Flush: A Biography

Flush begins with the depiction of a country idyl. Flush’s early life at the farm is near paradise for a dog: He wants for nothing and has the freedom to chase through the fields to his heart’s content. He also enjoys the range of natural scents and odors available to him. This country idyl, however, is juxtaposed with the novel’s depiction of Victorian London, creating a foundation for the theme of The Pros and Cons of Urban Living. The cramped streets are a constant threat to Flush, who nearly gets crushed under carriage wheels and feet. He also finds that the smells of the city are corrosive and unnatural. Flush’s journey from the countryside to the city is—from the perspective of a dog—a fall from paradise. He cannot comprehend whether he has done something to deserve this apparent punishment. All Flush can understand is that his life has changed and that this new urban world presents an imminent threat to his happiness.

Flush finds some reprieve from the terror and confusion of the city streets in his first encounter with Elizabeth. Her dark, quiet room is not the countryside he once knew, but it is a safe haven from the chaos of the city. The overwhelming artificial odors and noise of London are replaced by the silence and medicinal smells of Elizabeth’s bedroom. At first, Flush struggles with having to stay indoors since he is accustomed to running freely on the farm. On his first outing to Regent Park, he feels the collar and leash around his neck and understands that he is now one of the “chained dogs.” Flush’s newly acquired leash is a symbol of the lack of freedom in the city. His situation parallels the restricted lives of Londoners, who not only experience a lack of healthy outdoor spaces and physical freedom, like Flush, but are also curtailed by strict social rules.

However, Flush’s new surroundings and his new companion inspire him to develop a sense of self and view himself as a creature that is separate from, but still attached to, society. This highlights the novel’s theme of The Importance of Self-Reflection and Connection in Identity Formation. When Flush enters the Barrett house for the first time, he catches his reflection in the mirror and comes to understand that he is looking at himself. This is a crucial moment in the novel that highlights Flush’s growing understanding and his capacity for self-reflection. Later, when he meets Elizabeth, he bonds with her very quickly. He understands that Elizabeth is like a prisoner in her room, and he empathizes with her as a fellow victim. Flush sees himself as her loyal companion. He is so committed to this that he learns to quell his own desires to run and go outside; soon, he stops yearning for the country and yearns only for Elizabeth instead. In this way, his ideas about himself and his connection with Elizabeth help him develop his identity as her loyal pet.

Elizabeth’s life is reflected in Flush’s, providing a new perspective on the life of one of England’s most famous female poets. Woolf uses Flush as an objective correlative, which is a Modernist literary device that refers to a set of objects, situations, or events that evoke a specific emotional response in the reader or audience. In the novel, Flush’s life and thoughts are used as reflections of Elizabeth’s story. Rather than directly describing Elizabeth’s emotions or experiences, Woolf uses Flush as an external counterpart to Elizabeth. Thus, Flush’s story creates a correlation between the external world and internal emotions, building the life of Elizabeth through the life of another being. Flush’s life correlates to and informs the audience’s understanding of Elizabeth as a person and poet, as her life is reflected in Flush’s. As the novel progresses, Elizabeth’s own growing sense of identity is reflected in Flush.

In London, Flush is also made keenly aware of social class, which highlights the theme of Class and Wealth Inequities in Victorian England. In the countryside, there is no hierarchy between dogs, but in the city, class is unavoidable. The novel binds together the themes of social class and urban living, showing that they feed off one another and intensify in a particularly corrosive manner. Like the cities themselves, social classes are a human construction. The novel shows that humans are the ones who enforce this class behavior, even among dogs. It explores the origins of the word “spaniel” to emphasize humans’ role in breeding dogs. Dogs are bred and named according to human desires, and then dogs’ social classes are separated according to humans’ aesthetic standards. Dogs with the right breeding and the desired physical characteristics are considered to be aristocrats among dogs, like Flush. However, the novel shows that this aristocracy is a vacuous and artificial human construct. By pointing out the ridiculousness of the social hierarchy among London’s dogs, the novel mocks the idea of social class as an artificial construction, even among people.