Egotism In Night And Day By Virginia Woolf

Night and Day,the second novel written by Virginia Woolf after one of her major nervous breakdowns,tells a story about the struggle and reconciliation with one’s ego.As someone well aware of her own egotistical propensity,Woolf creates plenty of equally egotistical characters who are subject to endless niggles.In this paper,egotism in Night and Day is problematized.What is egotism?How do we identify egotistical symptoms?What are its causes and implications?And what are the possible solutions to moderate egotistical sways?These are the key issues of this paper.By analyzing the thinking and behavioral recurrences of the characters,egotistical patterns,implications and solutions are identified and sorted.To find out their causes,external sources are referenced to provide background information and possible reasons.It is discovered that according to different causes,conceited egotism,defensive egotism and intellectual egotism are more obvious types.Other nameless forms of egotism are theoretically less recognizable,but they are also recurring themes in our everyday life and will help identify our problems.Digging into the triggering paradigms of egotistical thoughts and behavior,in addition to the inherency of egotism,one encounters social,philosophical and cultural reasons such as the ancient Greek worship of mathematical and astronomical truth,the Renaissance empowering of knowledge and disillusioned modern notion that the true and the ideal do not exist.These hallmarks thread the thinking and behaviors of the characters and provide strong background footnotes to the study of egotism.Most of the time,egotism brings about unbeneficial distress,alienation and misunderstanding in interpersonal relations.But sometimes egotism can also be an indirect elixir to boredom.To deal with egotistical concerns,intimacy and a vocation are suggested as the two major outlets based on the novel.However,they are not enough to root out all the egotism in our lives.Despite the emotional scars,the thwarted hope,isolation and disrupted interpersonal communication,life goes on.To know and accept ourselves and reconcile with our desires are the key to deal with egotism.In this paper,Chapter 1 classifies egotism into conceited egotism and ideal-triggered egotism through case analysis and tries to find out the reasons.Chapter 2 deals with egotistical influences on the characters from three respects:emotional,social and temporal.Attempts are made to illustrate these influences with charts to facilitate understanding of the patterns.In the meantime,historical and cultural references are made to explain the underlying causes.In Chapter 3,the paper concludes by offering two possible solutions from the novel to moderate egotistical inclinations:intimacy and devotion to a vocation.