Woolf's Modernism

Woolf’s embodies a modernist style in The Mrs. Dalloway Reader through her stream of consciousness narrative and her non-linear depiction of time. The stream of consciousness narrative reveals the flow of consciousness and interior thoughts of her characters with no pauses. It is characterized by long passages of reflection and shifts in time and place. This is how thoughts flow in reality, with no sense of time or place and with one thought jumping to another with no control. Though our actions and experience of physical reality take place in the present, our waking consciousness is multifaceted. The protagonist of the novel, Clarissa is simultaneously living in the present, but is also thinking to the future all day, by planning for a party that night. She also has many flashbacks. She tries to recall a memory with an old friend, Peter Walsh. She thinks of something he once said, but questions it: “was that it? He must have said it at breakfast one morning” (165). Immediately following this thought, Clarissa notes that “he would be back from India one of these days, June or July” (166). Woolf makes a rapid shift from past to the future, while the setting is anchored in the present.

From an art historical perspective, Woolf’s writing style embodies many modern art movements. One could call her writing style Cubist because it includes all facets of a perspective. By including the entire spectrum of time and the flow of diverse thoughts, Woolf gives readers an illustration of Clarissa from all angles. Most writing offers a single stream of continuous thoughts, but Woolf offers a dissociative flow of thoughts in the active mind. Because this style causes many free associations and an unconscious control of thoughts, one could associate it with Surrealism. Surrealist artists often used automatic practices in order to make free associations from one thought or object to another in order to reveal repressed thoughts. Many also compare Woolf’s work to Impressionism. Impressionism often uses the technique of many visible brushstrokes to paint the experience of seeing reality. Similarly, Woolf’s use of stream of consciousness emphasizes the rapid shifts and movements of experience and gives viewers a subjective vision of reality. The emphasis of movement is further reflected in Woolf’s descriptions of urban London. Along with the rise in technology and movement, modern artists often portrayed this rapid movement with quick brushstrokes and motion. Woolf illustrates the “ebb and flow of things” in a city (171). She describes movement of the city: “everywhere, though it was still so early, there was a beating, a stirring of galloping poinies, tapping of cricket bats” (167). These descriptions of movement parallel the rapid movement of the Clarissa’s thoughts.

Clarissa’s thoughts suggest other thoughts without requiring rational connections or structures. In this way, Woolf’s style can be considered close to reality. Though her style may seem abstract and erratic, Woolf realistically portrays the way people naturally think without placing literary boundaries such as logical sequences and exclusive topics.

Woolf’s choice to focus on mundane experience is effective. Stream of consciousness during commonplace, everyday life further emphasizes the inconsistent, uncommon nature of thought. This juxtaposition of mental thought and mundane physical experience emphasize the loud voice of consciousness.  Woolf focuses on humdrum tasks. We are not captivated by excitement, plot, or logical cause and effect. Instead we are experiencing a realistic portrayal of thought that encapsulates all aspects of thought, not just the logical realm. At the beginning of the novel, as Clarissa is shopping, she has sudden moments of pensive introspection. She notes how she prefers “to be one of those people like Richard who did things for themselves” but instead does things “to make people think this or that” (171). As she is shopping to cater to guests later that night, she reflects on her life in general and how she wishes she could have a different approach to life. Not only does time move from past to future, but it also enters the realm of imagination and day-dream.  If perhaps we were entering Clarissa’s thoughts during an extraordinary experience, her thoughts would be as noticed in comparison to the physical experience occurring at the same time. Again, when Clarissa is talking to Hugh, the narrator reveals that Clarissa “felt very sisterly and oddly conscious at the same time of her hat” in comparison to Hugh’s well-dressed appearance (168). This reveals the unpredictable, uncontrollable nature of thoughts.

The entire novel takes place in one day of Clarissa’s life. Readers enter the consciousness of Clarissa and her subjective experiences. I am surprised by how similar this is to the piece that I work-shopped in class, Mental Processes, which I have changed the title to Tuesday. Like Woolf, I like to highlight the peculiar thoughts and emotions that underlie mundane experiences. However, what Woolf accomplishes that I would like to as well is her ability to reveal the inner workings of Clarissa’s mind, her worldview, and her values. My use of stream of consciousness could be more effective if I incorporate the narrator’s personal emotions, aspects of setting, and make random associations. Like Woolf, I want to intertwine introspective thoughts with external ones. I shed light and only vaguely reveal on my character’s emotions, but I really want to dig into her consciousness.

No matter where you are located in the world, your thoughts always interweave to alternate people, times, memories. Everything experienced is associated with different experiences.