Literary Devices In The New Dress By Virginia Woolf

Virginia Woolf’s The New Dress has many themes and literary devices. The story shows the style of stream of consciousness that Woolf uses. Virginia Woolf’s writing style is creative because many people do not use it in today’s writing. Woolf’s writing style of stream of consciousness uses Mabel’s thoughts and events that happened. Woolf decided to write in a stream of consciousness style, and her choice of writing let her use flashbacks as a literary device. She was able to use flashbacks and other literary devices to tie in with the recurring themes throughout the story. Throughout the story, Virginia Woolf writes in a stream of consciousness style while tying in themes and literary devices. One of the main themes that occurred throughout …show more content…
Mabel worked hard with Miss Milan to design a beautiful dress. Mabel felt beautiful in the dress that she and Miss Milan designed. In Short Stories for Students, Teresa Lyle states, “Far from being insignificant, Mabel’s dress prompts a series of reflections on her life. Its material and old-fashioned cut remind Mabel of her humble origins and low social status” (Lyle 189). Lyle states this to explain that Virginia Woolf wrote flashbacks throughout The New Dress. Lyle shows the readers that Mabel has flashbacks while she is at the party. Virginia Woolf wants Mabel to have flashbacks to show the readers how Mabel’s dress is made. Another literary device that is shown throughout the short story is symbolism. Virginia Woolf uses the dress and mirror as symbols throughout the story. The dress that Mabel wears is symbolic because it shows how Mabel does not fit in with the upper social class at the party. In The New Dress, by Virginia Woolf states, “She meant, or tried to make herself think that she meant, that it was the picture and not her dress, that was old-fashioned” (Woolf 4). Woolf tells the readers this to explain that Mabel is insecure with her dress and stands out compared to the other party guests in a negative way. Guests at the party mentioned to Mabel that the dress she was wearing was beautiful, but Mabel thought they were lying to her about it. Mabel does not believe that she is wearing a beautiful dress and that she is wearing a dated dress at the party. Rose Shaw was one of the party guests who mentioned to Mabel about her dress being beautiful. Rose Shaw was dressed to fit the part in the higher social class that Mabel wants to be in. Another one of the guests that Mabel tries to talk to is Charles Burt. Charles Burt does not say much to Mabel about her dress. Charles mentions that he noticed that Mabel “got a new dress” and this makes Mabel seem depressed