The New Dress Style

The New Dress Style

Stream of Consciousness

Woolf's short story "The New Dress" is related through a stream-of-consciousness narrative in which the thoughts and feelings of Mabel Waring are central to the narrative. In fact, Woolf is commonly regarded, together with Edouard Dujardin and James Joyce, as one of the creators and early practitioners of stream-of-consciousness narrative. The focus is more on character than plot; actually, the plot is revealed as the reader learns about the protagonist. The story emerges from Mabel's thoughts as she perfunctorily addresses the other guests and her unconscious associations are evoked by a look or gesture. There is no logical progression of ideas in the story; they occur randomly, as Mabel's thoughts drift to and from the party.

Point of View

The story is told from an anonymous, third-person perspective. In a stream-of-consciousness narrative, the narrator knows the inner thoughts of the protagonist and takes advantage of the privilege of omniscience by presenting Mabel's...
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