I struggle forming my impressions of characters mid-story whether it be in a book or a movie. I also finding myself struggling really hard with forming an opinion of Mrs. Dalloway (the book too while I’m at it) and I’m interested to see where she and the plot goes.
“Mrs. Dalloway” is unlike most novels in terms of perspective. If you take the shallow approach to background checking and look at Virginia Woolf’s Wikipedia page it describes her as “a pioneer in the use of stream of consciousness as a narrative device.” That statement brought me a better understanding. It’s a challenge to figure Mrs. Dalloway (the character) out because the reader has to go off her own consciousness and opinions of herself.
“Her only gift was knowing people almost by instinct, she thought.” (9)
I would argue that narration of the novel comes more from the character’s impressions than a narrators. When the narration is centered on a character like Mrs. Dalloway, I personally believe that every piece of information shared comes from the biased viewpoint of the centered character. There is no true narrator and everything is explained through that character’s perspective. Which further means it has the potential of being not completely true because it’s biased.
It’s hard to form a true opinion of Mrs. Dalloway because it isn’t provided by a reliable narrator; it’s all provided in pieces by the characters focused in the novel. An example of this is when Peter Walsh is centered some of the sections he has his own biased view of Clarissa and that influences the reader’s perspective of her.
“There was always something cold in Clarissa, he thought. She had always, even as a girl, a sort of timidity, which in middle age becomes conventionality, and then it’s all up, it’s all up, he thought.” (49)
I find myself constantly questioning who these characters really are because I see the narration from their perspective and it’s not entirely reliable. This is a book that displays amazing prowess in forming streams of consciousness and I believe that’s where Virginia Woolf’s strength as an author lies.
Image: George Charles Beresford. Virginia Woolf in 1902. 1901. Restoration.
