Virginia Woolf's Ambivalence Towards The Imperialism In The Voyage Out

The Voyage Out (1920) is the first novel of Virginia Woolf. Begun in 1907 and published first in 1915 as Melymbrosia, this novel reflects an epoch during which England's hegemony had not yet been challenged. However, its nascent critique of the connections between patriarchy and imperialism are further sutured in reading Woolf's later works, such as Mrs. Dalloway, The Waves, Three Guineas and so on.While there are many perspectives of reading The Voyage Out, most of the critical work to this point seems to focus on the voyage as a metaphor for an individual journey. Within such a perspective, the main setting of the novel—South America—is simply an exotic background or, more interestingly, an "alien culture" against which the white British protagonist, Rachel Vinrace, attempts to define her feminine role, in part through her relationship with Terence, a fellow visitor from England. Reading the Third World setting as providing the opportunity to construct First World subjectivity opens up the question of whether we can justifiably read this novel without a critique of Britain's colonial project, in which Woolf's own family took part. The present thesis assumes that Woolf's attitudes toward the imperialism in The Voyage Out are ambivalent:on the one hand, she expresses the complicity as a colonizing writer from the middle class of the empire; on the other hand, she presents the introspection on the system of the empire, as well as the relationship between gender and empire.The main body of the present study is divided into the following three parts:The first part deals with the connections among the economy, militarism, politics and imperialism in The Voyage Out. Actually, in her first novel, Woolf began to study the links between the institutions of politics, capitalism, colonies, militarism, and their connections that she would investigate further in her later works, such as Mrs. Dalloway, To the Lighthouse, The Waves and so on. First, through the investigations of effects of commerce and colonization, we could clearly recognize the imperialism which is related with the economic exploitation. Second, this chapter analyses the links between the miliarism and imperialism. As the economic purpose is the real reason for the imperial expansion, in order to get more, the government gets involved with international markets by means of military power. The presentation of the militarism is very explicit in this novel. This part presents the military characteristics on the main figures, such as Richard Dalloway. Third, as the politicans like Richard Dalloway sanction the military force to maintain the material and economic interests, they will undoubtedly put this belief into practice. Woolf suggests the presentations of the relationship between the politics and the empire through some images. One is the political center, London; the other is the political idea of "Unity", which is referred to by the politian Richard Dalloway. Through the analysis from the economic, military, and political perspectives, this chapter presents the imperialism more specifically..The second part probes into the relationship between gender and imperialism. Woolf sets her female protagonist in the distant location (the "voyage" in Woolf's novel transports its British characters to Santa Marina, a resort of South America). Under the imperialist economic influence, Rachel experiences the violence with the interrelated critique of gender oppression and colonial exploitation. Therefore, this chapter will illustrate the violence of the empire, which marginalizes and subjugates the women who are "othered" by the patriarchal and hierarchical system. Furthermore, once in Santa Marina, Rachel's increased awareness of her gender oppression becomes interconnected with the British imperialist oppression of the native inhabitants of the region.The third part expounds the dialogue with the previous patriarchal and imperialist literature. Woolf uses many allusions in this novel, which are related with the patriarchy and imperialism as presented in the previous literature. Her purpose is to present her own experimental narrative technique, using the critique of silence. Actually, Woolf's tendency toward silence in The Voyage Out reveals the question of who can speak for or about the "other". Through the discussion of the critique of silence, we could understand that Woolf's deliberate silence is not the weak action but the strong attack toward the previous literature.In a word, Rachel's voyage into womanhood not only embodies the awareness of female consciousness, but also presents Woolf's attitudes toward the British Empire. On the one hand, she has the inherent superiority as a woman from the middle class of the British Empire; on the other hand, she makes the introspection on the system of the British Empire, through the discussion of the connections among economy, militarism, politics, gender and imperialism. Furthermore, she embarks the dialogue with the previous patriarchal and imperial literature for the first time. Although The Voyage Out is the first novel of Woolf, the concern of the empire in this novel influences her later works significantly.