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Virginia woolf as a modernist essay
What rhetorical strategies has virginia woolf used in the profession of women
Virginia woolf as a modernist essay
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In Kew Gardens, Virginia Woolf takes advantage of the liminal quality of the short story in order to highlight the suspended world that she creates in the garden. For Woolf, the lyrical short story’s subversion of traditional narrative structure allows her to focus on creating a world rather than a plot. Further, the short story creates a liminal space by the very nature of its form. Caught in a space where it is not considered a poem or a novel, the short story exists as undefined. The liminality of the short story, however, is both liberating and restricting. Woolf explores this feature in order to suggest the unsustainable nature of Kew Gardens. While Woolf utilizes the form of the short story to create a liminal, impressionistic space that eradicates the boundaries between human and nature, she also uses the transitory quality of the short story to suggest that such a space can only exist for a short duration due to the restrictions of the imposing outside world. Eileen Baldeshwiler’s “The Lyric Short Story” discusses the two different branches of short story—the “epical” and the “lyrical” (231). Baldeshwiler highlights the separate functions of the forms by focusing on their stylistic differences. The epical short story, according to Baldeshwiler, relies heavily on “external action” that is “fabricated mainly to forward plot, culminating in a decisive ending that sometimes affords a universal insight” (231). Further, the plot and characters are “expressed in the serviceably inconspicuous language of prose realism” (Baldeshwiler 231). In other words, the characters, plot, and overall tone of the piece adhere to reality. In opposition to this style, Baldeshwiler explains that the lyrical short story “concentrates o... ... middle of paper ... ...that suspends the boundaries of man and nature, the way in which she structures the last image to be one of hostility indicates the unsustainable nature of the garden. Woolf, therefore, takes advantage of the lyrical short stories’ structure to create a liminal space that both breaks through barriers to form a unified, impressionistic world and to emphasize the imposing negative aspects of such a transitory structure. As a result, Woolf prompts the reader to question whether the liminal space created within the short story is positive in its ability to unite nature and human or negative in its apparent unsustainability. Regardless, the form and structure of the short story are pivotal in Kew Gardens. Without the liminal space of the short story, it is questionable if Woolf could have succeeded in creating the unstable, yet peaceful, world in Kew Gardens.
In traditional writing styles, the main element to give the story meaning is the narrative itself. However, with more modern and distinct styles such as the short stories written where the narrative is no longer the primary stylistic device, but the use of metaphors and distinctive different narrators applies meaning to the stories. Though it is easy to judge what is different from tradition as inferior, this change is no different than the rise of cubism in the art world. Even though initially many would comment on the art not being “real,” or in this case, the stories being poorly written, this style has even more of an effect. After
A short story is a work of literature that is shorter than a novel. Although some may believe the length may not be enough to develop a noble story, in these few pages an author can pack a tight punch that will leave one in awe, disgust, or utter sadness. Whether there is a moral of the story or it is simply for the reader’s enjoyment, each author has their own style of conveying a message through their work in very diverse ways. Through Flannery O’Connor and Chuck Palahniuk’s works we can see this very evidently.
...e "himself remarked in 1957, [that] the short story as a genre demands precision of language: 'In a short story that's next to a poem, almost every word has got to be almost exactly right. In the novel you can be careless but in the short story you can't'"(54). When a writer in so conscious of the power which he possesses, it should surprise us little that he is so successful in creating emotion and mystery with his pen.
Usually, a short story may contain profound thoughts. Writers always convey their ideas or opinions by offering several arguments in their productions. These arguments are essential to advancing the story and defining characters. In "Aunt Mary" written by Joseph Imperiale, we might identify three arguments here.
...man Experience, 2004). Here, the garden symbolizes society and the mysterious words prove that what women have is undiscovered by them. Furthermore, the women describe the bay as of a beautiful site of view and it is belongs to the estate. In addition, the bay is referred to the uncharted territory of women abilities and the private estate is indirectly indicating the sections of society forbidden of women.
(ll. 19-24) Wordsworth’s famous and simple poem, “I wandered lonely as a cloud,” expresses the Romantic Age’s appreciation for the beauty and truth that can be found in a setting as ordinary as a field of daffodils. With this final stanza, Wordsworth writes of the mind’s ability to carry those memories of nature’s beauty into any setting, whether city or country. His belief in the power of the imagination and the effect it can have on nature, and vice a versa, is evident in most of his work. This small
Poverty and homelessness are often, intertwined with the idea of gross mentality. illness and innate evil. In urban areas all across the United States, just like that of Seattle. in Sherman Alexie’s New Yorker piece, What You Pawn I Will Redeem, the downtrodden. are stereotyped as vicious addicts who would rob a child of its last penny if it meant a bottle of whiskey.
The speaker begins the poem an ethereal tone masking the violent nature of her subject matter. The poem is set in the Elysian Fields, a paradise where the souls of the heroic and virtuous were sent (cite). Through her use of the words “dreamed”, “sweet women”, “blossoms” and
In opposition to Woolf’s imagery, Dillard in her story “Living Like Weasels” describes a bright colorful summer evening. The picture is almost magic. Reader clearly can imagine himself/herself sitting there on the tree trunk next to the author staring at the lily pads “tremble and part dreamily over the thrusting path of a carp” (Dillard 1). By drawing this gorgeous picture, Dillard evokes pleasant feelings in the readers and gives them a believe that life is beautiful and fulfilled with
Woolf’s pathos to begin the story paints a picture in readers minds of what the
On "The Narrow Bridge of Art", Woolf states that the emotions people produce are answers to those new challenges which overflow from the writers' minds. These answers are not only given by the dialogues (sometimes monologues) that a person can catch in moments of solemn contemplation, but also by the different gamut of images which are able to produce a profound bewilderment. That is why in "Kew Gardens" not all the characters have a thread easily to be followed in their dialogues, as the one of the two elderly women of low middle class. Sometimes coherent words are not needed; just the essence of a human being is required for emotions to be trembled. These images are not only children of an overwhelmed magic; horror and traumatized depression, just to mention a few, are also living existences of this world of muses which caught the writer's soul as easily as flies are caught in spider webs. As Woolf writes, "It is a spring night, the moon is up, the nightingale singing, the willows bending over the river. Yes, but at the same time a diseased old woman is picking over her greasy rags on a hideous iron bench" (16). The two old ladies from "Kew Gardens" are not Boticelli's Graces, but they are immersed in the path towards writing, they are as dignified as Minerva's bust to be considered as a source for inspiration for an artistic manifestation to be created; they also have their own story to tell and to be told.
The valley is described as a “desolate” place where “ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills into grotesque gardens”. (21) Ashes that dominate the area take the shape of natural greenery. The term “grotesque gardens” uses alliteration, with juxtaposition; to highlight the odd pairing of ashes and greenery. Ashes are associated with death while ridges and “gardens” represent the potential to flourish and grow in the promise and ideal of equality as in “the trees that had made way for Gatsby’s house, had once pandered in whispers to the last and greatest of all human dreams.” (143) The trees that once stood here were able to speak to man’s dreams, which allude to America, the land able to speak to man’s dreams and capacity for wonder. All this is replaced by grey ash that suffocates the inhabitants, restricting them to their social class. This presents a bleak image of hopelessness that surrounds the valley.
Although ‘Arcadia’ is never actually set in the garden on Sidley house, it is referred to a number of times and Stoppard uses it symbolically to express conflicting views on types of knowledge and the clash between chaos and order. The classical view conforms to Lady Croom’s Arcadia; “nature as god intended” which implies the assistance of humanity to nature in fulfilling God’s design. Mr Noakes, on the other hand, tries to reform the garden from a romantic perspective in picturesque style giving the garden a wild, chaotic shape. Romanticism is central to the play in introducing the idea of irregularity (chaos) dominating the nature (order). Through the setting of the garden the play’s modern characters also express their theories on order versus chaos like when Hannah describes the shift to the early 19th century taste for "Romantic" landscapes of rocks and ruins, using it as a symbol of the more ...
Some of the characteristics of Modernism are: a desire to break conventions and established traditions, reject history, experiment, remove relativity, remove any literal meaning, and create an identity that is fluid. The rejection of history sought to provide a narrative that could be completely up for interpretation. Any literal meaning no longer existed nor was it easily given; essence became synonymous. Narrative was transformed. Epic stories, like “Hills Like White Elephants”, could occur in the sequence of a day. Stories became pushed by a flow of thoughts. The narrative became skeptical of linear plots, preferring to function in fragments. These fragments often led to open unresolved inconclusive endings. This echoes in the short story’s format. The short story functions in fragmented dialogue. Focusing on subjectivity rather than objectivity. Creating characters with unfixed, mixed views to challenge readers.
While she is buying flowers for her party, Mrs. Dalloway has an existential crisis regarding the meaning of life and the inevitability of death. She reflects on the atmosphere of the London streets and her old suitor Peter Walsh as she reads some lines from Shakespeare’s Cymbeline. Mrs. Dalloway’s existential crisis demonstrates situational irony since the concept of life and death is quite deep and complex, yet she seems to live a shallow life consisting of throwing parties and picking which flowers to buy. Although she is contemplating her own mortality, Woolf’s word choice, such as “consoling,” suggests that death is positive and liberating, applying a light tone to a dark situation, adding to the irony. Mrs. Dalloway describes the trees,