The mind is capable of wandering many places. In Virginia Woolf’s short essay “Street Haunting”, Woolf travels the streets of London to get away from her confined room. She sets out on a journey to discover the potential and limits of the mind’s eye. In her journey, Woolf switches her viewpoints very frequently where her imagination twists her reality. Woolf’s use of imagery helps the reader create the same dreamlike image that she has in her head. In “Street Haunting”, Woolf is making the connection that certain sceneries contribute to the identity of oneself. Even though the mind’s eye focuses on beauty only and not the imperfections, the mind is an outlet because it helps one escape from reality, and notice what others don’t. To begin
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She starts talking about the eye and how the eye focuses on beauty only. The writer creates a relationship between the two because in her first mind journey it symbolizes the beauty of deformity and imperfections. The first stop that Woolf imagines is the boot shop. The boot shop is not real because she sees a dwarf, and dwarf‘s aren‘t real. In the boot shop beauty is represented in the obscurity of the dwarf. Woolf illustrates, “The dwarf, thrust her foot out, for behold it was the shapely, perfectly proportioned foot of a well-grown woman” (258). This quote is symbolizing that even though the dwarf doesn’t look normal, she can still have the same normal features as a fully developed human being. Woolf is exposing the beauty based on the negative perceptions that society has on those who have some type of deformities. The dwarf having an “adult-sized” foot really gave her the boost of confidence she needed in that boot shop only because everyone else noticed as well, but as soon as the dwarf left none of that mattered. For instance, “By the time she had reached the street again she had become a dwarf only” (259). As soon as the dwarf left the boot shop the size of her foot didn’t matter to anyone, she was invisible to the world. Woolf saw the beauty in the dwarf and her imperfections. When our favorite features aren’t visible to others and aren’t acknowledged the way we like, then it exists …show more content…
The stationery store was the reason why she ended up taking a stroll around London. There are plenty of stationery stores that Woolf could’ve gone to that are closer to her apartment and where the employees would’ve known where the pencils are kept. Instead, Woolf goes to a stationery store run by an old couple, who seems to have misplaced the pencils. As shown by, “At last, exasperated by his incompetence, he pushed the swing door open and called out roughly: “Where d’you keep the pencils?” as if his wife had hidden them” (264). The old man doesn’t even know where the pencils are kept in his own store. This wasn’t really about Woolf going all the way across town for a pencil. Most likely Woolf has pencils around her apartment she could’ve used. It was more about the experience, and learning about these different types of people and their story. Woolf states, “It is always an adventure to enter a new room; for lives and characters of its owners” (264). She clarifies that her journey isn’t about the object, but who she encounters with on her way to buy the object. The writer enjoys going places she has never been to. She’s interested in their background, and what shapes an individual’s
She starts talking about the eye and how the eye focuses on beauty only. The writer creates a relationship between the two because in her first mind journey it symbolizes the beauty of deformity and imperfections. The first stop that Woolf imagines is the boot shop. The boot shop is not real because she sees a dwarf, and dwarf‘s aren‘t real. In the boot shop beauty is represented in the obscurity of the dwarf. Woolf illustrates, “The dwarf, thrust her foot out, for behold it was the shapely, perfectly proportioned foot of a well-grown woman” (258). This quote is symbolizing that even though the dwarf doesn’t look normal, she can still have the same normal features as a fully developed human being. Woolf is exposing the beauty based on the negative perceptions that society has on those who have some type of deformities. The dwarf having an “adult-sized” foot really gave her the boost of confidence she needed in that boot shop only because everyone else noticed as well, but as soon as the dwarf left none of that mattered. For instance, “By the time she had reached the street again she had become a dwarf only” (259). As soon as the dwarf left the boot shop the size of her foot didn’t matter to anyone, she was invisible to the world. Woolf saw the beauty in the dwarf and her imperfections. When our favorite features aren’t visible to others and aren’t acknowledged the way we like, then it exists …show more content…
The stationery store was the reason why she ended up taking a stroll around London. There are plenty of stationery stores that Woolf could’ve gone to that are closer to her apartment and where the employees would’ve known where the pencils are kept. Instead, Woolf goes to a stationery store run by an old couple, who seems to have misplaced the pencils. As shown by, “At last, exasperated by his incompetence, he pushed the swing door open and called out roughly: “Where d’you keep the pencils?” as if his wife had hidden them” (264). The old man doesn’t even know where the pencils are kept in his own store. This wasn’t really about Woolf going all the way across town for a pencil. Most likely Woolf has pencils around her apartment she could’ve used. It was more about the experience, and learning about these different types of people and their story. Woolf states, “It is always an adventure to enter a new room; for lives and characters of its owners” (264). She clarifies that her journey isn’t about the object, but who she encounters with on her way to buy the object. The writer enjoys going places she has never been to. She’s interested in their background, and what shapes an individual’s