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Virginia WoolfA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
The interior monologues that make up the bulk of the novel emphasize the changeability of an individual’s thoughts and emotions. This impermanence that characterizes the inner workings of the human psyche emphasize that life itself is impermanent and uncertain. Various symbols in the novel, like the sea and the boar’s skull in the children’s room, also draw attention to this theme, as well as all the foreboding events in the novel that remind the reader that death can interrupt life at any point.
For example, Mrs. Ramsay’s feelings towards her husband are highly changeable; at one moment, she adores his genius, only to feel impatient with his frustrated ambition a few moments later. Tansley’s changing emotions are influenced by his lower middle-class upbringing as the son of a chemist and shopkeeper; at any moment, he may undergo an invisible change as a result of being reminded of where he comes from. Lily’s reflections on art and ambition demonstrate that her self-doubt is always at war with her impulse to paint and to create something she likes; her changed attitude towards Tansley reflects her sensitivity. Mr. Ramsay’s irrational fury at Augustus Carmichael’s request for another bowl of soup at the dinner party captures his emotional volatility, which coexists with his exceptionally rational approach to metaphysical philosophy and his interactions with his children.
By Virginia Woolf
A Haunted House
Virginia Woolf
A Haunted House and Other Short Stories
Virginia Woolf
A Room of One's Own
Virginia Woolf
Between The Acts
Virginia Woolf
Flush: A Biography
Virginia Woolf
How Should One Read a Book?
Virginia Woolf
Jacob's Room
Virginia Woolf
Kew Gardens
Virginia Woolf
Modern Fiction
Virginia Woolf
Moments of Being
Virginia Woolf
Mr. Bennett and Mrs. Brown
Virginia Woolf
Mrs. Dalloway
Virginia Woolf
Orlando
Virginia Woolf
The Death of the Moth
Virginia Woolf
The Duchess and the Jeweller
Virginia Woolf
The Lady in the Looking Glass
Virginia Woolf
The Mark on the Wall
Virginia Woolf
The New Dress
Virginia Woolf
The Voyage Out
Virginia Woolf
The Waves
Virginia Woolf