Moments of Being: An Investigation of Virginia Woolf s Mrs. Dalloway and Toni Morrison s Beloved

Virginia Woolf and Toni Morrison are two of the most significant literary figures whose works are mainly concerned with women and their mental status. Since the earliest days of feminism in the 19th century, women and their struggles in different facets of life, including their legal rights, their social and domestic status, and their mental state have been the focus of many writers. This study intends to use the concept of Moments of Being by Virginia Woolf in order to analyze Virginia Woolf s Mrs. Dalloway and Toni Morrison s Beloved. Moments of being are the moments in people s lives when they feel a sense of reality, which can be the result of a shock. In contrast, there are some moments of non-being during which people are obsessed with their everyday routine and there is no sense of reality. People s lives are mostly comprised of moments of non-being, although every now and then, something triggers people s mind and they experience a moment of being. Thus, this study will explore how the protagonists of both these novels experience moments of being in their everyday life and take refuge in them. It will be concluded that regardless of their completely different backgrounds, modern women, as portrayed in these two novels, suffer from the same submissive pressures and consequently use their memories as a way to escape their past.