They Have No Face: State Apparatuses and Identity's Absence in Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway and The Waves
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Authors
Antonoff, Micheal Scott
Issue Date
2023-04-11
Type
Thesis
Language
en
Keywords
Academic theses , English literature , Woolf, Virginia, 1882-1941
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Abstract
This study attempts to answer a question at the core of Modernist thought: what is the self? Specifically, this study examines state apparatuses within two novels by Virginia Woolf: Mrs. Dalloway and The Waves. This analysis discusses how state apparatuses destabilize and call into question the existence of identity in the novels. Identity refers to “the sameness of a person or thing at all times or in all circumstances; the condition of being a single individual; the fact that a person or thing is itself and not something else; individuality; personality” (“Identity, n2”). Forced societal expectations via state apparatuses prompt characters to conform to standardized and repressive modes of behavior. The characters’ expected societal roles differ from their interior, unfulfilled desires. This dissonance, between expected behavior and desired behavior, creates problems within characters throughout these novels. Furthermore, characters in these novels constantly view themselves through the repressive gaze of prevailing ideologies and thereby experience mental strife. Essentially, I argue that anxiety signifies state apparatuses undermining the idea of a stable identity. If fear makes up part of the self, then what is the self exactly? Keywords: Absence, Althusser, Identity, State Apparatus, Woolf
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This dissertation is protected by the Copyright Laws of the United States (Public Law 94-553, revised in 1976). Consistent with fair use as defined in the Copyright Laws, brief quotations from this material are allowed with proper acknowledgement. Use of the materials for financial gain with the author's expressed written permissions is not allowed.