The Effects of Stream of Consciousness

The use of stream of consciousness narration helps to improve the overall plot of Mrs. Dalloway, because it helps to create a flow of ideas that is inline with the way that the human mind thinks, as well as to provide deeper insight into characters in the novel. In a stream of consciousness narration, the plot shifts based on the thought process of the narrator. By having a stream of consciousness,  a character is able to deliver personal thoughts as well as past incidents which are connected through triggers such as sight, taste, or smell. The use of a combination of point of views helps to display both a third person perspective about the world as well as to display the internal thoughts of characters. As Clarissa is passing on the street Scrope Purvis internally states: "She stiffened a little on the kerb, waiting for Durtnall's van to pass. A charming woman, Scrope Purvis thought her (knowing her as one does know people who live next door to one in Westminster; a touch of the bird about her, of the jay, blue-green, light vivacious, though she was over fifty, and grown very white since her illness. There she perched, never seeing him, waiting to cross, very upright" (Woolf 4). The combination of Scrope Purvis' internal observations about Mrs. Dalloway, combined with a commentary from a narrator about Purvis, helps to combine points of view and deepen the understanding of the novel. The stream of consciousness also provides a more accurate portrayal of the events witnessed from the perspective of the specific characters in the novel. When Mrs. Dalloway states: "What a lark! What a plunge! For so it had always seemed to her, when with a little squeak of the hinges, which she could hear now, she had burst open the French windows and plunged at Bourton into the open air" (Dalloway 3). Mrs. Dalloway's memories of the past are triggered by occurrences in the present. In this case, the squeak of the hinges brings Clarissa back to her youth when she was at Bourton. Overall, the stream of consciousness narration contributes to the overall plot of Mrs. Dalloway, because it allows for a more realistic representation of the flow of ideas, and it combines two points of view in order to provide a different perspective on events that are occurring.