Stream of consciousness in the novel To the Lighthouse

Consciousness is the act of paying attention to mental events. One mental event is the internal
monologue accompanying our daily sensory experience of our lives. The so-called stream of
consciousness is the stream of associated thoughts and actually, ironically, seems to flow more
smoothly when consciousness (attention) is weak almost to the point of sleep, like daydreaming.
Human thoughts are always in a state of flux and not static and work through association also. For
example, you see a flower, you are reminded of a girl who gifted you the same flowers on Eid day
but of a different color, which makes your mind jump to your love life and how barren it is.
Thoughts jump from one to another and mix and merge and swirl and fuse.

The term has been chosen to refer to a literary style in which a character's thoughts are presented
in a continuous flow without interruption by objective description or dialogue. In this technique,
the actions do not proceed chronologically. Examples of this type of writing are mostly found in
the works of James Joyce and Virginia Woolf, among others. Here we will find this type of writing
style in the Woolf’s novel “To the Lighthouse”.

The related phrase “interior monologue” is used to describe the inner movement of consciousness
in a character’s mind. It is also important to distinguish between the two basic types of interior
monologues, which can be conveniently designated as “direct” and “indirect”. Direct interior
monologue is that type of interior monologue which is represented with negligible author
interference and with no auditor assumed. An examination of its special methods reveals: that it
presents consciousness directly to the reader with negligible author interference; that is, there is
either a complete or near-complete disappearance of the author from the page, together with his
guiding such as “he said” and “he thought” and with his explanatory comments. Indirect interior
monologue is, then, that type of interior monologue in which an omniscient author presents
unspoken material as if it were directly from the consciousness of a character and, with
commentary and description, guides the reader through it. It differs from direct interior monologue
basically in that the author intervenes between the character’s psyche and the reader.

Woolf depicts character through the inner consciousness of the person whom we meet in this novel
but she herself remains the controlling intelligence, speaking in the third person. While she very
seldom slips in comments of her own, she remains the narrator, telling us what is going on in the
various minds. She shows us a particular person in this novel not only through the consciousness
of that person himself or herself, but also through the consciousness of the other persons. We are
given the interior monologues of the various characters in this novel, and it is largely through the
twin devices of stream of consciousness and the interior monologue that we come to know the
various characters.

For example, at the beginning, she describes the feelings of James about his father, she moves
from what the child is thinking to what Mrs. Ramsay habitually did and said, through impersonal
sentences:

“Had there been an ate handy, a poker, or any weapon that would have gashed a hole in his father’s
breast and killed him, there and then James would have seized it. Such were the extremes of
emotion that Mr. Ramsay excited in his children’s breasts by his mere presence : Standing:
disillusioning his son and casting ridicule upon his wife, who was ten thousand times better in
every way than he was (James thought), but also with some secret conceit at his own accuracy of
judgment. What he said was true. It was always true. He Was incapable of untruth; never tampered
with a fact; never altered a disagreeable word to suit the pleasure or convenience of any mortal
being, least of all of his own children, who sprung from his loins, should be aware from childhood
that life is difficult…….”

We can see the two currents of thoughts flowing together. Just as this third person narration makes
it possible for Virginia Woolf to move smoothly from one character to another, so in the novel as
a whole it is a unifying Principle.

In the other place Mrs. Ramsay wondering what she has done with her life, as she directs guests
to their seats and ladles out soup. She sees her husband at the far end of the table, frowning. “What
at? She did not know. She did not mind. She could not understand how she had ever felt any
emotion or affection for him” (83). As she thinks about her displeasure and disconnectedness with
Mr. Ramsay, Mrs. Ramsay notes that she would not speak out loud her inner feelings. There is a
strict difference between her actions and her thoughts:

Raising her eyebrows at the discrepancy—that was what she was thinking, this was what she was
doing—ladling out soup—she felt, more and more strongly, outside that eddy. (83)
Being outside of the eddy is her sense of “being past everything, through everything, out of
everything” (83). Completely out of touch with Mr. Ramsay and everyone else at the table, she
instead focuses on how shabby the room is, how sterile the men are, and how she pities William
Bankes. Finding meaning and strength again in her pity, she gets past her mental weariness enough
to ask him an innocuous question about his letters.

The point of view shifts abruptly to Lily Briscoe, who is watching Mrs. Ramsay intently and
imagining her thoughts. Lily is able to read Mrs. Ramsay pretty clearly: “How old she looks, how
worn she looks, and how remote” (84). She wonders why Mrs. Ramsay pities William Bankes,
and she realizes that “the life in her, her resolve to live again, had been stirred by pity” (84). Lily
does not find Bankes pitiable, but she recognizes that Mrs. Ramsay is fulfilling some need of her
own. Lily thinks about how Bankes has his work, then her thoughts switch to her own work, and
she starts imagining her painting and the adjustments she will make. As if to remind the readers of
the setting, Woolf has Lily take up “the salt cellar and put it down again on a flower in pattern in
the table-cloth, so as to remind herself to move the tree” (84-85). After all of Lily Briscoe’s
thoughts, Mr. Bankes finally responds to Mrs. Ramsay’s inquiry as to whether he has found his
letters.

“What damned rot they talk,” thinks Charles Tansley, as the point of view shifts to him very briefly
(85). Lily observes how he lays down his spoon “precisely in the middle of his plate, which he had
swept clean, as if, Lily thought…he were determined to make sure of his meals” (85). As if she
can read people’s thoughts, Lily’s attention turns to Charles Tansley, as she makes observations
about him. She notes that his appearance is meager and unlovely, but she is still drawn to his blue,
deep set eyes. Mrs. Ramsay pities him as well, as she also asks him about his letters.

Tansley’s response is incorporated into the text, not as a direct quotation, as if he does not wish to
join in the banal conversation but instead wallow in his thoughts. “For he was not going to talk the
sort of rot these people wanted him to talk. He was not going to be condescended to by these silly
women” (85). Tansley holds the women and their ways in disdain; he finds them silly and
superficial. Why do they get dressed up for such occasions? He is wearing his ordinary clothes.
Women “did nothing but talk, talk, talk, eat, eat, eat…Women made civilization impossible with
all their ‘charm,’ all their silliness” (85). By portraying his inner frustrations, Woolf lets the reader
know exactly how Charles Tansley feels about dinner parties, women, and civilization as a whole.
To conclude we can say, Virginia Woolf makes a skillful use of stream of consciousness technique.
She has clearly avoided the drawbacks of this technique and has given form and coherence to her
material.