Michelle Ward-- Virginia Woolf's The Waves

In Virginia Woolf’s The Waves she creates 5 “voices” that are elements of one holistic consciousness. These “voices” are employed through the use of characters, although she never intended them to act as characters but as “voices” that make up a society. This society is a societal norm that we live by. Woolf’s novel not only represents her artistic genius but also her use of rhythm and poetics to create a rhythmic emphasis. This rhythm that Woolf employs is particularly incredible because it employs a continuous flow, like a wave. A wave crashes along the shore and scatters along the sand. Not only is the wave represented in the rhythm of the syllables but also the “voices” are parts of a wave. Neither of the “voices” are complete without the others, just like a literal wave. The Waves is a beautiful text because it requires the audience to consider how their life has been influenced by the people they have encountered and the experiences they endured that make them who they are. The quest for beauty requires a quest for the discovery of self.