时间：2022-06-30 05:09:47
【ABSTRACT】Stream of consciousness literary works refers to those emphasizing on the characters depicted in the flow state of consciousness and it is an important branch of modernist literature. In the paper， it deals with the limitations of the stream of consciousness novels when reflects the objective reality.
【Key Words】 Stream of consciousness， social reality， artistic， limitations
1 Realism Feature in Narrative Form
1.1Absence of logic
Stream of consciousness novel has a significant feature that is the lack of logic. This is because complex and unpredictable real-world situations bring numerous stimuli which have different effect on a person’s inner world. For instance， when we are faced with a herd of sheep we will be stimulated to have a variety of reflects toward the same stimulus. We may recall a period of experience of our child or it probably remind us the dinner we have three days ago. We even recollect a period of time when we are children sitting in a classroom learning to draw a picture.
1.2Chaotic discourse
Stream of consciousness novelists often deliberately inverted word order to express the illogical unconscious activities of characters. “According to Freud’s psychoanalytic theory， we are born with our id， and the id wants something what good at the time with no consideration for the reality of the situation.”Stream of consciousness novelists want to show the most original idea of the human beings. they try to present the fleeting inner state by using chaotic discourse. It also reflects that the stream of consciousness novel has realistic features.
2 Limits of Stream of Consciousness Novel in reflecting reality
Despite the stream of consciousness novels made a great contribution to literature， opening up distinctive writing skills and exploiting a new literary expression field and it is considered to be the most unique and most rich literary flavor among the western modernist literature of the 20th century， they showed some limitations in terms of reflecting the objective reality.
2.1Limited representatives
Stream of consciousness novel only reflects certain group， so it has inevitable limitations. Not covering a broader population also set barriers to the stream of consciousness novels.
2.1.1Neglect of civilians
Stream of consciousness novels just reflect the reality of those of the middle class， the petty bourgeoisie and intellectual. However， as a very important part of society， civilians were ignored； they rarely appear in these novels. Whether the pain caused by Mrs. Dalloway’s indifference toward her family， or Steven’s struggle against religious， or the difficulty of back home for Broome， they all belong to the same social class.
2.1.2Reflection only on negative aspects
Another problem is that stream of consciousness novel only focus on the negative instead of positive social area. Stream of consciousness novel does not make a panoramic description of the whole social life， so there is no direct and objective reflection of it. Because the plot is weak， the reader cannot see a true picture of society through the chaotic flow of consciousness.
2.2Over attention on subjective feelings
Stream of consciousness style attaches too much emphasis on the subjective feelings while neglects the importance of rational. “Although we can find traces of the objective world， generally speaking， it can lead to contact between inner monologue and characters only.” The world refracted in our mind is not original， true and clear so that， to some extent， it masks the contradiction of capitalist society， weaken the effect of criticism.
BIBLIOGRAPHY：
[1] Harry Blamires. A Guide to 20th Century Literature in English[M]. New York： Methuen &Co.Ltd.
[3] Jin MA.James Joyce’s Epiphany and Virginia Woolf’s Moment of Importance[J]. Canada， 2011.
[12] 刘宝岩. 论西方意识流小说的现实主义特征[D]. 毕业论文网，2011.
作者简介：
匡玉珍，女，（1992，02-今）山东日照人，青岛大学马克思主义学院在读研究生。