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| First Edition of Jacob's Room, with a cover by Woolf's sister Vanessa Bell |
Many of Woolf’s essays articulate both an ongoing interest in (and curious ambivalence toward) biographical projects. In "A Sketch of the Past" Woolf wrote, "It is so difficult to give any account of the person to whom things happen. The person is evidently immensely complicated…In spite of all this, people write what they call ‘lives’ of other people; that is, they collect a number of events, and leave the person to whom it happened unknown.” In our discussion last week a number of people expressed frustration at not being able to clearly "see" the plot and characters, particularly Jacob. What do you think the form of the novel has to do with challenging the idea of biography and the knowability of other people? Use specific moments and textual evidence to back up your arguments.
Woolf’s main point seems to be that the way one is viewed and remembered is through the eyes of others. We might never know about someone other than what others perceive about them. In the novel, Mrs. Norman’s first impression of Jacob is indifference, as he seems to ignore or not hear that he is in a non-smoking carriage. Yet, he takes out her dressing-case for her after they stop. This seems to indicate that Jacob is caring, just oblivious, but we can never know for sure. This is all that Mrs. Norman gets of Jacob, so her observation must be based on this alone. It is like this for people in real life, and that seems to be Woolf’s point.
ReplyDeleteWoolf sums her point up best in page 54 when she says "It seems that a profound, impartial, and absolutely just opinion of our fellow-creatures is utterly unknown." No matter how many times I look at this book, I don't feel like I "know" Jacob. I cannot see him I my mind, and as a result, I don't feel like I really understand Virginia Woolf as a writer or as a "fellow-creature".
ReplyDeleteI think Woolf's main focus is to compare what people believe they know about a person and who that person really is. One of my favorite images is in chapter four, it tells of Mrs. Pascoe. It shows her thoughts, but it also shows what the tourists see, a woman in a blue dress and apron. There are many times throughout the novel that we get a glimpse of a character and are never told any more than that. I think this is what she intends to accomplish; in most stories, we are told, very in-depth, the character of a person and their actions. In this novel she breaks away from that tradition and shows a more realistic view, an image of a person based on a glance and the truth based of pieces of their thoughts.
ReplyDeleteI believe the idea Woolf is embodying, among many others, is that we are who others say we are. Confusingly she also implies how one can never know the true nature of another person, just how we the readers never get to truly know Jacob because we are not allowed insight into his thoughts and feelings. No one can never know who someone really is based on observation alone, rather in the example of Jacob, we would need to for him to discuss his opinions and feelings in order to acquire anything more than a superficial appearance, just like in real life. Like Jacob we exist. But we can not exist without touching another's exostence.
ReplyDeleteA soul is unfathomably complex. A book, while certainly not simple, is no where near as faceted as a person. No biography, however informed, could completely encompass everything which makes up a human. A good author will create a deeply dimensional character which simulates the true dimensional of an actual person, but no fictional/nonfictional being composed in paper and ink can truly be/seem "real." Woolf illustrates this idea by "hiding" Jacob from the view of the audience. By focusing less on making his character obvious to the reader, Woolf allows his qualities to attributed BY the reader-- therefore making him seem less written and less forced. It's almost a laissez-faire way of writing a character.
ReplyDeleteWolf challenges the traditional biography by casting his characters as hometown gossips. These characters give an opinionated untrue depiction of Jacob. His own mother constantly speaks untrue of Jacob and she’s extremely jaded. An example of this fact by Jacob states, “Neither snow nor greenery, winter nor summer, has the power over old stained glass.” The passage foreshadows the constant opposition and control many of the town’s people exert over Jacob. Jacobs’s mom sees him as being indifferent for enjoying bugs and nature. In actuality all boys enjoy exploring bugs and nature. He does not enjoy or feed into gossip and the trouble it infects upon others. Jacobs view is simple due to the statement of,”is it the mint sauce that makes the man or is it the man that makes the mint sauce’ the meaning is what matters is on the inside and what type of person you are on the inside.” The plot and characters provide a sort of outside looking in verses the inside looking out. Through Jacobs’s community of
ReplyDeleteWoolf challenges traditonal biography because in the end you don't really feel like you have learned all about Jacobs life. Most biography's speak directly about the person and less about everyone else in his/her life. This novel is groundbreaking and is probably why it is met with apprehension and grief. The way she establishes her character is through the eyes of other characters, several other characters. Is the way people know a person by knowing them personally, or how other feel about them or view them...?
ReplyDeleteThis book was extremely hard for me to decipher, but if I had to relate it to Woolf's view on biographies, I would think that she is insulting their form by taking it to the extreme. While biographies are cast from outsiders' points of view, there are often quotes, pictures, personal likes and dislikes, etc. of the central person. However, in Jacob's Room Woolf eliminates those luxuries while describing Jacob. He speaks very little and we know even less about his personal taste.
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