Throughout her literary career, Woolf was fascinated by the question of how far the power of art and language can go, and evidence of this fascination is totally evident in The Waves. Bernard is unsure about language's impact—in some moments, he totally puts language on a pedestal (his uses of language in particular) and then, in the next breath, worries that because language always falls short of the mark in terms of fully expressing the reality underneath words.
At the end of the novel, Bernard implies that he's going to run with the idea that language is powerful, suggesting that the hunt for a meaning drives life forward—if only because it forces us endlessly into contact with others.
Questions About Language/Art/Storytelling
- Despite a remarkable talent for literary scholarship, Louis opts for a career in a shipping company. What do you make of Louis's lifelong interest and talents in writing and literature and, yet, his failure/refusal to pursue a career that makes use of these talents? What is the significance of including a "failed" author?
- Bernard offers a whole bunch of thoughts about language and literature throughout the novel. How and why do his thoughts evolve?
- The novel's three male narrators all have strong literary interests and talents; however, as far as we know, that doesn't seem to be the case for the three female narrators. Is there any significance to this discrepancy?
- How does the form of The Waves itself relate to or bear out the literary philosophies of its characters?
Chew on This
Bernard's views of language evolve throughout The Waves, as he becomes less preoccupied by making up stories (which were largely intended to entertain himself/his friends) and more interested in building connections through expression.
Though not ostensibly a writer like the male narrators, Rhoda is a crucial artist figure in the book; she offers her thoughts in poetic, abstract soliloquies that, more than the narrations of the other characters, experiment with the relationship between language, metaphor, and the "sense" beneath them. Through her, Woolf challenges the reader to question their own uses of language.