem,” throughout the work the sense of genre almost seems to dissolve and the line between prose and poetry blurs. It is this fluidity of language that allows Woolf to present and detail "the self" in such an extraordinary way, as the current thoughts of consciousness are captured and conveyed evocatively. The novel centers on the streams of consciousness of six different characters: Bernard, Louis, Neville, Jinny, Rhoda and Susan. Woolf follows these six narrative axes from their common childhood to the Middle Ages, through nine episodes or sections. There is, however, a seventh character, Percival, whom the other characters speak of, although he himself does not have a voice. Although the characters' lives are distinct, they sometimes seem to synchronize throughout the novel; their minds, or their individual voices, seem to blur together, conveying a united voice, a group identity. While composing the novel, Woolf wrote in her diary: “I think the waves resolve themselves…in a series of dramatic soliloquies. The key is to bring them in and out evenly, to the rhythm of the waves. Each voice can be seen as the character's inner monologue, which Woolf attempts to integrate into the "rhythm" of the novel, characterized by the nine interludes framing each section. As Woolf wrote: “I write to a rhythm, not to a plot.” It is this lesser focus on plot that allows for a more effective and natural flow of the characters' voices and, therefore, a more vivid and impressionistic portrayal of their identities. Certainly, Woolf's fluid style helps convey the blurred and shifting boundaries of the self: a critique against the conventional, solidified confinements of a character's identity seen in traditional literature. However, despite this fluidity, the "rhythmic" poetic aspect seems to convey human experience and identity as part of a pattern; there is a nuance of permanence, suggesting that inner monologues are representative of the universal rhythm of being. Certain shared images and emotions expressed by the soliloquies further seem to indicate a unity and structure of individuality or human existence. These inner monologues, expressions of self, begin in a somewhat mystical garden overlooking the sea, as described in the interludes between each section. text. We are first introduced to the various characters when they are young children and are immersed in their inner thoughts about the world around them: "All my ships are white," aRhoda said. “I don’t want red hollyhock geranium petals. I want white petals that float when I tip the basin. I now have a fleet swimming from shore to shore. I will lay down a twig as a raft for a drowning soldier. (…) And I will now swing the brown pool from side to side so that my ships can ride the waves. Some will sink. Some will rush against the cliffs. We sail alone. This is my ship. » “The reader witnesses the development of each character's identity, in relation to themselves and others, as they begin to experience the world and form their individual perceptions. A fragment of Rhoda's inner monologue can be read above, as she sits dreamily with petals floating in a pool. Here, although seemingly involved in her imagination just like the other children, we can get a glimpse of her individual identity. As the characters age throughout the novel, their voices become more distinct and Woolf develops their impressions of the world. Little by little, their individual temperaments and ambitions are revealed. As a child, Rhoda can be seen as envisioning her own private ocean, forming her world from metaphors, in an attempt to escape the external world of judgment, which she so fears. This element of his identity endures and develops over time in the novel. As a teenager, Rhoda appears to frequently distance herself from the other characters, and Woolf focuses on her essential confusion, or loss of identity, when she states, "I have no face." This is further seen when Rhoda describes her dissociation from herself and her inner consciousness during her years at school: “I came to the puddle. I couldn't cross it. Identity failed me. We are nothing, I said, and I fell. I was blown away like a feather. I was taken into the tunnels. Often feeling trapped by her own mind and body, Rhoda attempts to move beyond it, resulting in this diffusion, or loss of a clear personal identity. We could say that Rhoda is characterized by particularly fragile self-esteem, much more than the other characters. This isolation of Rhoda, her detachment from others and from herself, confirms her as the ship that "sails alone", an element of her character that has been associated with her since childhood. Rhoda's statement, "I have no face", will become a recurring expression. motif throughout the novel, acting as an indicator of his distinctive habits of mind. Likewise, the other characters develop repetitive terms expressed as "leitmotifs", which both convey the presentation of the character's identity and contribute to the rhythm of Woolf's work. For example, “Tuesday follows Monday” by Bernard, “My father is a banker in Brisbane” by Louis and images of leaves or growing vegetation, which often accompany Susan's voice. These motifs help differentiate the characters' particular individuality and symbolically capture aspects of their identity. While writing the novel, Woolf recorded this in her diary: “What I think now (about Waves) is that I can convey in very few strokes the essence of a person's character. This should be done boldly, almost like a caricature. This caricatured experimentation once again gives the text stability: despite the fluid impressions, memories and sensory perceptions of individual voices, the leitmotifs provide an essential sense of permanence and pattern. From childhood, the character of Bernard is associated with the motif of, “making sentences”. He develops an obsession with language and words, “taking.’