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Stream of Consciousness
Stream of consciousness is like the author installed a microphone in the character's mind. This microphone reveals all the character's precise inner monologue and consciousness. As J. A. Cuddon says, "The stream of consciousness is a narrative device used in literature to depict the consciousness which passes through the mind (A Dictionary of Literary Terms). Consciousness, however, is one of the most mysterious things in the world. According to Robert van Gulick, "Consciousness is the quality or state of being aware of an external object or something within oneself" In order to depict the mysterious mind, novels that use stream of consciousness are always known to be very obscure and difficult to understand.
There are basically three reasons that contribute to the difficultness. The first one is that the perspective applied in stream of consciousness is very unique. As it says in the novel Play with stream of consciousness, "Stream of consciousness and interior monologue are distinguished from dramatic monologue and soliloquy, which are chiefly used in poetry or drama" For example "O, what a rogue and pleasant slave am I!"(2.2.533) From this example we can see the character is clearly telling audiences what is going on is his or her mind, so that the audiences will know what is going on in the character's mind and how it will influence the plot. Whereas in stream of consciousness, the character's mind is all messed up instead of having a clear pattern. In a word the soliloquy is making everything straight while the stream of consciousness just lists as many things as possible in the character's mind.
The second reason is obvious by reading a typical paragraph of stream of consciousness from the novel Ulysses,
a quarter after what an unearthly hour I suppose they're just getting up in China now combing out their pigtails for the day well soon have the nuns ringing the angelus they've nobody coming in to spoil their sleep except an odd(some) priest or two for his night office or the alarm clock next door at cock shout clattering the brain out of itself let me see if I can doze off(go to sleep) 1 2 3 4 5 what kind of flowers are those they invented like the stars the wallpaper in Lombard street was much nicer the apron he gave me was like that something only I only wore it twice better lower this lamp and try again so that I can get up early (James Joyce,1031-1032).
After reading this paragraph you may notice that the author doesn't use punctuation at all. Clearly punctuation makes the passage easier to read and helps to build up the overall structure, so by using no punctuation the author destroys the structure of the passage so that the author can freely put in anything that is related to the consciousness of the character without a clear order.
The third reason is that we need to process the information by our-self due to the lack of order and structure. For example the paragraph above can also be written as, "At an unearthly hour I tried to sleep, I counted 12345 but soon my mind goes to somewhere else again." Although the basic idea is the same and it's easier to understand because we don't have to process the information, we get less information from the second one. Stream of consciousness helps us to understand the character better because we need to process what's going on in the character's mind instead of just intake everything the author tells us. As a result you actually become the character because you are processing everything in your mind just like the character does.
To put things in a nutshell, stream of consciousness is truly difficult, but meanwhile it's one of the best ways for us to understand a novel. Suppose you need get a pair of shoes, you can get them in the store or you can get all the glues and threads and make them by yourself. In this case either way helps you get the shoes, but you know much more about the shoes by making it by yourself. The same rule is applied in literature, stream of consciousness is an unrefined good and you need to assemble it by yourself.
Work Cited
Cuddon , J. A. A Dictionary of Literary Terms. New York: Harmonds worth, Penguin Books,
1984. Print.
Van Gulick, Robert. “Consciousness” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. N.p. n.d.Web. 24
Sep.2011.
N.p. “Play with stream of consciousness.” Peandi. 5 Sep. 2013. Web. 24 Sep. 2013.
Ex from Hamlet, Act II, scene ii, line 533
James Joyce Ulysses Planet 2012 page 1031 line22~25. page1032 line 1~10
Stream of consciousness is like the author installed a microphone in the character's mind. This microphone reveals all the character's precise inner monologue and consciousness. As J. A. Cuddon says, "The stream of consciousness is a narrative device used in literature to depict the consciousness which passes through the mind (A Dictionary of Literary Terms). Consciousness, however, is one of the most mysterious things in the world. According to Robert van Gulick, "Consciousness is the quality or state of being aware of an external object or something within oneself" In order to depict the mysterious mind, novels that use stream of consciousness are always known to be very obscure and difficult to understand.
There are basically three reasons that contribute to the difficultness. The first one is that the perspective applied in stream of consciousness is very unique. As it says in the novel Play with stream of consciousness, "Stream of consciousness and interior monologue are distinguished from dramatic monologue and soliloquy, which are chiefly used in poetry or drama" For example "O, what a rogue and pleasant slave am I!"(2.2.533) From this example we can see the character is clearly telling audiences what is going on is his or her mind, so that the audiences will know what is going on in the character's mind and how it will influence the plot. Whereas in stream of consciousness, the character's mind is all messed up instead of having a clear pattern. In a word the soliloquy is making everything straight while the stream of consciousness just lists as many things as possible in the character's mind.
The second reason is obvious by reading a typical paragraph of stream of consciousness from the novel Ulysses,
a quarter after what an unearthly hour I suppose they're just getting up in China now combing out their pigtails for the day well soon have the nuns ringing the angelus they've nobody coming in to spoil their sleep except an odd(some) priest or two for his night office or the alarm clock next door at cock shout clattering the brain out of itself let me see if I can doze off(go to sleep) 1 2 3 4 5 what kind of flowers are those they invented like the stars the wallpaper in Lombard street was much nicer the apron he gave me was like that something only I only wore it twice better lower this lamp and try again so that I can get up early (James Joyce,1031-1032).
After reading this paragraph you may notice that the author doesn't use punctuation at all. Clearly punctuation makes the passage easier to read and helps to build up the overall structure, so by using no punctuation the author destroys the structure of the passage so that the author can freely put in anything that is related to the consciousness of the character without a clear order.
The third reason is that we need to process the information by our-self due to the lack of order and structure. For example the paragraph above can also be written as, "At an unearthly hour I tried to sleep, I counted 12345 but soon my mind goes to somewhere else again." Although the basic idea is the same and it's easier to understand because we don't have to process the information, we get less information from the second one. Stream of consciousness helps us to understand the character better because we need to process what's going on in the character's mind instead of just intake everything the author tells us. As a result you actually become the character because you are processing everything in your mind just like the character does.
To put things in a nutshell, stream of consciousness is truly difficult, but meanwhile it's one of the best ways for us to understand a novel. Suppose you need get a pair of shoes, you can get them in the store or you can get all the glues and threads and make them by yourself. In this case either way helps you get the shoes, but you know much more about the shoes by making it by yourself. The same rule is applied in literature, stream of consciousness is an unrefined good and you need to assemble it by yourself.
Work Cited
Cuddon , J. A. A Dictionary of Literary Terms. New York: Harmonds worth, Penguin Books,
1984. Print.
Van Gulick, Robert. “Consciousness” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. N.p. n.d.Web. 24
Sep.2011.
N.p. “Play with stream of consciousness.” Peandi. 5 Sep. 2013. Web. 24 Sep. 2013.
Ex from Hamlet, Act II, scene ii, line 533
James Joyce Ulysses Planet 2012 page 1031 line22~25. page1032 line 1~10