Louise” by William Somerset Maugham '
Analysis of Woolf’s Kew Gardens
Oakland, John. “Woolf’s Kew Gardens.” English Studies 68.3 (1987): 264-274 In the article “Virginia Woolf’s Kew Gardens” Oakland is trying to examine a short story that few people took the time to do. He says, “It is not an expression of meaningless life but, on the contrary, reveals a harmonious, organic optimism.” (1) Since she chose to make it such a short piece of work, it fits perfectly with her style of writing. She doesn’t make the theme the subject matter, but instead, reveals it through the organization of the piece. As the characters react to stimuli, this helps reveal a unified meaning. She bases her fiction off of the characters emotional feelings. By doing this she gives the reader a sense of experience and further deepens the organization and brings out the theme even more. Oakland goes on to say “Kew Gardens is structured to present a series of points of view, authorial comments and descriptions, progressing from one experience to another by interlocking devices of association.” (3) Woolf is the third person narrator, and the story focuses on the natural background. All of the non-human creatures become characters because she so deeply describes them. In the final paragraph of the short story all of the entities come together as one. “The Chinese Box demonstrates precisely the main theme of Kew Gardens by showing the interconnection of objects, or a complex of boxes within boxes, the opening of which are presumably infinite.” (10); meaning that nature relies on humans, and humans rely on nature.
I find that this author uses Ethos a lot because he is always quoting someone else and giving direct quotes from the short story. He says “Woolf herself, writing to Vanessa Bell in 1918 of the unpublished work, called it ‘a case of atmosphere’ and wondered if she had ‘got it right’. (1) This isn’t the only quote of Woolf’s he uses either. He directly quotes her at least three other times. I think he does this to try and get
Oakland, John. “Woolf’s Kew Gardens.” English Studies 68.3 (1987): 264-274 In the article “Virginia Woolf’s Kew Gardens” Oakland is trying to examine a short story that few people took the time to do. He says, “It is not an expression of meaningless life but, on the contrary, reveals a harmonious, organic optimism.” (1) Since she chose to make it such a short piece of work, it fits perfectly with her style of writing. She doesn’t make the theme the subject matter, but instead, reveals it through the organization of the piece. As the characters react to stimuli, this helps reveal a unified meaning. She bases her fiction off of the characters emotional feelings. By doing this she gives the reader a sense of experience and further deepens the organization and brings out the theme even more. Oakland goes on to say “Kew Gardens is structured to present a series of points of view, authorial comments and descriptions, progressing from one experience to another by interlocking devices of association.” (3) Woolf is the third person narrator, and the story focuses on the natural background. All of the non-human creatures become characters because she so deeply describes them. In the final paragraph of the short story all of the entities come together as one. “The Chinese Box demonstrates precisely the main theme of Kew Gardens by showing the interconnection of objects, or a complex of boxes within boxes, the opening of which are presumably infinite.” (10); meaning that nature relies on humans, and humans rely on nature.
I find that this author uses Ethos a lot because he is always quoting someone else and giving direct quotes from the short story. He says “Woolf herself, writing to Vanessa Bell in 1918 of the unpublished work, called it ‘a case of atmosphere’ and wondered if she had ‘got it right’. (1) This isn’t the only quote of Woolf’s he uses either. He directly quotes her at least three other times. I think he does this to try and get