The Inner Tides: The Stream of Consciousness and Subjectivity in “The Waves”
Noor-A-Jannath Tania, Md. Mehedi Hasan, Snehangshu Shekhar Chanda, Shahnara Parvin
International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science December 25, 2025 DOI: 10.47772/ijriss.2025.903sedu0754 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Key points | Argues that Virginia Woolf's *The Waves* uses stream of consciousness to chart the psychology of six narrators, excelling the technique beyond Dorothy Richardson's earlier use. |
Abstract
The Waves is Virginia Woolf’s most experimental work and one of the most accessible novels written by any modernist novelist. Stated fully in soliloquies The Waves (1931) is well-known as one of the hardest novels of Virginia Woolf. Woolf’s creations require a deep concentration as they are not plain narratives. The profoundness of her narrative and the keenness of her descriptions simply blow the minds of the readers. The Waves charts the psychology of the six narrators and present what is going on in the minds of these characters. Virginia Woolf uses the stream of consciousness technique and delves into the inner thoughts and sensory perceptions of her characters. Although Dorothy Richardson is the first British modernist novelist who used this technique in her novel but Virginia Woolf the one who excelled this technique to another level.