Previous
Situational Irony
Definition of Stream of Consciousness
Stream of consciousness is a style or technique of writing that tries to capture the natural flow of a character's extended thought process, often by incorporating sensory impressions, incomplete ideas, unusual syntax... read full definition
Stream of consciousness is a style or technique of writing that tries to capture the natural flow of a character's extended thought process, often by incorporating... read full definition
Stream of consciousness is a style or technique of writing that tries to capture the natural flow of a character's... read full definition
Key Examples in Light in August
Chapter 1
Explanation and Analysis—Stream of Consciousness:
Faulkner often uses stream of consciousness as a literary device in the novel. As a motif, this technique helps emphasize the disconnect between characters' internal experience and the world outside of them. One example occurs in Chapter 1, when Armistid drops Lena off in town:
[H]e watched his tongue seek words, thinking quiet and swift, thought fleeing A man. All men. He will pass up a hundred chances to do good for one chance to meddle where meddling is not wanted. He will overlook and fail to see chances, opportunities, for riches and fame and welldoing, and even sometimes for evil. But he wont fail to see a chance to meddle Then his tongue found words, he listening, perhaps with the same astonishment that she did: “Only I wouldn’t set too much store by…….store in …” thinking She is not listening [...]
Related Themes:
Chapter 20
Explanation and Analysis—Wheel of Thinking:
In Chapter 20, Hightower descends into fraught reminiscence; Faulkner occasionally interrupts Hightower's stream of consciousness with an extended metaphor comparing the man's thoughts to a sticking wheel on a vehicle that is racing toward something. By the end of the chapter, the wheel has come off:
Unlock with LitCharts A+The wheel, released, seems to rush on with a long sighing sound. He sits motionless in its aftermath, in his cooling sweat, while the sweat pours and pours. The wheel whirls on. It is going fast and smooth now, because it is freed now of burden, of vehicle, axle, all.
Related Themes:
