<br />Rachel Vinrace embarks for South America on her father&#39;s ship and is launched on a course of self-discovery in a kind of modern mythical voyage. The mismatched jumble of passengers provide Woolf with an opportunity to satirize Edwardian life. The novel introduces Clarissa Dalloway, the central character of Woolf&#39;s later novel, Mrs. Dalloway. Two of the other characters were modeled after important figures in Woolf&#39;s life. St John Hirst is a fictional portrayal of Lytton Strachey and Helen Ambrose is to some extent inspired by Woolf&#39;s sister, Vanessa Bell. And Rachel&#39;s journey from a cloistered life in a London suburb to freedom, challenging intellectual discourse and discovery very likely reflects Woolf&#39;s own journey from a repressive household to the intellectual stimulation of the Bloomsbury Group.