OPTION B

The modernist novelists used to make experiments with point of view and in particular Virginia Woolf was considered one of the greatest novelists of the new interest. Indeed,  she thought characters have to present themselves to the reader directly, without the narrator’s interference. So she used a narrator, who allows to show reality according the different characters’ perspectives, that  is to say the use of the shift of point of view.

According to the novelist life is like “ a cotton wool” to unbind and to show to other in “a work of art”.

The characters can open hidden reality to make the reader informed about their consciousness and, life experiences. In Mrs Dalloway the protagonist is go in to organize a party and while she is doing some shopping in Bond Street every trivial object or act appeals to her mind and shifts her to the past. The reader is made informed about Clarissa’s life and illness through the protagonist’s inner monologuw which reveals her thoughts and feelings, but they are not chronologically and logically organized. Indeed they make part of a “ stream of consciousness”.

According to V. Woolf consciousness represents the true essence of human being. The reader is involved in the character’s life and his/her consciousness .

 In The Common Reader  V. Woolf affirmed she wanted to show the true reality of human beings and so she criticized the traditional novel where writers thought to present whole character in one only paragraph. Indeed, she said “Is life like this?” The answer is obviously negative. We never know a person completely and in the same way a character.

Virginia Woolf’s attempt is to make the characters presented from their own words. The “stream of consciousness” allows her to reach her purpose. As a consequence, the reader can feel  the character’s thoughts and feelings as they were her/his own ones.

In a similar way J. Joyce created a direct relationship between the reader ad the character. So the reader can feel empathy and comprehend the characters  : he/she may imagine himself/herself into the world of the novel. So reading can make you reflect about your life, because you could have lived a character’s similar situation or feeling.

Virginia Woolf was able to reveal the inner part of human begins, because it is their true essence.