Looking-Glass - "A Sketch of the Past"
Woolf elaborates, “I dreamt that I was looking in a glass when a horrible face- the face of an animal- suddenly showed over my shoulder. I cannot be sure if this was a dream, or if it happened. Was I looking in the glass one day when something in the background moved, and seemed to me alive?” The emblematic Looking-glass is a depiction of Woolf’s dread for her looks. The manifestation of the glass in her dreams, psychoanalytically, suggests that she is not confident in her looks; she unconsciously contemplates that she is disagreeable. Consequently, she avoids observing herself in the glass for it would remind her of her repugnance which is epitomized by the ghastly animal.
Diary - “Old Bloomsbury”
Woolf recalls, “For some months in the winter of 1904-05 I kept a diary from which I find that we were for ever lunching and dining out and loitering about the book shops- “ Bloomsbury is ever so much more interesting than Kensington”, I wrote.” The diary is emblematic of Woolf’s reminiscences of Old Bloomsbury. The records indicate the divergence between “Kensington and Bloomsbury” which affirms that she is enthralled by the social atmosphere in Old Bloomsbury.
Beetle - “Moments of Being”
Woolf writes, “Did Miss Craye actually go to Slater's and buy pins then, Fanny Wilmot asked herself, transfixed for a moment. Did she stand at the counter waiting like anybody else, and was she given a bill with coppers wrapped in it,…What need had she of pins/for she was not so much dressed as cased, like a beetle compactly in its sheath, blue in winter, green in summer." The beetle is emblematic of fitting dresses or clothes. Its sheath covers its body impressively and decently as a fitting cloth would. The pins which Wilmot procures are intended to facilitate decent dressing.
Intuition - “A Sketch of the Past”
Woolf elucidates, “This intuition of mine - it is so instinctive that it seems given to me, not made by me - has certainly given its scale to my life ever since I saw the flower in the bed by the front door at St Ives. If I were painting myself I should have to find some - rod, shall I say - something that would stand for the conception.” Woolf’s intuition is so strong and alert that it influences all the conceptions that she has about her. Various settings elicit the thoughts which Woolf has regarding her Self. All the ideas which Woolf has are governed by her instincts.
Impressions - “A Sketch of the Past”
Woolf recounts, "My mother would come out onto the balcony in a white dressing gown. There were passion flowers growing on the wall; they were great starry blossoms with purple streaks, and large green buds, part empty, part full. If I were a painter I would paint these first impressions in pale yellow, silver and green.” Woolf’s impressions of her mother are cemented in her unconscious,. She vividly recounts the imageries of the flowers and their colors. Recalling her mother’s appearance and the imagery on the balcony is a regression which prolongs her mother’s memories.
