Date ‘The Waves’ is one of the literary accomplishments of Virginia Woolf that narrates about different phases in the lives of its characters. In the first chapter, Woolf talks about the characters’ childhood and illustrates their life experiences in school. The second chapter talks about the adolescence life of the character and the time the character spent in school. In this chapter, the boys have gone to one boarding school while the girls have gone to another. The third chapter illustrates the young adulthood stage of the character. In this stage, the characters start to comprehend themselves better.
Additionally, the fourth chapter illustrates the first dinner party of the characters since their early schooling. They feel some difficulties in reconnecting although they feel deeply connected. After the farewell dinner party, the fifth chapter comes in. This chapter describes the reaction of the characters about the death of a mutual friend, Percival which makes them consider the fleeting nature of life (Woolf 1992, p. 228). The thoughts and reactions of the character become pivotal in the sixth chapter where the characters are adults who have started to settle into their lives. Louis has risen to a position of great importance in the company and Susan is married and lives on the farm with her husband.
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In the seventh chapter, the characters have grown to middle age and continuously reflect on the lives they have chosen as well as the questions about the life they have.
Chapter eight describes how the characters meet again for dinner in the remembrance of their meeting many years ago to bid their friend, Percival farewell. Their relationship seems to more personal but tempered by an awareness of the shortness of their life. Finally, chapter nine is narrated through Bernard and reflects on the lessons from characters in their entire lives. Therefore, this paper seeks to discuss the theme of gender and time. It will further elaborate on the modern movement along with the using consciousness in the novel.
The theme of gender is manifested in ‘The Waves ‘in various ways. In this novel, female characters suffer different forms of manifestations that is an inherited status from an earlier time. In her nonfiction works, Virginia Woolf frankly reveals the suppression of independence as well as the talents of women. As illustrated in this novel, female characters are frank in their extreme nature yet they do not reveal the second-class situation of women. For instance, the suffering of Rhoda is persuading and a true reflection of life whereas Jinny and Susan’s choices seem to be stereotyped parodies of the earth mother or seductress sexualized by the male gaze. It is in the extreme nature of these female characters along with their over-the-top fulfillment in their selection that the author criticizes women who cannot surpass the patriarchal culture demands such as Rhoda who commit suicide indicating that an overly sensitive woman has no space to make a self-serving choice.
‘ The Waves’ also destabilizes the conventional notions of gender and develops a space for divergent views about masculinity. Neville, Bernard, and Louis are male characters that are introduced at school to imperialize the vision of masculinity that is strengthened in their relationship with Percival. In this novel, Woolf subverts traditional male roles by normalizing masculinity expressions that are outside the prescriptions of patriarchal culture (Vandivere 2010, p.232). Bernard, through his becoming author, decides to break the conventional mode of male, writing through his desire so that he can extend the mere description of his research for a deeper meaning. This kind of destabilization is further increased in the novel and opens up the possibility of a new reading outside the controlled literary tradition of males.
Another prominent theme in ‘The Waves’ is friendship. In this novel, the character of friendship is depicted among the six characters. Friendship theme is the typical ground Woolf develops in this novel. As much as they had separate lifestyles, their need to reunite was immense despite the numerous inconveniences. The development of their friendships occurs early in the first chapter. The farewell dinner party for Percival offers the first experience of their friendship. During their first reunion in the farewell party, there seems to be tension between the characters that had not seen each other since they finished school. Each character quietly realizes and criticizes the differences of the others but when Percival arrives, the tension decreases, and the group eventually comes together. As much as Percival has no voice in the novel, he is respected by the group. The universal friendship he possesses among his friends makes them put their differences aside and enjoy the company of each other.
In Chapter three, Jinny wishes to hold on to the moment as Percival departs in the cab. She is afraid that Percival's departure could result in the breaking of their unity. Even though they experienced difficulties in their relationship, each character savors the moment that they could live together, “the world whose walls are made of Percival” (Miko 2012, p.78). This statement provides a moment of togetherness as well as the sense of family they had constituted in their participation in each other’s terror during their childhoods. The death of Percival makes Neville, Rhoda, and Bernard to feel the pain of a loss. His death provides the beauty of a regained world in the face of loss. Rhoda indicates that Percival’s death provided her the gift of a brief unity of her friends. The friendship of the character makes them embrace the clarity of vision, an explanation of the value, and a moment that enables them to open up to one another.
Virginia Woolf, the author of ‘The Wave’ novel is a modernist writer that was interested in illustrating reality as fragmented. One of the most direct and influential way she depicted reality was through her exclusive stream of consciousness. This particular narration style involves entering in and out of the various characters’ minds and showing the complicated, subconscious thoughts the way they happen instead of using a logical order in doing so (Clements 2015, p.167). In the novel of ‘The Wave’, this writing style is evident. The events in the novel are elaborated through the six different characters that comprise of three women and three men that interact with each other throughout their lives. The six characters speak in internal monologues one after the other and their monologues follow the inner working of their minds. The jumbled sequence, sensory impressions as well as free associations of the stream of consciousness of each character provides the novel with a dreamy and abstract quality that is different from the common realist fiction of the day.
The most knowledgeable character in the novel is Bernard. Bernard is particularly thoughtful and prone to introspection. As the characters continue to grow, it becomes clear that Bernard is interested in language and carries a notebook all the time to note down any interesting phrase and the word he comes across. More than any other character, Bernard questions the nature of selfhood. He is the most significant character in the novel because he echoes the preoccupation of Wolf with the power and language of the story.
He becomes more concerned with the ability of language to describe life experiences. Another character that depicts reality through a stream of consciousness is Neville. Neville is meditative and tends to concentrate on beauty and quality that eventually leads him to become one of the successful poets. Early in the novel, it becomes apparent that he is a homosexual. Because he is not good at sports, he centers his life on art and his convictions in order to encourage him to overcome the chaos of life by carefully applying artistic ideals.
On the other hand, Louis combines the introspective traits of Bernard and Neville with practical aspects of life appreciation. Due to financial constraints, he does not go to college but instead becomes a clerk in the shipping firm, where his fine work and attention to detail increases his success. Apart from working at the shipping firm, Louis is devoted to poetry mixing the street language with an elevated language of classics. More so, Jinny is interested in social issues because of her physical beauty and less interested in the philosophical musings of other characters. In the novel, Jinny seems to be fully in her body and does not enter in the type of metaphysical reflection that dominates the character of other characters. She is self-conscious about his body and becomes sexually promiscuous that even assists her to assert more strength and power.
Rhoda is another character that reveals reality through a stream of consciousness. In contrast to other characters, Rhoda is anti-social and is more interested in her imagination than real life. She hates living in London because of many people and in most cases she looks for solitude and at times she finds solitude with her own mind. According to Balossi (2014, p.18), she also breaks with Louis because she cannot stand human contact. Living within the realm of her mind makes her to eventually commit suicide. Finally, Susan is an escapee of daily events and she accomplishes this by venturing into nature. When she goes to school, she becomes homesick and longs for outdoor scents and fresh sights. She wishes to procreate linking herself to the circle of life that is apparent in a place such as a farm. This character seeks meaning through rearing animals, growing plants, and conceiving children.
References
Balossi, G., 2014. A corpus linguistic approach to literary language and characterization: Virginia Woolf's The Waves (Vol. 18). John Benjamins Publishing Company.
Clements, E., 2015. Transforming musical sounds into words: narrative method in Virginia Woolf's" The Waves". Narrative, 13(2), pp.160-181.
Miko, S.J., 2012. Reflections on" The Waves": Virginia Woolf at the Limits of her Art. Criticism, 30(1), pp.63-90.
Vandivere, J., 2010. Waves and fragments: linguistic construction as subject formation in Virginia Woolf. Twentieth Century Literature, 42(2), pp.221-233.
Woolf, V., 2013. The waves. In Collected Novels of Virginia Woolf (pp. 335-508). Palgrave Macmillan, London.
