The Waves: Double Variation Of "Being" And "Fading"

Virginia Woolf, an outstanding British female writer, is famous for her unique writing style and techniques. The Waves is an experimental novel written in 1931. It employs a unique narrative technique through which six protagonists give the accounts of stories, including their own in the dialogues. With reference to their stories, readers are exposed to six choices and six lives which constitute a man's whole lifetime.The research method used in this paper is to analyze from the perspective of Existentialism. As Woolf's work has been studied by the research of various Western and Eastern scholars, their studies on the representative work in the recent decade will be briefly introduced in the literature review. Especially the development of The Waves in Eastern and Western cultures has showed the feasibility and importance to interpret this novel from the perspective of Existentialism. The research objects are the novel's background, characters'personalities and life consciousness by existential analyses. The thesis starts by dividing the ups and downs of the characters into two aspects:"being"and"fading". Among those six figures, Bernard proves his"being"by using its ingenious language skills and abundant emotion; Susan, the"daughter"of the nature, who bents on a return to natural and unassuming life, proves her"being"with her pure heart and clever hands; Neville proves his"being"by struggling in society with the rigorous and progressive attitude. These three figures are all positively involved in the real society, showing their sense of belonging. However, the other three roles are quite to the opposite. Jenny who lacks wisdom, always thinks that she can exchange her body for everything, and eventually limits herself in a lonely place. Thus, she is"fading"in reality. Timid Rhoda ultimately solves those unsolved problems in real world by"fading"forever. Louis who feels inferior because of his broken Australian accent and wants to work hard to prove that he isn't"fading", ends up to be an alien in everyone's eyes. There is another character—Percival, but he never lets the readers hear his voice. Every friend loves him.Though he is finally"fading"in India, he is still"being"in everyone's heart and memory. The significance of this paper is to discuss the theme and genuine meaning of life. The author believes that the interpretation of The Waves from the perspective of Existentialism can help to obtain more comprehensive and profound understanding of this novel and lead modern people to think about their existence situations. Therefore, The Waves is a classic work that explores human existence, and it's worthwhile to research from Existentialism.