ADVANCED TEXTUAL ANALYSES

The sun had not yet risen. The sea was indistinguishable from the sky, except that the sea
was slightly creased as if a cloth had wrinkles in it. Gradually as the sky whitened a dark line
lay on the horizon dividing the sea from the sky and the grey cloth became barred with thick
strokes moving, one after another, beneath the surface, following each other, pursuing each
other, perpetually. []
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I see a ring,' said Bernard, 'hanging above me. It quivers and hangs in a loop of light.'
'I see a slab of pale yellow,' said Susan, 'spreading away until it meets a purple stripe.'
'I hear a sound,' said Rhoda, 'cheep, chirp; cheep chirp; going up and down.'
'I see a globe,' said Neville, 'hanging down in a drop against the enormous flanks of some hill.'
'I see a crimson tassel,' said Jinny, 'twisted with gold threads.'
'I hear something stamping,' said Louis. 'A great beast's foot is chained. It stamps, and stamps,
and stamps.' [...]
Now they have all gone,' said Louis. 'I am alone. They have gone into the house for breakfast,
and I am left standing by the wall among the flowers. It is very early, before lessons. Flower
after flower is specked on the depths of green. The petals are harlequins. Stalks rise from the
black hollows beneath. The flowers swim like fish made of light upon the dark, green waters.
I hold a stalk in my hand. I am the stalk. My roots go down to the depths of the world,
through earth dry with brick, and damp earth, through veins of lead and silver. I am all fibre.
All tremors shake me, and the weight of the earth is pressed to my ribs. Up here my eyes are
green leaves, unseeing. I am a boy in grey flannels with a belt fastened by a brass snake up
here. Down there my eyes are the lidless eyes of a stone figure in a desert by the Nile. I see
women passing with red pitchers to the river; I see camels swaying and men in turbans. I hear
tramplings, tremblings, stirrings round me. [...]
'I was running,' said Jinny, 'after breakfast. I saw leaves moving in a hole in the hedge. I
thought "That is a bird on its nest." I parted them and looked; but there was no bird on a nest.
The leaves went on moving. I was frightened. I ran past Susan, past Rhoda, and Neville and
Bernard in the tool-house talking. I cried as I ran, faster and faster. What moved the leaves?
What moves my heart, my legs? And I dashed in here, seeing you green as a bush, like a
branch, very still, Louis, with your eyes fixed. "Is he dead?" I thought, and kissed you, with
my heart jumping under my pink frock like the leaves, which go on moving, though there is
nothing to move them. Now I smell geraniums; I smell earth mould. I dance. I ripple. I am
thrown over you like a net of light. I lie quivering flung over you.'
(The Waves, Virginia Woolf)

I have chosen fragments from The Waves by Virginia Woolf because I like her
novels but I have a special sympathy for The Waves. Also, I have analysed The Waves for my
graduation paper and I think that I have more information for analysing this novel rather than
others. I will analyse the fragments above from a narratological perspective and I will focus
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on the point of view. It is hardly to establish the point of view in The Waves because it is very
complex. Firstly, Virginia made a major change in the novel form. She tried to move away
from that novel in which the subject expressed the society in which the author lived. Also, she
changed the traditional form of the novel and the chronological order of events in the novel.
Secondly and most importantly in my opinion, in The Waves Virginia Woolf deconstructed the
form of the novel. There is no explanation and details about events from the characters lives;
there are presented only the inner thoughts and consciousness of the characters. The accent is
put more to the inner life then the external life, symbolic metaphors and interludes shape the
form of the novel. However, in The Waves the perspectives intermingle: subjective with
objective.
At the beginning of the novel it can be observed that the point of view is third person
and the narrator is a detached, distant observer. But as the action of the novel develops it can
be observed that each character becomes a first person narrator who expresses in a highly
subjective way his/her inner thoughts, feelings and experiences. The change of the narrators
is signalled by an objective element such as: said Jinny, said Louis, said Jinny.
The objective narrator can be observed only when a character speaks and the narrator
says who speaks and after it the point of view is subjective because the character speaks at
first person, singular. For example: 'I was running,' said Jinny, 'after breakfast. I saw leaves
moving in a hole in the hedge. And also in the fragments that appear at the beginning of
each section the perspective is objective because none of the characters describe the landscape
presented in those fragments.
The omniscient narrator disappeared in this novel and the point of view is shifted
inside the characters minds through flashbacks, associations of ideas, momentarily
impressions presented as a continuous flux. There are six different perspectives of thoughts,
feelings and perceptions of the outside world because there are six characters in the novel that
take turns in being the subjective narrator.
In the fragments above there is a value laden expression which indicates the point of
view and reveals attitudes. For example Louis thoughts expressed in the first person, singular
when he says that he feels alone: Now they have all gone,' said Louis. I am alone. They
have gone into the house for breakfast, and I am left standing by the wall among the flowers.
Another indicator of the point of view is represented by deixis such as adverbials and
demonstrative pronouns which indicates the place. These are presented in the above fragments
form The Waves: I parted them and looked; but there was no bird on a nest.
And I dashed in here, seeing you green as a bush, like a branch, very still, Louis,
with your eyes fixed.

 "Is he dead? I thought, and kissed you, with my heart jumping under my pink frock
like the leaves, which go on moving, though there is nothing to move them.
"That is a bird on its nest."
Also, in the fragments from the novel deixis of time are exemplified through
adverbials like: Now they have all gone,' said Louis.
Deixis of time are exemplified also through present and past verbs: I thought, and
kissed you, with my heart jumping under my pink frock like the leaves, which go on moving,
though there is nothing to move them. Now I smell geraniums; I smell earth mould. I dance. I
ripple. I am thrown over you like a net of light. I lie quivering flung over you.'
In conclusion, Virginia Woolf deconstructed the form of the novel with The Waves
because its shape is expressed by means of symbolic metaphor, in the series of interludes
printed in italics, which, when put together, describe the progress of a single day from dawn
to dusk in an objective way. Also, the characters thoughts were expressed in the first person in
a subjective point of view. In other words Woolf managed to intermingle the subjective point
of view with the objective one. There is no explanation and details about events from the
characters lives; there are presented only the inner thoughts and consciousness of the
characters. The accent is put more to the inner life then the external life, symbolic metaphors
and interludes shape the form of the novel. In other words, the action of the novel is
concerned more on the subjectivity and there are more subjective elements in the novel than
objective ones.
The analyses that I made above will be helpful for the translation of the text into
another language because it is important to maintain the same point of view into the target
language. This is important to make a good translation which transmits the same massage in
the target language as in the source language. In the translation of the descriptive interludes
from the beginning of each chapter the perspective should be translated impersonally without
any implications from a narrator. The characters thoughts should be translated at the first
person singular.
Bibliography:
Woolf, V., The Waves http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks02/0201091h.html [accessed:
01.02.2014]