What is the narrator point of view in the novel, The Voyage Out?

Woolf constantly plays with perspective throughout the novel. For this reason, it is difficult to definitively name a main character. At times, it seems like it is Rachel, but at other moments, it seems as though the focus is more on Helen. The book ends with the peace Hirst feels as he watches life continue after the ordeal of Rachel's illness and death, and we follow with interest his character's shift in priorities, from career and intellectualism to love and meaningful relationships. Even beyond the shifts Woolf makes between major characters, she also takes the time to examine the inner life of marginal characters, showing scenes from their perspective to perhaps reveal some truths unavailable to the main character. This comes from Woolf's belief that everyone has a story and a complexity that could be overlooked through purely focusing on characters central to the novel's plot.

This allows the reader to get a more comprehensive picture of characters and relationships. It also brings to light certain misconceptions characters have about each other or about how others view them, as well as discrepancies between what characters' thoughts versus their actions and statements. This helps give a fuller map of character motivations and brings to light certain ironies. It also serves to bolster the major theme of miscommunication. Characters are constantly worried about being misunderstood and are constantly being misunderstood or mischaracterized by each other. This deepens the sense of realism in the text, as this more closely resembles how life works. We never really know what people are thinking and often do not communicate what we are thinking clearly. Miscommunication and lack of clear identity are inevitable consequences of people each having their own separate consciousness and way of processing in the imperfect human means of language.

Woolf's use of so many perspectives also demonstrates her belief that even the most minor character has a complex consciousness and their own internal life. While most of the hotel guests in Santa Marina are decidedly peripheral, Woolf still takes the time to occasionally delve into their perspective and write scenes from their point of view. Miss Allan, for example, is a middle-aged woman who never married and is writing an academic volume about English writers. She contributes virtually nothing to the action of the story but is present for a large part of it. Still, Woolf takes the time to have Rachel visit her hotel room and examine her belongings - we, as readers, are privy to her loneliness but satisfaction with her independent life. Woolf's style is an acknowledgement of the fact that, in reality, life is full of minor characters, and action is not confined to plot-moving main characters.