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Chapman University

Mrs. Dalloway as a Window for Understanding Life

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

<p>Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway may be dismissed as fiction, and fiction consequently is dismissed as fantasy. However, the novel enables readers to practice an intellectual exercise of meta-awareness that extends beyond the pages and onto real world phenomena. Under a cognitive neuroscience perspective, Mrs. Dalloway is a literary masterpiece due to its hyper- realistic execution of the intimacies of life. Through the narrative style of free-indirect discourse, Woolf illustrates what occurs in the minds of characters as they develop their own perceptions of reality and identity, exposes the fear and inadequacies of mankind’s distress in times of chaos and disorder through the characters, and attempts to tackle themes of spirituality and cosmic transcendence when encountering death. Although these themes originate from analyzing the behavior of characters in the novel, this thesis serves as a foundation of cognitive neuroscience not exclusively to provide another perspective of the novel, but in order to argue and take into account that literature such as Mrs. Dalloway is evident in enriching our understanding of life.</p>

Degree

thesis:*
Name thesis:degree_name
Master of Arts (MA)
Level thesis:degree_level
Thesis
Discipline thesis:degree_discipline
English
Year
2023

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • Venegas, Kristen
Contributors dc:contributor
  • Richard Ruppel
  • Justine Van Meter
  • Brian Glaser

Subjects

dc:subject × 11

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:digitalcommons.chapman.edu:english_theses-1071

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
Chapman University
Base URL
digitalcommons.chapman.edu/do/oai/
Last updated
2026-07-24
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
citation

Venegas, Kristen. Mrs. Dalloway as a Window for Understanding Life. Thesis thesis, 2023. https://digitalcommons.chapman.edu/english_theses/67