The Waves Themes

You won't meet a group of people more obsessed with death and mortality than the six narrators of The Waves. Even as children, their thoughts are peppered by reflections on death and decay, and thi...

The Waves has six characters who may or may not actually be one character… identity is kind of a big deal here. The narrators spill a lot of Woolf's ink trying to convince us how different they a...

Throughout her literary career, Woolf was fascinated by the question of how far the power of art and language can go, and evidence of this fascination is totally evident in The Waves. Bernard is un...

The characters in The Waves experience some pretty strong emotions, including love and hate. However, in a novel that frequently blurs the boundaries between total opposites, it's no surprise that...

The Waves is obsessed with the passing of time. Its structure certainly points this theme out with a bright yellow highlighter; each chapter pairs the characters' reflections during a particular st...

A few of our narrators have strong opinions about authority, and The Waves offers up some interesting examples of authority figures. Dr. Crane, the boys' headmaster at boarding school, is one examp...

Though chock full of pretty ocean landscapes and flowers, The Waves also sprinkles references to violence, brutality, and savagery in the mix. Even references to pretty things have sinister underto...

Class is an important factor for several of the characters in The Waves. In fact, it figures heavily in Louis's psychology, coloring his relationships with the other narrators. Louis is extremely m...