James Joyce and Virginia Woolf - Essay Example

They can be specifically identified in such pieces as "The Dead," "The Sisters," and "Araby." For the two authors, the exploration of these themes and employment of these techniques are encased in a style of prose that impresses in its skilful use of the word as a probe to uncover the preoccupations and meditations of the human soul. Stream of consciousness as a technique is characterized by the continued representation of thought inclusive of all its spirals and refractions, yet often without specific reference to agents of that influence on them.

Thought becomes a convoluted thing, yet one which accurately represents the state of mind of the particular character. In To the Lighthouse, Woolf employs this in a scene in the first chapter when Mr. Ramsay and his wife are out walking together. Mr. Ramsay's thoughts begin with wishes that his wife should see him "gowned and hooded" and ends up a few lines later in a circus, with "twenty performing seals" (15). The effect of the passage from one image to another seems calculated to display the pretensions of academia, the superficiality of the garb, which obscure the true meaning of study and a life dedicated to it.

Through the use of this technique, Woolf demonstrates that the flourishes of such attire descend, via the same reasoning that it obscures, into a laughable show, a circus. This stream of thought traces idea in its devolution as it comes under the scrutiny of a critical mind.Though Joyce is known for employing this technique in several of his works, in Dubliners stream of consciousness is rather neglected in favor of a more focused, in-depth analysis of his characters' feelings at specific times.

In fact, he had not really begun using stream of consciousness until after the publication of Dubliners. In this work, and unlike To the Lighthouse, paragraphs are dedicated in a more conventional way to concrete ideas presented in them, and mention is usual made of the external influences that change the course of a thought. For example, in "Araby," when the passionate youth enters the drawing room, the disturbances or influences of his thought are mentioned explicitly: "I heard the rain impinge upon the earth" (41).

Yet there is still the attempt to maintain focus, as expressed in the phrase of the same paragraph, "All my senses seemed to desire to veil themselves" (41). This reflects the more focused nature of the prose in Joyce's Dubliners than that of Woolf's To the Lighthouse.The themes of both writers show more unity than their styles, as expressed in the two representative works. Both have themes that deal with alienation. Especially in "The Dead" is expressed Joyce's idea of the alienation that comes with higher education.

Gabriel desires to give a speech, but struggles with the references he makes, worrying that his audience (the immediate society of his childhood) will not apprehend or appreciate his thoughts. He worries about everything concerning the speech and that he would appear to be "airing his superior education" (195). Similarly, Melba Kuddy-Keane writes that Woolf "distinguishes her common readers from the 'mass' audience" (117), and this demonstrates a preoccupation with alienation stemming from a higher level of education.

This preoccupation with