The Narrative Analysis Of Existentialism In Mrs. Dalloway

Virginia Woolf, as one of the greatest modernist writers in the British literature, iswidely known in the academic world and her representative masterpiece—Mrs.Dalloway—has a profound influence to her contemporary and the later literary creation.Unlike many contemporary writers, Woolf opposed the traditional writing methods andmanaged to carry out her innovative writing style—abundant use of stream ofconsciousness and denial of using omniscient focalization as the dominant perspectivemode in her novel writing. Moreover, instead of putting excessive emphases on theobjective description of the external reality, Woolf showed more interest in the depictionof people’s spiritual world.Mrs. Dalloway, as one of Woolf’s famous novels, fully shows the author’s great talentsin the experiment of her innovative writing style and it has also become the classic topicamong the researchers both at home and abroad since its publication. Up to now, Mrs.Dalloway has been studied by numerous researchers and the analytical methods alsoenjoyed great varieties. Among the most popular research approaches, it is the narrativeapproach, the feminist approach and the existential approach that take up the mostprominent position. However, most of these researches choose to analyze the novel fromjust one or two angles although diversified the concrete research manners are. This thesisintends to reinterpret Mrs. Dalloway with Martin·Heidegger’s existential philosophy andShen Dan’s narrative theory (the internal focalization,“FID” and the unreliable narration),aiming to show that the growth process of the female protagonist in the novel justcoincides with the development trend of Heidegger’s existentialism theory (the sense of“Being”�'the inauthentic “Being” or “Alienation”�'the pursuit of authentic “Being”).The narrative analysis of this thesis can be divided into three parts: in part one, throughthe fixed internal focalization analysis, Clarissa’s performances at this stage just coincidewith “the sense of Being” theory in Heidegger’s existential philosophy: the “Dasein”exists in the world according to the structure “Being-in-the-world” and has a clearawareness of his “Being”; in part two, through a series of analyses from the angle of fixed internal focalization, free indirect discourse and unreliable narration, another coincidencebetween Clarissa’s performances at this stage and “the inauthentic Being or Alienation”idea in Heidegger’s existentialism theory can be identified: when the “Dasein” is in theprocess “Being-in-the-world”, he usually falls into “Degradation” caused by his own“Alienation”; in part three, through the analysis of fixed internal focalization and freeindirect discourse, it shows that Clarissa’s performances at this stage also coincide withHeidegger’s “pursuit of authentic Being” theory: after continuous efforts, the “Dasein”finally overcomes his “Alienation” and returns back to his authentic condition.Through the narrative analysis of existentialism in Mrs. Dalloway, it can be confirmedthat the narrative theory (such as internal focalization and free indirect discourse) can beused to analyze the woman’s growth process and it is through the narrative analysis that ahuge coincidence between the woman’s growth process and Heidegger’s existentialismtheory can be detected: during the first stage, the female protagonist had a strongawareness of her true ego; while in the second stage, the female protagonist sank into thehousewife life and gradually lost her early ambitions; as to the last stage, with her lifeexperiences growing and her thinking patterns shifting, the female protagonist finallyretrieved her ego which had been lost for a long time. Taking Heidegger’s existentialphilosophy into account, the growth process of the woman in the novel corresponds to thedevelopment trend of Heidegger’s existentialism theory: the sense of “Being”�'theinauthentic “Being” or “Alienation”�'the pursuit of authentic “Being”. Therefore, it canbe confirmed that Heidegger’s existential philosophy can be adopted in the analysis offemale’s growth process based on the analyses above.