To The Lighthouse - Virginia Woolf (15 of 2023)

To The Lighthouse, is  a book by Virginia Woolf, which is  divided into three unequal parts - The Window, Time passes, The light house. Virginia Woolf described the division as an H shape, the longer first and third "vertical" sections taking place during single days and the shorter "horizontal" connecting second part taking place over 10 years. These divisions illustrate the extension and contraction of time. Written around 1927, this is one of her most experimental works, the passage of time, for example, is modulated by the consciousness of the characters rather than by the clock. Most of the events in the book occur in the Characters mind. The book is said to have autobiographical aspects - so it's a mix of non-fiction combined with fiction, no wonder it is one her her best works - though I love 'The Waves' more than this. 

The first part 'The Window' spans approximately seven hours and takes up more than half the book. The events of a single afternoon from the life of the serene and maternal Mrs. Ramsay, the tragic yet absurd Mr. Ramsay, and their children and assorted guests  in the Isle of Skye, Hebrides near the lighthouse that at night sweeps their living room floor in their summer home.  It all begin with Mrs. Ramsay telling James, her 8th Child that he can visit the lighthouse. Mr Ramsay a metaphysician who made a significant contribution to the field early in his career, and his brash "admirer" Charles Tansley extinguish James's hopes by saying the weather will make it impossible. Lily Briscoe starts painting Mrs. Ramsay and James. Mrs. Ramsay hosts a dinner party. Mr. and Mrs. Ramsay realize Paul and Minta are engaged. Lily had never married, William Bankes is a childless widower and they were friend, Mrs. Ramsay did try her best to get them together. Lily had moments of thought for the idea of being "in love," but remembers the Rayleys’ marriage.  Later in the afternoon the Ramsays argue over the weather. But in the end Mrs. Ramsay agrees he was right. (Was it just to not hurt his ego?) This is divided into 19 sub chapters, with some lines repeating, like Children don't forget, Life is good when young, why do kids grow, why do they have to get married, 'Life stand still here' ;

And all the lives we ever lived and all the lives to be

Are full of trees and changing leaves

From the seemingly trivial postponement of a visit to a nearby lighthouse, as we move to the next part on 'Time Passes' the events of the following ten years are compressed into a few dozen pages. Mrs. Ramsay and her two eldest children - Son Andrew and daughter Prue die. Mrs. McNab closes, then restores, the house. Family and guests arrive at house after 10 years. Though Mrs. Ramsay's death is the central event in the novel, it is announced in parenthesis. There are a number of interpretations of this technique. One of the reasons for Virginia Woolf's using such an unusual presentation of death can be her wish to avoid speaking about death. This part has 10 sub chapters.

The final part, 'The light house', is about restoration.  Even as the Lighthouse stands constant night and day, season after season, it remains curiously unattainable, guiding people constantly. Lily Briscoe, highly emotional, works on a new painting. Mr. Ramsay, keep saying 'alone', 'perish'; craves for sympathy and say Mrs. Ramsay was supporting the Lighthouse keepers son who was suffering from TB. Mr. Ramsay  Cam, and James leave for lighthouse praises James. Mr. Ramsay disembarks, James and Cam follow Mr. Ramsay to the lighthouse. Lily Briscoe survives the passage and reemerges, capable of articulating her vision of being a woman other than the prescribed role of Woman, when in the first part it was said woman cannot paint and write. She resolves to wait for the return of her inspiration, and, in the end, it is there for her. As the boat touches the shore, she is struck by a revelation, a sudden knowledge of what is missing and how she should complete her painting: There it was—her picture.  Lily Briscoe completes her painting. Does it denote Life standing still?

The main theme in To the Lighthouse is that human experience is varied and complex. The novel illustrates this theme through its structure, which features shifting perspectives between characters. This way, the reader views the inner monologues of several characters. This highlights the subjectivity of experience and the inadequacy of spoken language to communicate the full extent of our experience. "Whereas in Part I, the novel is concerned with illustrating the relationship between the character experiencing and the actual experience and surroundings, part II, 'Time Passes', having no characters to relate to, presents events differently. Instead, Woolf wrote the section from the perspective of a displaced narrator, unrelated to any people, intending that events be seen in relation to time. For that reason the narrating voice is unfocused and distorted, providing an example of what Woolf called 'life as it is when we have no part in it.' Major events like deaths of Mrs Ramsay, Prue, Andrew are related parenthetically, which makes the narration a kind of journal-entry. It is also possible that the house itself is the inanimate narrator of these events." As time winds its way through their lives, the Ramsays face, alone and simultaneously, the greatest of human challenges and its greatest triumph—the human capacity for change.

Since its publication, readers have said the lighthouse symbolizes things like desire, stability, and truth. Woolf, however, didn’t assign any symbolism to the lighthouse herself. “I meant nothing by The Lighthouse,” though there are events from her real life. Looks like Virginia Woolf has written this book “to grapple with the impingement of unresolved feelings concerning her parents.” Like the Ramseys, Woolf’s family had eight children. They also, like the Ramseys, spent summers vacationing on the coast—in this case, St. Ives in Cornwall, where her father, Leslie Stephen, rented a home every year until Woolf’s mother, Julia, died when the future author was 13.

No one picks Woolf for the story, do they? The way she decides how a house slowly crumbles because of its own solitude and in the absence of the people who used to occupy it, how rain, wind and dust invade every part of it. The book is an innovative technique of reviting Stream of Consciousness, experimenting with form and style. Woolf's techniques of skipping over time, showing the inner perspectives of multiple characters, and focusing more on thoughts than dialogue or action were all techniques that challenged the previous conceptions about what a novel could be. Woolf constructs a remarkable, moving examination of the complex tensions and allegiances of family life and the conflict between men and women in this novel.