Virginia Woolf and her narration of moments of being: an analysis of To the Lighthouse and Mrs.Dalloway

Human beings are often seeking for something unexpected or incredible, forgetting the importance of life and its essence. Portraying the simplicity of moments of beings is an ability that just few authors were capable of, one of them is Virginia Woolf. Woolf was able in her works to narrate feelings and events that represent the simple life in its depth and expressiveness. This paper examines the role of Virginia Woolf in Modernism and her revolutionary writing. The innovative way of expressing feelings and emotions that Virginia brings to life leads the readers to a different world, making them think about what surrounds them. Her dissatisfaction with the third person led her to what is now called the stream of consciousness, that felt more truthful and real. Woolf had the capacity of putting thoughts in concrete words making her texts rich, different, and innovative. The proposed analysis explains two of the most important Woolf’s novels: Mrs. Dalloway (1925) and To the Lighthouse (1927). The thematic thread shared by the two works reminds us about the simple and concrete events of life that hit us every day. Themes as Death or Family are presented to the reader as more than an uncomplicated accident and, through the characters’ mind, Woolf transmits what is called a moment of being, a sudden revelation that relates to every human being. The character analysis conducted in this work provides us a complete view of the human mind and how everyone has the capacity to experience and understand life in different ways. Virginia Woolf reminds us of what it means to see the world through different eyes, turning the everydayness of an ordinary day or the life of a simple family into points of reflection and inspiration.