“Everything moves, falls, slips, disappears… There is an enormous upheaval.” (Woolf 89) Virginia Woolf wrote “The Mark on the Wall” in 1917. The narrator reflects on the time she was utterly confused by a mark on her wall. While she stares at her wall, her thoughts seem random and meaningless. She claims not to be able to remember anything, which is the real purpose of her reveries in this stream-of-consciousness narrative. On closer inspection, it is clear that she’s describing her own thought process, its difficulties, and the difficulty of focusing when overwhelmed by thought.
The narrator tries to recall the first time that she saw the mark. It is done by recalling the way her book was lit up and that she held a cigarette. This shows it was winter after her dinner. This is where her memory comes in handy, helping her find the mark. As she watches the flames, her mind drifts back to a childhood daydream in which a flag of fire was waving above a castle as knights marched by (Woolf, 83). She says that this was “an automatic fantasy, a childhood dream” (Woolf 83) and it’s a relief for her to see the mark. It is the first time the reader has a glimpse into the mind of the narrator. She mentions that it is a relief to be interrupted by the mark, which ends her first reverie.
Woolf introduces this concept at a very intriguing point. As soon as Woolf concludes her idea that thoughts come and go instantly, the narrator returns to the wall’s mark. Woolf places this idea at an interesting point, as she immediately jumps to the wall mark after the narrator has concluded that thoughts can appear and disappear in a flash. In addition to stating that thoughts and concepts are temporary, Woolf shows us this by abandoning the discussion of ideas in order to revisit the mark. She is continually distracted by her thoughts, so she never makes any progress on the subject of what she thinks it is.
She then goes into a reverie about what might have been there. She insists on calling it a “miniature”, but then goes into a long and unnecessary description about the woman. She starts talking about the redecorating style and designs of previous owners without explaining to her audience the reason for this. This surprises readers and proves that the thoughts are disconnected. As the narrator reconnects, her thoughts drift to the concept of thinking. She is surprised by how common and yet fleeting thoughts can be. She emphasizes the idea that it is too late to recover from something once it has happened. My dear, the mystery behind life! “The inaccuracy…To demonstrate how little control we have over our possessions!” (Woolf, 84). These “possessions”, however, are actually moments, ideas and thoughts that cannot be grasped and are therefore so fleeting. The narrator’s next line, “What cat would gnaw , what rodent would nibble “, highlights her distance with the objects she is thinking about.
The narrator is correct in her belief that thoughts are quick to vanish, but the audience can’t be certain that she really is trustworthy. In the midst of her pondering on the images lost, and the many times she lost her train, she loses it too. This is an “in the moment” story, as there is no dialogue or logical order to her ideas. Woolf successfully uses the “stream of consciousness” style, using the narrator’s voice, to show the reader what her narrator thinks. Woolf, while telling us that thoughts and ideas are not reliable, also shows how they distract “real” women from their focus. Woolf achieves a feat by forcing readers to evaluate their thoughts, ideas, and the way they impact our daily lives.
