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Birds
The main plot of The Waves follows the lives of its six protagonists from early childhood to death, and the interludes that punctuate that story track of the sun as it moves across the sky during a day. Light and dark thus symbolize life and death. As the sun gets higher in the sky—and as Bernard, Neville, Louis, Susan, Rhoda, and Jinny grow in wisdom and experience—its light softens and diffuses, enabling a wider perspective. In the middle chapters, the sights described in the interludes gradually widen until readers see beyond the garden to the surrounding countryside. Importantly, no matter how much light there is in the sky, within the house—in the realm of human experience—the shadows grow small but never disappear entirely. The shadows represent death, and thus the book reminds readers that they, like the book’s protagonists, are mortal. In the book’s final paragraphs, an aged Bernard walks out of the warm environment of a restaurant into the darkness of late night. Yet, even as he faces his own death, he remembers that the dawn will break again. He finds reassurance in the through that the cycle of light and dark is natural and eternal—he will die but life itself will go on.
Light and Dark Quotes in The Waves
The The Waves quotes below all refer to the symbol of Light and Dark. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 2
Quotes
“I see a ring,” said Bernard, “hanging above me. It quivers and hangs in a loop of light.”
“I see a slab of pale yellow,” said Susan, “spreading away until it meets a purple stripe.”
“I hear a sound,” said Rhoda, “cheep, chirp; cheep, chirp; going up and down.”
“I see a globe,” said Neville “hanging down in a drop against the enormous flanks of some hill.”
“I see a crimson tassel,” said Jinny, “twisted with gold threads.”
“I hear something stamping,” said Louis, “A great beast’s foot is chained. It stamps, and stamps, and stamps.”
“Look at the spider’s web on the corner of the balcony,” said Bernard. “It has beads of water on it, drops of white light.”
“The leaves are gathered around the window like pointed ears,” said Susan.
[…]
“Islands of light are swimming on the grass,” said Rhoda. “They have fallen through the trees.”
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Chapter 18
Quotes
Again I see before me the usual street. The canopy of civilisation is burnt out. […] But there is a kindling in the sky whether of lamplight or of dawn. There is a stir of some sort—sparrows on plane trees somewhere chirping. There is a sense of the break of day. I will not call it dawn. What is dawn in the city to an elderly man standing in the street looking up rather dizzily at the sky? Dawn is some sort of whitening in the sky; some sort of renewal. […] The stars draw back and are extinguished. The bars deepen themselves between the waves. The film of mist thickens on the fields. A redness gathers on the roses, even on the pale rose that hangs by the bedroom window. A bird chirps. Cottagers light their early candles. Yes, this the eternal renewal, the incessant rise and fall and rise again.
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Light and Dark Symbol Timeline in The Waves
The timeline below shows where the symbol Light and Dark appears in The Waves. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 1
...breath. The line of the horizon becomes more distinct as the sky brightens. As the light gets brighter it almost seems to turn into a solid thing that pushes the gray...
(full context)
Chapter 3
The narrator describes the beach again. As the sun rises higher, the waves sparkle with light. The brightness raises sharp shadows on the grass and the birds sing joyfully in the...
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Chapter 5
As the sun continues to rise, the narrator describes how its light changes the colors of everything on the beach. In the garden, a chorus of birds...
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Chapter 7
...singing its own song from its own vantage point. They are beautiful in the bright sunlight and they sing as if their lives—and the whole world—depend on their song. Occasionally, they...
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Chapter 9
...women wash clothing in the river and men guide cargo-laden mules along the lanes. The sunlight falls on the workers and the fields, the cultivated and wild places of England equally,...
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Chapter 11
The sun is now past its peak, and clouds begin to diffuse its light. The narrator describes how the garden becomes quiet, the birds “glutted” with singing. Everything from...
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Chapter 13
...to wilt, and the drying leaves start falling from the trees. The afternoon sun brings light and warmth to the fields where cows walk lazily through the grass. On the horizon,...
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Chapter 15
The sun is sinking below the horizon, turning the waves red with its dying light. The narrator describes the breeze that rustles through the trees’ brown leaves. A hawk rises...
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Chapter 16
...deeper cycles of life and time. Through the window, Rhoda sees the sun setting, the light fading from the sky.
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Chapter 17
...the shore. In the garden, the trees have dropped their leaves to the ground and shadows drape everything inside and outside the house. A lone bird sings forlornly among the dark...
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