On The Ecological Awareness In Mrs. Dalloway From The Perspective Of "Place"

People are witnessing a collision between the civilization and the earth andstepping into an existential dilemma. Nevertheless, during Virginia Woolf’s time, sherealized that what the modern civilization does to nature is rotting human beings’ root.And Woolf’s works not only reflect the most prominent prevalent problems during hertime, such as solitude, disappointment, alienation, depression, indifference andlacking sense of safety and identity, but also transcend the limit of time with immortaltruth and value. She highlights it is balanced and harmonious that the relationshipbetween people and nature, people and society, people and people, people and peoplethemselves should be. One of the best examples is Mrs.Dalloway, though Woolf’secological awareness has always been veiled and implicit because of her exquisite andprofound skill of stream of consciousness technique.This thesis is based on the concept of place to explore the ecological awarenessin Mrs. Dalloway from the perspective of sense of place and place dependence. Thethesis consists of six chapters. The first chapter mainly discusses the currentbackground, research significance, theoretical foundation and contribution of thisthesis. The second chapter firstly deals with the literature review, and then generalizesthe definition and connotation of place, especially talking about the significance ofsense of place and place dependence. Furthermore, the third chapter, in which VirginiaWoolf and Mrs. Dalloway are briefly and especially introduced in relation to place,playing a significant role in constructing a connecting link between the preceding andthe coming chapters. The fourth chapter pries into the extracts taken from Mrs.Dalloway on the basis of place. Woolf lays emphasis on the idea that war andover-industrialization destroy nature, which brings about the loss of sense of place ofwestern people during her time, which is intangible and irrevocable. And this kind ofsense of homelessness and placelessness is pouncing on modern human beings likethick smog covering over. They are getting nowhere to dodge. What’s more, the fifth chapter explores Woolf’s insistence on the key to reconstruct the relationship betweenhuman beings and place, which is an echo to the fourth chapter. That is, constructionafter loss. It is balance and harmony that works. Then, the sixth chapter strengthensthe theme and sublimates it in drawing the conclusion.This thesis explores Virginia Woolf’s ecological awareness on solving humanbeings’ existential dilemma when facing nature and modern civilization from one ofthe latest eco-criticism perspective―place. She quietly tells the true essence ofbalance and harmony in the form of loss and construction.