Point of View

Woolf tells the story of Orlando in the third person and from Orlando's perspective. Occasionally Woolf will talk to the reader directly as the author. Woolf does this to draw the reader away from the narrative and show how much the writer knows about her subject. As a result, when reading about Orlando's life, it is difficult for the reader not to draw comparisons with the author's own personality. Woolf is writing about a person finding her voice as an author and a women but in what she presents as a man's world. In that way, Virginia Woolf uses Orlando to directly communicate her own thoughts about writing and life. In particular, she articulates that men and women are both and share attributes. She suggests to be truly happy you have to find the right balance.

Orlando changes sex halfway through the book, so Woolf has...