Plot and Stream of Consciousness of the Book Mrs Dalloway - Essay Example

Topic: Plot and Stream of consciousness of the book Mrs Dalloway Virginia Woolf is regarded as one of the major pioneers whohelped to steer up the technique of writing known as stream of consciousness. This technique is quite unique and is highly dominant in the wondering sentences of her book Mrs Dalloway. Mrs Dalloway demonstrates the subjective truth that is in the plot as well as the leap indicated by the time space. The novel is referred to as Woolf’s most classic book that emphasizes the stream of consciousness quite well. This technique in Mrs Dalloway is simply illustrated by the dialogue taking place among the characters and the thoughts of the main character weaving flawlessly together to offer the narrative of an inconsequential, dream like quality. This thesis thereby aims at illustrating a tentative study based on two distinctive literary elements: plot and the stream of consciousness. The plot of the novel revolves around the actions depicted in Mrs Dalloway which occurs in the course of a day: Mrs Clarissa Dalloway is a woman in her late 50’s and she is carrying out preparations for a party that she intends to have later in the evening in order to meet up with all her friends from different social classes. The setting of the day dates backs to the year 1923 in London. The plot of the novel adopts the technique of stream of consciousness based on Mrs Dalloway’s thoughts instead of the course of the footsteps she takes through London. As a result of this time tends to flow back and forth from present into the past. For instance, in the beginning of the novel before Mrs Dalloway even leaves her home, her thoughts wanders back to the moment when she was eighteen years old in Bourton, which is a town in England’s coast (Woolf, p.7). Immediately her mind wanders back to the present, she finds herself standing on the curb in the street. As the readers we simply recognize that she has travelled physically from her home up to the curb in the moment of her mind wandering. Sometimes the different threads of thoughts among the characters pass successfully across and people are able to communicate without disagreeing based on their own opinions. More often, the threads do not cut across successfully leaving most of the characters alone and isolated. It is as a result of these that most of the thoughts and quotes of the characters demonstrate some aspect of human isolation. The readers are able to pick up some emotions that are encompassed around various human conditions. The plot and the stream of consciousness technique enable the novel to uncover its vision of unfragmented emotions such as love or desperation in order to deal with “moments of being away” and how to endure. For example, Woolf talks about a love story that revolves around Clarissa Dalloway, her past love Peter Walsh and her present husband Richard. Thoughts of what could happen if Peter came back are left unanswered. Woolf quotes “when she thought of him she thought about their long quarrels and how much she missed his good opinions (Woolf, p.71)”. A sense of human disconnectedness is greatly evoked in this context. The readers are able to visualize more deeply with regards to the threads of consciousness focused on Clarissa’s love for Peter in the past. Among some of the friends that Clarissa met in the party was Septimus Warren Smith who was greatly affected by the events that transpired during World War 1 especially due to his best friend’s death. Woolf tries to dig deep into Septum’s mind mostly based on his nervous and the feeling of sadness. Woolf uses stream of consciousness technique in the form of indirect speech by using the third person aspect of “she” “he” as well as unconnected sentences. When Woolf said: “And he could not kill himself. She then put on the lace collar, and her new hat, despite this he never noticed: and he was so happy without her” (Woolf, p.35). This quote simply evokes a sense of human cowardliness and some aspect of braveness. Wolf states that it is a cowardly act for a man to think about killing himself in this case he refers to Septimus feelings especially when he remembered his friend and the thought of death crossed his mind. Despite all these Septimus had fought a good fight and his braveness is also illustrated. The use of the stream of consciousness technique allows the reader to be able to understand such a situation and what one could have done in Septimus case. Woolf moves along with his transition based on the plot from one character’s ideas, thoughts, sensation and feelings that simply means from one inner’s life to the real life situation such as in Peter Walsh’s character. For example, Woolf quotes “They do not know the troubles associated with the flesh and yet, he thought, the same as the matching boys as they disappeared towards the direction of the strand-all, and the things that I have been through, he also thought, crossing the road and standing at Gordon’s statue, Gordon who he had worshipped as a boy, standing lonely on one leg, poor Gordon he thought (Woolf, p.71). This quote illustrates that Peter’s thought is not focussed on him but on the boys. This expression depicts a sense of human isolation and also disunity. The reader is able to associate this expression with lack of unity especially based on the fact that each sentence is alone and the thoughts of Peter are focused on isolation and pity for the Statue of Gordon. Gordon’s thoughts are also reflected upon from the inner life to the real life. The thoughts, feelings and sensation illustrated by Woolf in a character give the readers the ability to understand more about the human consciousness thus enabling them to relate to various human conditions. At the first points of her novel Woolf uses free indirect style in order to describe Clarissa’s party to all her friends. However, the use of the indirect speech does not permit the significance of mentioning Clarissa and why she has an urge to buy the flowers. When Virginia states: “Mrs Dalloway said she buy the flowers herself.”(Woolf, p.10) the sense of human distrust and disconnectedness is evoked. The fact that Mrs Dalloway was not willing to let her friends buy the flowers for her implies a lot based on the human consciousness. First there is that notion of taste as to whether her friends may know what she likes and secondly is the concept of trust. Mrs Dalloway’s thoughts and feelings reflect a lot on the utterances that are made by her friends as well as their thoughts. Woolf focuses on expressing her feelings and thoughts using her characters especially when she explores the mind of each of her character deeply without using any of the intrusive authorial tags like “Mrs Dalloway reflected”. When Woolf said “For Lucy had her work cut out for her”, (Woolf, p.10) there is some form of assistance that was offered to her. This quote suggests some sense of human connectedness. Even though Mrs Dalloway tends to portray a shifting image of a political atmosphere based on the characters Richard Dalloway, Hugh Whitbread and Peter Walsh, the main focus is deeply into the charged social mood that is seen in the characters of Clarissa Dalloway and Septimus Warren Smith. The technique used paves way for the thread of thoughts of the characters to flow as the plot unravels itself. When Septimus thinks “I want to kill myself” (Woolf, p.34) sense of human disconnectedness is gravely depicted. Despite the heroic actions depicted by both Clarissa and Septimus, every human being regardless of the old social order must all face death at one point. Therefore, the readers are able to relate more on the human conditions illustrated in the novel based of on the plot as well as the stream of consciousness. The introduction of symbolic sounds and voices in Mrs Dalloway simply refer to the wind and the rock based on a stream of letters. For example, the expression “foo swee too eem oo, and the creaks and rocks and moans of the external breeze” (Woolf, p.108). This form of expression allows the reader to get a deeper understanding of the characters thoughts and feelings as quoted by Wolf. Additionally, the concept of philosophical identity that is shown when Hugh Whitbread and Richard Dalloway depart from Millicent Bruton also attempts to assist the reader in understanding various human conditions based on the literary forms adopted by the author. In conclusion, Woolf uses the stream of consciousness technique in the novel in different ways in order to capture the attention of the readers. Both the plot and the technique contribute tremendously to the attainment of the book’s vision with regards to the society. Art and culture simply undergo a drastic change based on the events of the plot. It is through the use of the stated literary elements that the reader is able to dig deep into the human conditions referred to and retrieve the intention of the author in reaching out to a larger audience base. Reference Woolf, Virginia. Mrs Dalloway. London: Penguin books, 1996. Read More