Stream of consciousness in the novel "To the Lighthouse"

1. To The Light House
By
Virginia Wolf

2. Definition
 Stream of Consciousness is a literary
technique which was pioneered by Dorthy
Richardson, Virginia Woolf, and James Joyce.
 Stream of consciousness is characterized by a
flow of thoughts and images, which may not
always appear to have a coherent structure or
cohesion.
 The plot line may weave in and out of time
and place, carrying the reader through the life
span of a character or further along a timeline
to incorporate the lives (and thoughts) of
characters from other time periods.

3. Features
 Use of informal, colloquial language
 Focalization on inner thoughts and feelings.
 No first-person but figural narrative mode.
 The flow of thoughts is represented by
means of long-winding, interconnected
sentences.
 The breaking of Grammatical rules.
 Punctuation is neglected.

4. Interior Monologue
 A stylized way of thinking out loud.
 (Technically: thinking ‘on the page’.)
 Unlike stream-of-consciousness, an
interior monologue can be integrated
into a third-person narrative.
 The point of view of character’s thoughts
are woven into authorial description,
using their own language.

5. Two basic types of interior
monologues
Direct Interior Monologue
Indirect Interior Monologue

6. Direct Interior Monologue
 Direct interior monologue is that type of interior
monologue which is represented with negligible
author interference and with no auditor assumed.
 An examination of its special methods reveals:
that it presents consciousness directly to the
reader with negligible author interference; that is,
there is either a complete or near-complete
disappearance of the author from the page,
together with his guiding such as “he said” and
“he thought” and with his explanatory comments.

7.  It should be emphasized that there is no auditor
assumed; that is, the character is not speaking to
anyone within the fictional scene; nor is the
character speaking, in effect, to the reader (as the
speaker of a stage monologue is, for example).
 In short the monologue is represented as being
completely candid, as if there were no reader. This
distinction is not easy to grasp, but it is a real one.
Obviously, every author is writing, finally, for an
audience.
 The interior monologue proceeds in spite of the
reader’s expectations of conventional syntax and
diction in order to represent the actual texture of
consciousness--in order to represent it finally,
however, to the reader. (Yanxia Sang)

8. Indirect Interior Monologue
 Indirect interior monologue in which an omniscient
author presents unspoken material as if it were directly
from the consciousness of a character and, with
commentary and description, guides the reader
through it.
 It differs from direct interior monologue basically in
that the author intervenes between the character’s
psyche and the reader.
 The author is an on-the-screen guide for the reader.
 It retains the fundamental quality of interior
monologue in that what it presents of consciousness is
direct; that is, it is in the idiom and with the
peculiarities of the character’s psychic processes.

9. Basic Difference
 Indirect monologue gives to the reader a sense of
the author’s continuous presence; whereas direct
monologue either completely or largely excludes
it.
 This difference in turn admits of special
differences, such as the use of third or second
person point of view instead of first person; the
wider use of descriptive and expository methods
to present the monologue; and the possibility of
greater coherence and of greater surface unity
through selection of materials.

10. Essential Difference Between
Interior Monologue and Straight
Narrative:
 Narrative: the narrator talking ( ‘the
narrator’ that made up character who sounds
like the author).
 Interior Monologue: a character
talking/thinking, using words, specific to
that character, making assumptions,
mistaken judgments.

11. Stream of Consciousness
 Another stylized way of thinking out loud.
 The term ‘stream of consciousness’ is very
similar to interior monologue and used
interchangeably by some but this refers
more specifically to a first person narrative
which mimics the jumble of thoughts,
emotions and memories passing through a
character’s mind.
 Interior monologue is not necessarily
written in first person.

12.  Stream of consciousness tends to be less
ordered than interior monologue.
Consciousness has no beginning and no end,
thoughts flit quite randomly from one thing
to another.

13. The Window chapter 1
 Had there been an axe handy, a
poker, or any weapon that would
have gashed a hole in his father’s
breast and killed him, there and
then, James would have seized it.
 Such were the extremes of
emotion that Mr Ramsay excited
in his children’s breasts by his
mere presence; standing, as now,
lean as a knife, narrow as the
blade of one, grinning
sarcastically, not only with the
pleasure of disillusioning his son
and casting ridicule upon his
wife, who was ten thousand times
better in every way than he was
(James thought)”

14. No first-person but figural
narrative mode
 “Who was ten thousand
times better in every way
than he was (James
thought)”
 “there and then, James
would have seized it.”

15. The Window chapter 5
 “And even if it isn’t fine
tomorrow,” said Mrs Ramsay,
raising her eyes to glance at
William Bankes and Lily Briscoe
as they passed, “it will be another
day. And now,” she said, thinking
that Lily’s charm was her Chinese
eyes, aslant in her white,
puckered little face, but it would
take a clever man to see it, “and
now stand up, and let me
measure your leg,” for they might
go to the Lighthouse after all, and
she must see if the stocking did
not need to be an inch or two
”longer in the leg.

16.  Smiling, for it was an
admirable idea, that had
flashed upon her this
very second —William
and Lily should marry —
she took the heather-
mixture stocking, with
its criss-cross of steel
needles at the mouth of
it, and measured it
against James's leg
 “My dear, stand still,” she
said, for in his jealousy, not
liking to serve as
measuring block for the
Lighthouse keeper's little
boy, James fidgeted
purposely; and if he did
that, how could she see,
was it too long, was it too
short? she asked. She
looked up — what demon
possessed him, her
youngest, her cherished?

17. No first-person but figural
narrative mode
 “she must see”
 “her this very second”
 “her youngest, her
cherished?”

18. The Window chapter 8
 He said nothing. He took opium. The children said
he had stained his beard yellow with it. Perhaps.
What was obvious to her was that the poor man was
unhappy, came to them every year as an escape; and
yet every year she felt the same thing; he did not trust
her. She said, “I am going to the town. Shall I get you
stamps, paper, tobacco?” and she felt him wince. He
did not trust her. It was his wife’s doing. She
remembered that iniquity of his wife’s towards him,
which had made her turn to steel and adamant there,
in the horrible little room in St John’s Wood, when
with her own eyes she had seen that odious woman
turn him out of the house.”

19.  He was unkempt; he dropped things on his
coat; he had the tiresomeness of an old man
with nothing in the world to do; and she
turned him out of the room. She said, in her
odious way, “Now, Mrs Ramsay and I want to
have a little talk together,”

20. No first-person but figural
narrative mode
 “obvious to her”
 “he did not try to her”

21. Stream of Consciousness
 Virginia Woolf’s distinguishing technical features of
stream of consciousness are examined in relation to
devices used by many contemporary write
 stream of consciousness, and monologue interieur" have
been employed, but reflect the "author’s attitude toward
the reality of the world he represents."
 Woolf’s uniqueness begins with an "attempt to render
the flow and the play of consciousness adrift in the
current of changing impressions." • Woolf’s technique is
achieved through "[t]he design of a close approach to
objective reality by means of numerous subjective
impressions received by various individuals (and at
various times)is important in the modern technique."

22.  " Woolf’s use of the "multi personal
representation of consciousness" is unique
through its combination with "treatment of time.“
 This relation is not new to modern literature;
however, narration is not devoted to an external
occurrence, rather internal processes.
 This relation is not new to modern literature;
however, narration is not devoted to an external
occurrence, rather internal processes.
 "In Virginia Woolf’s case the external events have
lost their hegemony, they serve to release and
interpret inner events, whereas before her time…
inner movements preponderantly function to
prepare and motivate significant external
happenings."

23.  Although there is no temporal relation between
external framing and internal impressions, each
share a common element.
 The important aspect to remember regarding
the uniqueness of Woolf’s representation of
consciousness is that "insignificant external
occurrence releases ideas and chains of ideas
which cut loose from the present of the external
occurrence and range freely through the depths
of time"
 Instead, the consciousness is constantly
changing due to present impressions integrating
with past experiences (68-71).
 Woolf’s characters seem to be constantly
reminded of the past through their present
experiences

24.  Therefore, the term stream of consciousness may be
too general when describing Woolf’s work. Woolf’s
probing into the human consciousness in TTL is not
so simplistic that it can be attributed to any particular
narrative technique.
 What really distinguishes her novel is the aesthetic
effect of her exploration of the minds of her
characters.
 Only an artist of Woolf’s stature can present the
mental worlds of her characters with an
unprecedented depth and intensity.
 By virtue of her depth and intensity, Woolf creates a
novel with an unconventional "plot", In fact, the
imaginative power of her language tunnelling the
minds of her characters translates her novel to the
level of poetry.

25.  Reading and writing about the book was a huge
undertaking (and challenge). I was struck by the
many literary techniques, but did not comprehend –
and would not have necessarily – picked out all of the
aspects as a recreational reader (should be left to
academics who actually analyse the language,
phrases and expressions individually). Still, one thing
that I did not include in the below points was on Lily
and James (how, at the end of the novel, they develop
more balanced and holistic impressions of Mrs and
Mr Ramsay respectively, and reinforces the point
about competing perspectives).
 “To The Lighthouse” and the use of the stream of
consciousness technique.

26.  The use of the stream of consciousness technique
is a defining literary aspect of “To The
Lighthouse”, along with the use of flashbacks-
recollections, as well as the changing perspective
and narrative voice from character to character.
 The last book I read which used the stream of
consciousness narrative style was William
Faulkner’s “The Sound And The Fury”; and like
the present text, the narrative style allows for
more in-depth character understanding (without
the bias from a third-person perspective), and
enriches the relationships between the members.

27. Thank
You