Recently, I read a stream-of-consciousness novel written by Virginia Woolf. She is an excellent writer in this field, and all her works reveal her outstanding thoughts and talents. My summary and own reflections of this article are as follows. It was the middle of January when the author first looked up and saw the mark on the wall. On the basis of this mark, her thoughts swarmed, and she began to think of various kinds of things in the process of guessing what the mark really was. First of all, in order to fix a date of when she saw the mark, the author started to think of the fire in the winter time, the flapping flag from the castle and the cavalcade of red knights. Then, the mark seemed to be made by a nail and the author thought of a miniature lady, the former housekeepers and the suburban villa. As she kept looking at the mark, she realized it was too big and too round to be made by a nail. Thus she thought of the inaccuracy of thought, the ignorance of humanity, the mystery of losses, the rapidity of life and the afterlife. Later, the author realized that that mark on the wall was not a hole at all, and it might have been caused by some round black substance, such as a small rose leaf. As a result, she associated it with the buried Troy, Shakespeare, the natural self-preservation of human beings,“Sunday in London” and Whitaker’s “Table of Precedency.” In certain lights that mark on the wall seemed actually to protrude from the wall. Nor was it entirely circular. The author began to think of tumulus, tombs and camps, retired colonels, the clergy and its spouse. When the author decided to get up and see the mark more clearly, she felt that she had grasped a plank in the sea. She finally thought of trees and their ways to grow. In the end, someone broke the author’s pensive peace. She eventually found out that the mark on the wall was just a snail. “The Mark on the Wall” is a stream-of-consciousness novel. It doesn’t include a story or anecdotes, but is only based on an image, the mark of an essay. This style of novel may be out of fashion now, but I am impressed by the author’s unique thoughts and ideas on thinking freely and peacefully. Nowadays, with the rapidity of life, thinking is becoming a luxury for human beings. When we catch sight of a new object, we cannot help getting closer to find out what it is. Instead, the author in this article prefers to sit still and think slowly. What a leisure it is! Even though the author was living during the war time, she enjoyed the relaxation and freedom of thinking. However, we modern people tend to waste our precious time and indulge in technological products. What’s more, we are likely to be eager to know the exact, and so-called, truth. For the author, the mark on the wall is just an excuse for her to extend her mind and think, but for most of us, we only care about the results ignoring the whole process. As a result, more and more people feel exhausted and confused, because except for the so-called results they have nothing left. Thinking freely does not mean thinking too much. Taking myself as an example, I am fond of thinking haphazardly. With such a habit, I also tend to think too much and sometimes worry too much. Frankly speaking, thinking freely is like dreaming consciously. It is a chance to relax, to enjoy life and to free one’s mind. |