Joyce’s Epiphany and Woolf’s Moment of Importance
4. Discuss the similarities and differences between Joyce’s Epiphany and Woolf’s Moment of Importance, referring to A Little Cloud and The Mark on the Wall
Joyce’s epiphany and Woolf’s moment of importance are both featured writing techniques dealing with stream of consciousness in fiction, and both of them share some similarities and differences.
As for similarities, and first of all, both techniques are artistically arranged by their writers to represent their mental experience. For instance, Little Chandler’s epiphany in Joyce’s short story A Little Cloud and the sight of the mark in Woolf’s The Mark on the Wall are deliberately adjusted to reveal characters’ complicated inner thoughts. In addition, both writing techniques intend to show rather than comment. The writers just present the characters’ thoughts and emotional reactions but do not make comments on them, characters are introduced by their own thoughts, words and deeds but not outright by the authors, which leaves a large space for readers’ imagination and thinking. Thirdly, both techniques explore with great subtlety and delicacy in a quick passage of the impact of external world on the narrator’s mind.
Except for the similarities, there are also some differences. Firstly, epiphany is closely related to the plot of the story, while moment of importance embodies the characteristics of spontaneity, randomness and fragmentation. For example, Little Chandler in A Little Cloud realized suddenly in the end that he could not escape from reality; while in The Mark on the Wall, the character’s sight of the mark on the wall is assumed and negated again and again which seems rather spontaneous, random and fragment. Secondly, the function of climax in the plot is different between Joyce’s epiphany and Woolf’s moment of importance is a continuous and lasting process of thought without ups and downs. In A Little Cloud, the epiphany appears at the end of the story as the ending and climax of the plot. However,
Joyce’s epiphany and Woolf’s moment of importance are both featured writing techniques dealing with stream of consciousness in fiction, and both of them share some similarities and differences.
As for similarities, and first of all, both techniques are artistically arranged by their writers to represent their mental experience. For instance, Little Chandler’s epiphany in Joyce’s short story A Little Cloud and the sight of the mark in Woolf’s The Mark on the Wall are deliberately adjusted to reveal characters’ complicated inner thoughts. In addition, both writing techniques intend to show rather than comment. The writers just present the characters’ thoughts and emotional reactions but do not make comments on them, characters are introduced by their own thoughts, words and deeds but not outright by the authors, which leaves a large space for readers’ imagination and thinking. Thirdly, both techniques explore with great subtlety and delicacy in a quick passage of the impact of external world on the narrator’s mind.
Except for the similarities, there are also some differences. Firstly, epiphany is closely related to the plot of the story, while moment of importance embodies the characteristics of spontaneity, randomness and fragmentation. For example, Little Chandler in A Little Cloud realized suddenly in the end that he could not escape from reality; while in The Mark on the Wall, the character’s sight of the mark on the wall is assumed and negated again and again which seems rather spontaneous, random and fragment. Secondly, the function of climax in the plot is different between Joyce’s epiphany and Woolf’s moment of importance is a continuous and lasting process of thought without ups and downs. In A Little Cloud, the epiphany appears at the end of the story as the ending and climax of the plot. However,