Thinking activity: Virginia Woolf's To The lighthouse

Virginia Woolf

Adeline Virginia Woolf was an English writer, considered one of the most important modernist 20th-century authors and also a pioneer in the use of stream of consciousness as a narrative device. Woolf was born into an affluent household in South Kensington, London, the seventh child in a blended family of eight.

To the lighthouse

To the Lighthouse is a 1927 novel by Virginia Woolf. The novel centres on the Ramsay family and their visits to the Isle of Skye in Scotland between 1910 and 1920

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The task

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1. How can you explain that 'what' Virginia Woolf wanted to say (for example, the complexity of human relationship, the everyday battles that people are at in their relationship with near and dear ones, the struggle of a female artist against the values of middle/upper class society etc) can only be said in the way she has said?

-Virginia woolf as woman writer when we seat that time we can say that compare  to men all women are more sensitive and this quality we can feel also in writing of womens , so, ere in this novel we can find that how she portrayed minute observasion of all the situations and relation between all characters. Trough which strams of consciousness technique  she expressed well . she portrayed the psychology of characters . in character of mrs. Ramsay and lily Briscoe, we find the struggle of women how james  hatred father ,

2. Do you agree: "The novel is both the tribute and critique of Mrs. Ramsay"?

 Can we read Mrs. Ramsay in context of the idea of Ideal Indian Woman - Karyeshu dasi, Karaneshu manthri; Bhojeshu mata, Shayaneshu rambha; Kshamayeshu dharithri, Roopeshu lakshmi; Satkarma yukta, Kuladharma pathni. )

 Yes, the novel both critique and tribute to Mrs. Ramsay. We can criticize her through the perspective of feminism because she fit more in patriarchal mindset, she obey her husband and also give respect to men rather women. She do note sees Lily as respected as she sees the men around her and also this novel is tribute through Lily's paintings in which Mrs. Ramsay is center of the house and well house manager. we read Mrs. Ramsay as an Ideal woman through above given slok. We will try to understand her characteristic through the slok.

3. Consideri symbolically, does the Lighthouse stand for Mrs. Ramsay or the narrator(Virginia Woolf herself who is categorically represented by Lily)? 

Yes, I think at some extent lighthouse is symbolically stand for Mrs. Ramsay. For whole family and guest she is the one who stands with light in her hand to show directions to the others. She suffers alone from all miseries of her self and of others also. She constantly have inner conflicts like the waves at sea-shore. But I also feel that lighthouse symbolically stands for Lily Briscoe also.

4. In the article by Joseph Blotner, two myths are patterned together. Name the myths? How they are zeroed down to the symbols of 'Window' and 'Lighthouse'? How does the male phallic symbol represent feminine Mrs. Ramsay? (Key: The strokes of light-beams. . . )

To the lighthouse is based on greek myth. In this novel woolf use various myth joseph blotner has also use the famous myth the of knows and rhea is relation between father and mother knows has children . but they are so. Innocent. Here, rhea is represented as mother . myth of homeric hymns it is the praise if divinity or god. in this reference we find that how metaphor became reality . use in the Homeric hymns metaphor is more important, literature is full of metaphor .

5. What do you understand by the German term 'Künstlerroman'? How can you justify that 'To The Lighthouse' is 'Künstlerroman' novel?

Künstlerroman is a German term which can be translated as "artist novel". Basically this term means a novel where the growth of artist is shown, mainly as a painter, musician or poet. In this type of novels the biographical elements are strong, because they describe their struggle as a writer or artist. In Virginia Woolf's " To The Lighthouse" we can see the growth of poet and painter is shown. Augustus Carmichael as poet and Lily Briscoe as painter. In both the cases it is shown that how a artist struggle for one thought or feeling that can lead towards the creation or how it is hard to paint our mind on canvas. At the end of the novel both the artist have their own creation.

6. "... the wages of obedience is death, and the daughter that reproduces mothering to perfection, including child-bearing, already has on her cheeks the pallor of death. One reminded here of various texts by Lucy Irigaray, in which she attacks mothers for being, however unwillingly, accomplices in the patriarchal system of oppression." (Viola). In light of this remark, explain briefly Lily's dilemma in 'To The Lighthouse'.

We can see in the novel that Lily is attracted towards the Bank but she is not showing her feelings in sense of marriage because she don't want to be like Mrs. Ramsay. She is not happy with Mrs. Ramsay because she is the one who supports patriarchy and also want her daughter to do the same. These lines shows that by following the order one gets death  Prue died because she follows her mother's order to get marry. 

7. You have compared the 'beginning' and the 'ending' of the novel and the film adaptation of the novel directed by Colin Gregg … Do you think that the novel is more poignant than the movie? If yes, do you ascribe the fact that the power of words is much greater than that of the screen / visuals?

Whole paragraph shows us to Lily’s thinking process and routine work of Mrs. Ramsay.  So many situations going on in between its also poisonous than movie.At the end- “They will have landed,” and she felt that she had been right. They had not needed to speak. They had been thinking the same things and he had answered her without her asking him anything.

8. How do you interpret the last line of the novel (It was done; it was finished.

These last lines suggested that Briscoe realized that Mrs. Ramsay was not totally wrong. Close the doors but open the windows. Though,she thought marriage is not necessary, marriage and family is important also. In the film before making final stroke she sees Mrs. Ramsay and jams wandering happily in garden. She also might want live that life. So, that can be her vision going inside the room, leaving brush somewhere, and on bed saying Briscoe, you are a fool suggests that Mrs. Ramsay was right. Now she has her vision.

9. What does the catalogue named as 'Army and Navy' signify? What does cutting of 'Refrigerator'  signify?

Army and navy catalog signifies time of war. Refrigerator symbolizes preservation of culture. In the  novel Mrs. Ramsay is traditional housewife, guiding James while cutting refrigerator suggests that she wants other to preserve culture, for instance she suggest Lily to marry.

10. Why did Virginia give such prominence to the tale of the “Fisherman’s Wife”? In particular, why did she weave such a misogynist tale into the fabric of a book which so eloquently challenges received patriarchal notions about the roles and capabilities of women?

The tale of "Fisherman's wife is connected with the character of Mrs. Ramsay as well as Mr. Ramsay, because Woolf is subverting the misogyny of fairy tale for example, the male character are behaving like fisherman's wife, they have wishes which are not fulfilled in a way they wants and that unsatisfied desire leads them towards failure. Mrs. Ramsay is more successful in her work than Mr. Ramsay and Lily Briscoe is better in her profession than Charles Tansley. Fairy tale shows the dangers of male willfulness and desire.