Rachel’s Awakening Voyage: A Feminist Reading Of The Voyage Out

Virginia Woolf, one of the most famous women writers in the history of English literature, is renowned as a foremother of modernism and feminism of the twentieth century. In her novels, Woolf focuses on female consciousness, female demands and publicizing feminine values. She shows her intense concerns for women’s future and fates. Woolf’s first novel, The Voyage Out starts her common theme and writing style.The present thesis focuses on the awakening of Rachel’s feminine consciousness. The thesis studies Rachel’s predicaments in the patriarchal society in the first place. Then it analyzes Rachel’s awakening and her death. It uncovers the metaphorical meaning of the voyage, that is, the voyage of internal awakening. In The Voyage Out, Rachel is a typical victim of the patriarchal society. Deficiency of love and social rights push her into the abyss of loneliness. The voyage from Britain to South America broadens Rachel’s horizon, which promotes the awakening of Rachel. Consequently, she does not want to be the submissive dependent of men any more. She tries to break the traditional conventions by catching every opportunity to improve herself, pursuing her love bravely and launching a crusade against conventional patriarchal oppression. However, Rachel loses her autonomy very soon. After getting engaged to Terence, she finds that she is trapped by the patriarchy again. As Rachel is unwilling to return to the traditional order, she has to escape from the patriarchal oppression by embracing death. Woolf endorses Rachel’s rebellion against patriarchal oppression while negates the way of Rachel’s awakening. In Woolf’s opinion, as Rachel does not try to set up her own values but tries to imitate men’s behaviors and replicate men’s thoughts, she is unavoidably caught in the patriarchal oppression again. Thus, her death is unavoidable. Woolf points out that only when the value of women is shaped, can women obtain real freedom.