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Definition of Stream of Consciousness
Stream of consciousness is a style or technique of writing that tries to capture the natural flow of a character's extended thought process, often by incorporating sensory impressions, incomplete ideas, unusual syntax... read full definition
Stream of consciousness is a style or technique of writing that tries to capture the natural flow of a character's extended thought process, often by incorporating... read full definition
Stream of consciousness is a style or technique of writing that tries to capture the natural flow of a character's... read full definition
The Window, 1
Explanation and Analysis—The Speed of Thinking:
Woolf employs a stream-of-consciousness style of narration throughout To the Lighthouse as a crucial tool to manipulate the pacing of her narrative and slow it down to the speed of her characters' thoughts. Consider how Woolf follows Mrs. Ramsay's mind in the following passage, from Chapter 1 of "The Window":
If she finished it to-night, if they did go to the Lighthouse after all, it was to be given to the Lighthouse keeper for his little boy, who was threatened with a tuberculous hip; together with a pile of old magazines, and some tobacco, indeed whatever she could find lying about, not really wanted, but only littering the room, to give those poor fellows who must be bored to death sitting all day with nothing to do but polish the lamp and trim the wick...
Because stream-of-consciousness narration follows a realistic articulation of thoughts as they wander from subject to subject, the reader reads the characters' thoughts at the very rate at which they occur in the characters' minds, as observed by Woolf's omniscient narrator. By setting the pace of the novel with this stream-of-consciousness technique, Woolf is able to give the reader a glimpse into the Ramsays' world in its full complexity: by the time "The Window" section draws to a close, after a 150 pages, only a day has passed. Through this view of the world in To the Lighthouse, Woolf is able to give the reader a high-resolution account of the characters' interior lives as they experience life, death, and—whether they like it or not—the passage of time.
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