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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
Chapter 11
Explanation and Analysis—Mysterious Confusion:
Ralph, on his honeymoon to Italy with Undine, quite enjoys relaxing and enjoying the Sienese air. As he lies back on a couch, the narrator begins to describe his thoughts, which becomes a stream of consciousness:
As he lay there, fragments of past states of emotion, fugitive felicities of thought and sensation, rose and floated on the surface of his thoughts. It was one of those moments when the accumulated impressions of his life converge on heart and brain, elucidating, en-lacing each other, in a mysterious confusion of beauty. [...] Words were flashing like brilliant birds through the boughs overhead; he had but to wave his magic wand to have them flutter down to him. Only they were so beautiful up there, weaving their fantastic flights against the blue, that it was pleasanter, for the moment, to watch them and let the wand lie.
Chapter 22
Explanation and Analysis—The Fact of Having Cried:
Ralph snaps awake, alone in New York, at the beginning of Chapter 22. His physical and mental health are in free-fall as his marriage with Undine falls apart. He moves through life in a daze, as the narrator depicts the anxious state of his mind using stream-of-consciousness narration:
Unlock with LitCharts A+When he woke, the first thing he remembered was the fact of having cried.
He could not think how he had come to be such a fool. He hoped to heaven no one had seen him. He supposed that he must have been worrying about the unfinished piece of work at the office: where was it, by the way, he wondered? Why—where he had left it the day before, of course! What a ridiculous thing to worry about—but it seemed to follow him about like a dog...
Related Themes:
