[F2F Book Discussions] May 2014: To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf | Moderator: Angus

[Monique]

Question 18:
(view spoiler)[It’s dinnertime, and at the table we have present Mr. Ramsay, Mrs. Ramsay, the Ramsay children (Andrew, Prue, Jasper, Roger, Rose), Lily Briscoe, William Bankes, Minta Doyle, Paul Rayley, Augustus Carmichael, and Charles Tansley. Not everyone gets seated all at the same time, though, as Minta and Paul arrive later than everyone else. Mrs. Ramsay assigns seats and Mr. Ramsay is seated at the opposite end of the table from her. Mrs. Ramsay notices how Mr. Ramsay is scowling there and feels indifferent.

As Mrs. Ramsay ladles out some soup, she feels a certain dissonance over the surroundings and feels that the guests are somehow uninvolved, distant. Mrs. Ramsay then feels – as she always does – that it is her personal responsibility to sow beauty and harmony at the dinner table. First, she engages William Bankes in small talk – because she pities him, poor man who had no wife and children – by asking if Mr. Bankes had found his letters. Lily Briscoe, who had been watching Mrs. Ramsay and thinking how old and “worn” Mrs. Ramsay looks, suddenly realizes that Mrs. Ramsay had brightened up when she began to talk with Mr. Bankes. She wonders why Mrs. Ramsay feels pity for Mr. Bankes when Mr. Bankes should not at all be pitied, having his work. And then Lily remembers her unfinished painting and realized that perhaps, it would be better if she put the tree in the middle. Lily then moves the salt shaker in front of her as a reminder.

Meanwhile, Charles Tansley had been listening to the conversation as well and thinks what “damned rot” they talk. Turning to Mr. Tansley, Mrs. Ramsay asks him if he writes many letters, and Lily thinks that Mrs. Ramsay pities Mr. Tansley, too. While Mr. Tansley tersely responds to Mrs. Ramsay’s question, he also thinks what a bother it was to go to this dinner when he was fine reading in his room. He thinks how silly these women are with their talk. He then makes a remark about not going to the Lighthouse the next day, feeling it was necessary to “assert himself.” Because of the remark, Lily thinks him the most “uncharming human being” she had ever met. So she asks Mr. Tansley if he would take her to the Lighthouse, which Mr. Tansley interpreted to be a total lie. Mr. Tansley knew Lily said that merely to annoy him, because he knew that Lily, and Prue Ramsay, and everyone else, hated him. So Mr. Tansley rudely told Lily that it would be too rough the next day and that she would be sick. Right after Mr. Tansley said that, he felt remorse and wanted to show Mrs. Ramsay that he wasn’t someone to be hated, but Mrs. Ramsay was already speaking with Mr. Bankes about an old acquaintance of theirs, Carrie Manning. Mrs. Ramsay remembers how Herbert, (presumably) a young Manning, killed a wasp with a teaspoon. But Mrs. Ramsay feels a bit sad that maybe, after all these years, Carrie Manning had not thought about her, and Mr. Bankes somehow comforts her by saying that people drift apart. His train of thought is suddenly interrupted by Mrs. Ramsay talking to the maid about keeping the food warm, and Mr. Bankes is suddenly annoyed and thinks that he would rather dine alone. He thinks that he appreciates Mrs. Ramsay but he doesn’t enjoy family life, and that at that moment, he didn’t want to be in the company of Mrs. Ramsay. His favorite Ramsay daughter, Cam, was probably in bed by then. Then Mrs. Ramsay suddenly turns back to Mr. Bankes and speaks French, and he speaks back in French as well.

Hearing the French talk, Mr. Tansley suspects its sincerity and thinks, why are they not asking for his opinion? Across the table, Lily sees this going on in Mr. Tansley’s mind and deliberates on whether she should help Mr. Tansley out, but then remembers his sexist remarks. Right then, Mrs. Ramsay turns to Lily and asks if she was planning to go to the Lighthouse, commenting on how Mr. Langley suffered when he took Mr. Ramsay there. When Mrs. Ramsay asked Mr. Tansley if he was a good sailor, Lily interrupted by asking Mr. Tansley again if he would take her, meaning it. When Mr. Tansley realized this, he spoke amiably to Lily. They then carried on a decent conversation, pushing Mrs. Ramsay to think again about the Mannings.

As Mrs. Ramsay tuned in to the other conversations, Mr. Tansley and Mr. Bankes engaged in an argument about politics and government. Mrs. Ramsay looks then to Mr. Ramsay at the other end of the table, but found his screwing his face in annoyance because Mr. Carmichael was asking Ellen for another serving of soup. A stare-down ensues between Mr. Ramsay and Mrs. Ramsay as Roger and Rose look on at their father, and so Mrs. Ramsay commands that the candles be lit. Still, Mrs. Ramsay ponders over her husband’s behavior.

Mrs. Ramsay beholds Rose’s arrangement of fruit and thinks of Neptune’s banquet as well as of the grapes that hang on Bacchus’s shoulder, and she sees that Mr. Carmichael was looking at it, too.

After the candles were lit, Minta Doyle and Paul Rayley arrive. Minta announces that she lost her grandmother’s brooch that afternoon. She sits by Mr. Ramsay’s side and thinks how she had been afraid of him, and that on the first night she had sat by him, he talked about George Eliot. She thought that she had stupidly forgotten Middlemarch on the train. But now everything was fine with them. Mrs. Ramsay immediately sees that Paul and Minta are now engaged. As they speak, the Boeuf en Daube was served by Marthe. Everyone seems to appreciate this, and Mrs. Ramsay proudly says it’s a French recipe from her grandmother.

They go back to talking about Minta’s grandmother’s lost brooch, and Lily offers to go back to help Paul look for it. Paul neither accepts nor rejects it, but Lily feels upset anyway. She sees her salt shaker reminder and thinks of her painting. For some reason, Mrs. Ramsay goes on about the British dairy system, causing everyone to laugh at her.

Mrs. Ramsay turns her attention to Lily and Mr. Bankes, and thinks how they should perhaps get married (!), comparing them to Minta and Paul who are clearly in love. Mrs. Ramsay gives more Boeuf en Daube to Mr. Bankes.

On the other hand, Mr. Tansley is still annoyed at the whole conversation, and Mrs. Ramsay thinks he will most probably stay that away. Meanwhile, Minta saves the conversation when, making a comment on Shakespeare, she averts Mr. Ramsay’s temper tantrum. Paul on the other hand mentions Anna Karenina and says he likes Vronsky for a villain. Mrs. Ramsay looks over at Prue and thinks about her daughter being in love, just like Minta.

When dinner is over, Mrs. Ramsay thinks that Mr. Tansley isn’t a bad person, really. As she leaves the room, she looks back and makes certain that the dinner is already a thing of the past. (hide spoiler)]

Question 19:
(view spoiler)[It was more awkward than anything, simply because the people who were present weren’t really friends or close acquaintances. It was difficult to get the conversation ball rolling, especially since there were hostile characters (hello, Mr. Tansley) around. (hide spoiler)]

Question 20:
(view spoiler)[I think so, yes. There are people who can “carry” the conversation at a group gathering quite well, simply by putting everyone at ease. They are the people whom you can put right smack in the middle of a group of strangers, and they’d all be friends right away. I don’t think Mrs. Ramsay has it. If she does, she certainly didn’t seem to have shown it, and it took a lot of effort for her to get everyone comfortable. (hide spoiler)]

Question 21:
(view spoiler)[I think it’s both, with despair coming in first before hope. Hope won’t exist without despair now, will it? That act of Mrs. Ramsay of looking back at the dinner table - that spelt both despair and hope, for me. :) (hide spoiler)]

[Angus]

Hello! I was out of sorts lately (your discussion leader is busy watching movies, hahaha), but here we are now:

Arjaye:
(view spoiler)[
Hello! Regarding your answer to Question 21, are you expecting any possible result?
(hide spoiler)]

Meliza:
(view spoiler)[
Hiya! Regarding your answer to Question 15, how do you think the two women achieved their own type of power and vision?
(hide spoiler)]

Mommy L:
(view spoiler)[
How are you? Regarding your answer to Question 20, why is it a gift? Why is it not a talent or a skill?
(hide spoiler)]

Camille:
(view spoiler)[
You are an insufferable lazy git. Ten points off Hufflepuff! Haha! Don't get me wrong. I appreciate all the answers especially now that there are only a handful of you who are inclined to do so, and it makes me paranoid. Are there enough people reading the book to come up with a decent discussion? We already have five finishers: you, Monique, Maria, Mommy L, and Miss Ronnie (raise your hand if I missed you. So I guess I shouldn't worry too much. And because you didn't supply a summary, no follow up Q for you! :P
(hide spoiler)]

Tin:
(view spoiler)[
Oh no! I find your pop culture references very entertaining. Like just a few minutes ago, my roomie was wondering why I was laughing [I was imagining James McAvoy bursting into the scene (Why is Michael Fassbender not with him?). Mr. Ramsay was scandalized and Mrs. Ramsay was being her very welcoming self (I think there's still some soup left. No, you didn't mean to say that Mr. Carmichael...? Oh never mind. I'll ask Mildred to open a cup of Nissin's Seafood Noodles.)] And where's Dane DeHaan as Andrew Detmer? Yes, these are your follow-up questions! XD
(hide spoiler)]

Buddy:
(view spoiler)[
Oh my gosh, Buddy! The first sentence of your summary made me guffaw like a hyena! People around me are starting to doubt my sanity (For now, it's Jonathan only, but he's also insane). I am interested with how you answered Question 21 because it's a contradicting feeling (and yet, it's possible). In what way(s) is the scene despairing? And hopeful?
(hide spoiler)]

[Meliza]

Angus: (view spoiler)[Uhm, maybe the correct phrase would be "the two women are on their path to achieving their power and vision". For Lily, that is by deciding to continue her painting even though women were not suppose to be painters at that time. For Mrs. Ramsay, by being a kind and understanding domestic woman, not only to her children and husband but also to their guests, that resulted to her being respected and admired by people around her. (hide spoiler)]

[Tin]

Angus (Follow-up Question):(view spoiler)[

Okay! You asked for this! :)

Fassy is running a little late because he discovers a dent on his helmet.

Fassy: Mystique, be a dear and attend to the dent on my helmet will you?
Mystique: Sure thing, boss.

(Mystique transforms into Jaggernaut. Unfortunately she has forgotten that she can only assume appearances and not abilities)

Mystique: Um, boss. I don't think I can fix this.
Fassy: Saumensch! Do I have to do everything myself?

And so using his magnetic field manipulation powers, he fixed his own helmet and after which, he went off to visit The Ramsays

The door opens to reveal that James McAvoy is already inside the Ramsays' home.

Fassy: Hello, Charles.
McAvoy: Hello, Erik.
Mrs. Ramsay: Would any of you gentlemen care for a cup of Nissin's Seafood Noodles?

Before they got any further, once more the door bursts open, and in comes a flying blonde boy with dazzling blue eyes.

Fassy: This is splendid! (claps his hands gleefully) Another Aplha Level mutant!

Mcavoy: (puts two fingers to his temple and intently concentrates on the blonde boy) Ah, Andrew Detmer. How would you like to leave the dump you are currently residing in and move to a sprawling mansion that is, Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters? You are mutant and proud, yes?

Fassy: Oh, Charles you are preposterous. Andrew, how about going with the winning team? That's my team in case you don't know it yet. And freely wreak havoc on all of humankind for world domination?

Andrew: Fellas, fellas, you see I consider myself an apex predator. So I have no interest in becoming a mere follower for either one of your teams. I myself, am recruiting my own group of superhumans. You see, I use to have these friends. But one had a little accident with lightning. The other, well, he keeps yelling, Andrew! Andrewww! Andrewwww! That is my name and I like the sound of it. But this guy, he is just overdoing it. So I thought, telepaths would make for perfect friends. We can communicate without speaking, and therefore I don't have to listen to any yelling for the rest of my life. So you see, these ladies are mine.

The three are now facing each other in a stand off

To which Mrs. Ramsay says: "Have anyone of you gentlemen written any letters lately?"

To which Mr. Ramsay thinks: "I wonder if anyone of these guys have reached "Z"?

To which Lily Briscoe thinks: "If I am trapped in a Tube on fire, which of these guys will save me first?"

To which Minta Doyle says: "Would any of you help me look for my brooch?"

To which Augustus Carmichael says: "Can I please have another bowl of soup?"

To which Charles Tansley says "Bah Humbug."

:D
(hide spoiler)]

[Angus]

Oh Tin! You are my super friend right now, hahaha! Who would have thought that To the Lighthouse can have this wonderful superhero twist? Spice up the dinner scene! Girl Power! I am compelled to give you bonus points, but I don't want to bend my rules because of my personal entertainment. :D

[Louize]

Angus wrote: "How are you? Regarding your answer to Question 20, why is it a gift? Why is it not a talent or a skill?"

I'm suffering from heat... but then, aren't we all! hehehe :)
(view spoiler)[
I've actually met a person with this gift. Her effect on people happens right at the moment she enters a room. Well, it wasn't really instantaneous, but gradually. Yet, from that moment on people were drawn to her, like bear on honey. Some will try and ignore her for a time, but they will caught on eventually.

To create a social harmony, one has to have the deep ability to understand a person's feelings, thoughts, and level of understanding. She uses her charm to persuade people without them actually consenting. The thing is, people don't really need to like her to agree with her. And that's a gift.

The 3rd part of the book sheds more light on this gift, I believe. "She had felt, now she could stand up to Mrs. Ramsay —a tribute to the astonishing power that Mrs Ramsay had over one. Do this, she said,and one did it."
(hide spoiler)]

[Angus]

Hello, how's everyone? It's so hot, I know, but what can we do? We can only either endure or go somewhere else. Anyway, I've tallied your points and they are on the other thread. For those of you who have answered the current batch of questions, thanks, as always. For the rest, you may still post your answers. Kindly check the schedule below:

Questions 18 to 21: Until May 21, Wednesday, 11:59PM
Questions 12 to 17: Until today, 11:59PM. You may still answer after this but they will no longer earn points k.
Questions 01 to 11: You may still answer these but they will no longer earn points k.

Questions for Chapters 18 - 19 and Part II will be posted in a bit.

Thank you for the follow throughs, Meliza, Tin, and Mommy L.

[Angus]

Part I: Chapters 18 to 19, Part II: Chapters 01 to 10

Question 22:
(view spoiler)[
Summarize Part I: Chapters 18 to 19, Part II: Chapters 01 to 10. (1 point for every 20 words, maximum of 10 points)
(hide spoiler)]

Question 23:
(view spoiler)[
What does the boar skull hanging on the wall of the nursery signify, if any? (1 point)
(hide spoiler)]

Question 24:
(view spoiler)[
What does the poem read by Mrs. Ramsay signify, if any? (1 point)
(hide spoiler)]

Question 25:
(view spoiler)[
Compare and contrast the novel's treatment of time in Part I: The Window and Part II: Time Passes. (2 points)
(hide spoiler)]

Question 26:
(view spoiler)[
What do the bracketed sentences mean and what do they contribute to the overall structure of Part II: Time Passes? (1 point)
(hide spoiler)]

Question 27:
(view spoiler)[
What does Part II: Time Passes say about human life? (1 point)
(hide spoiler)]

Question 28:
(view spoiler)[
What are the representations of the deaths of Mrs. Ramsay, Prue, and Andrew? (3 points)
(hide spoiler)]

Score Boosters:
(view spoiler)[
If you post any day, between 11:59PM to 12:01AM, or between 11:59AM to 12:01PM, total score is multiplied by three. If it's exactly 12:00MN or 12:00NN, total score is multiplied by four.
If you post any day on any exact hour (1:00AM, 2:00AM, and so on), total score is multiplied by two.
If your post is edited outside these times, multiplier is nullified. Example: you posted your answers at 07:00AM but you edited your answers 30 minutes later, you lose your multiplier.
Regular points on all other times.
(hide spoiler)]

[Monique]

BUDDY: In reply to your follow-up question - (view spoiler)[I will be candid and say that my answer to Question 21 was largely influenced by my take on the entire novel, as I have finished reading it already. But yes, the dinner scene was both despairing, first, and then hopeful. Despairing, for that part before the candles were lit, because everyone was distant from each other and no one seemed to want to be there, except perhaps for Mrs. Ramsay. As soon as the candles were lit, though, things started to get better, with the arrival of the engaged couple Minta and Paul. It felt like the lighting of the candles seemed to signal that proverbial light of hope. And that last part, when Mrs. Ramsay looked back on the dinner table and considered it a thing of the past, for me it's very romantic in the sense that she is saying goodbye to one thing because she's looking forward - feeling hopeful - to other new things.

With regard to my first sentence: reading it now, natawa na rin ako, hahaha! Noun overload, anyone? :D

And I think Tin deserves some bonus points! (For as long as it doesn't affect my lead, yay! Haha!) (hide spoiler)]

[DC]

Angus, (view spoiler)[it might end up like the Calvino F2F, where only a handful could actually participate, haha. Better prep the finishers table :P There are still a couple of days though; who knows who else could finish the book :D Ye of little faith! (hide spoiler)]

Part I: Chapters 18 to 19, Part II: Chapters 01 to 10 (view spoiler)[

Question 22:
Oh, I'll do Part II, because I was weirded out by it. After looking at the vibrant evening, I suddenly get a derelict house? I got confused at first and didn't understand.

The old house is empty, and only the housecleaners remain. The house is due for a re-population due to the family coming back for a spell. Years have drifted by, and we hear that Mrs.Ramsay, Prue, and Andrew have died.

I got saddened by the death of the beautiful Prue.

Note: I had a very hard time reading the first few chapters of Part II. Too consciousness streamy for me. Too much a wall of text, bleh :P


Question 23:
What does the boar skull hanging on the wall of the nursery signify, if any?
Truth is, I was wondering about it. It was just a silly souvenir, but I was suprised how it outlasted a lot of people. I remember Mrs. Ramsay draping her green shawl to cover it due to its hideousness... But I can't make out an allegorical reference.

Perhaps that we all must die and get our skulls mounted to who knows where? A symbol of death? Can't quite place my head around it.


Question 24:
What does the poem read by Mrs. Ramsay signify, if any?

Oh, the sonnet one? Shakespeare? Or the Siren's song? Perhaps an allusion to Mr.Ramsay? I just thought of the poems as segues, really.

But OMG I just realized how Charge of the Light Brigade + Andrew went down. Oooh, mysterious.


Question 25:
Compare and contrast the novel's treatment of time in Part I: The Window and Part II: Time Passes.
Still rather in the present, talking for so many pages to describe scenes of a few minutes, but only that there has been an elapse of years between the two.

Question 26:
What do the bracketed sentences mean and what do they contribute to the overall structure of Part II: Time Passes?
Oh, I like the brackets. I suppose they're used to convey an emotion, thought, reality that is not currently present somehow.


Question 27:
What does Part II: Time Passes say about human life?
Fleeting, mostly.

Question 28:

What are the representations of the deaths of Mrs. Ramsay, Prue, and Andrew?
I was thinking of the trivia we posted, and of Woolf's own losses in her life. But I suppost that's mainly it -- no matter what happens, at the end of the day, no matter how sparkling the personality, beautiful the face, or valiant the figure -- we must all pass on one day.
(hide spoiler)]

[Meliza]

Question 18
(view spoiler)[Mrs. Ramsay wondered what she’d done with her life. She told others where to sit. While she was ladling out soup, she looked around the room and thought that it was very shabby. She found that nothing seemed to merge so she felt that the whole of the effort of merging and flowing and creating rested on her. She talked to William Bankes first.

Lily Briscoe thought how old and worn Mrs. Ramsay looked and why she pitied Mr. Bankes and if he’s really pitiable. She saw her picture in her mind and decided to put the tree further in the middle.

Charles Tansley was irritated with the conversation between Mrs. Ramsay and Mr. Bankes. And then, Mrs. Ramsay tried to talk to him too. He was kind of embarrassed that he wasn't dressed as nicely as the others. He also thought of women’s silliness. To assert himself, especially to Mrs. Ramsay, he repeated saying that there’s no going to the lighthouse the next day (duh!).

Lily Briscoe was annoyed at Mr. Tansley. She said that he was the "most uncharming human being she had ever met" (in spite of his eyes, haha). Lily then asked if she can join him on the lighthouse trip. Mr. Tansley saw that she didn’t mean it and told her the she would be sick.

Mrs. Ramsay asked Mr. Bankes if Carrie Manning was still living at Marlow. They talked about the Mannings and how she never forgot about Herbert killing a wasp with a teaspoon on the banks of the Thames. She then said that she wish one of them would run up to Roger’s room. Mr. Bankes thought about human life, the Ramsays, their boys and that Cam was his favorite. Afterwards they decided to speak French.

Lily Briscoe saw Mr. Tansley getting uncomfortable again, as in an X-ray photograph of a man’s desire to impress. She thought that it is a code of a woman to help a man of his desire to assert himself; as it is their duty to help her, suppose the Tube were to burst in flames.

Mrs. Ramsay told them how Mr. Langley suffered when her husband took him to the lighthouse even though he had been round the world a dozen of times then she asked Mr. Tansley if he is a good sailor. She looked at Lily as if telling her to take pity on Mr. Tansley. Lily then went on a conversation with him.

Mrs. Ramsay looked at her husband, expecting him join the conversation about fishermen, but he looked angry that Augustus Carmichael had asked for another bowl of soup. Mr. Ramsay asked Ellen for another plate of soup. Rose and Roger were about to laugh at his father so Mrs. Ramsay asked for the candles to be lit. Mrs. Ramsay contemplated about Mr. Augustus and how devoted he was to Andrew. She also wondered what Rose did in her arrangement of the grapes and pears, how they made her think of Neptune’s banquet that hangs over the shoulder of Bacchus.

Minta Doyle and Paul Rayley came. Minta told them how she lost her grandmother’s brooch. Mr. Ramsay teased her. She remembered the first night she sat with him, when he talked about George Eliot and when she left the third volume of Middlemarch in the train. Mrs. Ramsay assumed that Minta and Paul were engaged.

Marthe then took the cover off their main dish, boeuf en daube, a French recipe of Mrs. Ramsay’s grandmother. Mrs. Ramsay said that what passes for cookery in England is an abomination. They talked about cooking and vegetable skins.

Lily offered to help Paul in finding the brooch but he didn’t seem to care. She thought of her staying with the Ramsays, that it made her feel two opposite things at the same time.

Mrs. Ramsay talked about the British dairy system. Everyone laughed. She thought of Mr. Bankes as an example of what one suffered if one attacked the prejudices of the British Public. She looked at Lily and Mr. Tansley, concluding that they were suffering in the presence of Paul and Minta. She listened to what the others were talking about; on Voltaire and Madamede Stael, Napoleon, land tenure, Lord Rosebery, Creevey’s Memoirs, the Waverly novels, Sir Walter and Jane Austen (uy, hi, Jane Austen, I miss you).

Mr. Ramsay started to feel uneasy and said that Scott or Shakespeare would last him his lifetime. Minta said that she did not believe that any one really enjoyed reading Shakespeare. Paul Rayley said he had read some of Tolstoi and remembered Vronsky and Anna Karenina. She asked Mrs. Ramsay if she wants a pear.

Mrs. Ramsay looked at her children, Jasper, Rose, Prue, and Andrew sitting there. She alternately looked at Minta and Prue. She spoke to Prue in her mind that she will be happier because she was her daughter.

Dinner was over. They continued telling stories. The sudden bursts of laughter and then one voice speaking alone reminded Mrs. Ramsay of men crying out Latin words of a service in some cathedral of Roman Catholics. Mr. Ramsay started reciting poetry about Luriana Lurilee. The others joined him.

Mrs. Ramsay moved and left the room, giving one last look at it over her shoulder, (the dinner) already the past. (hide spoiler)]

Question 19
(view spoiler)[Before the candles were lit, everyone wasn't excited about the dinner. It's as if everyone, as was told to us in alternating perspectives of Mr. Bankes, Lily Briscoe and Charles Tasnley, was bored and feeling cold and distant with each other. As Mrs. Ramsay thought, everything was separated and not merging. (hide spoiler)]

Question 20
(view spoiler)[Yes, I believe that creating social harmony is a gift and Mrs. Ramsay has it. She has an understanding of the people that surrounded her. She did her best to try to make a connection between her guests. She can even make people understand what she wants for them to do, just like what Lily Briscoe felt when she looked at her. (hide spoiler)]

Question 21
(view spoiler)[For me, the novel's tone is still hopeful. This chapter started somewhat chaotic but in the end, everybody had their conversations and thoughts that somehow showed us more hopeful events that could happen in the future. But I agree with Tin, that Mrs. Ramsay's giving one last look over her shoulder felt kinda gloomy for me. (hide spoiler)]

[Angus]

Hi Camille,
(view spoiler)[
Oh wow, you did a summary. Of sorts. Yay! Anyway, I just want to clarify that Time Passes spans ten years, so your comment on talking for so many pages to describe scenes of a few minutes does not really fit in the picture. Of course, the reception is different among readers. Also, you mentioned that the bracketed sentences may convey an emotion. These are straightforward facts, almost journalistic. Does this mean that it is more likely to elicit emotions from you when reading straightforward sentences?
(hide spoiler)]

Hi Meliza,
(view spoiler)[
When will you ever catch up? Kidding! So let me put you in a situation. What if you were Lily and Mrs. Ramsay looks at you, imploring you to talk to Charles and soothe his ego. What will you do?
(hide spoiler)]

[Meliza]

Angus:(view spoiler)[I'm so sorry! Jane Austen got in the way. Haha! Seriously though, I can't read at work these past few weeks. Huhu.

Although it seems that Mr. Tansley is a very difficult person to converse with, maybe it would be better to talk to him about himself. If I was Lily, I would ask him about his philosophical works with Mr. Ramsay. Then I would ask follow-up questions based on his answers just like what you're doing to us. Hehe. (hide spoiler)]

[Monique]

Question 22:
(view spoiler)[Dinner is over, and everyone goes their own way. Mrs. Ramsay goes to the bedroom of her little children and finds James and Cam still awake. Cam says she can’t sleep because of the boar’s skull nailed on the wall. Mrs. Ramsay finally covers it with her shawl and tells Cam stories until the little girl falls asleep. Then Mrs. Ramsay turns to James, who asks once more if they’ll go to the Lighthouse the next day. Mrs. Ramsay says no but they’ll try to, when the weather is better.

As Mrs. Ramsay leaves the bedroom, she sees Prue, Minta, and Paul. Prue looks at her mother, feeling proud, and says they were thinking of going to the beach to watch the waves. Surprisingly (at least for me), Mrs. Ramsay giggles, as if a young girl, and tells them to go ahead but to make sure to look at the time. At this, Paul takes out his gold watch. Mrs. Ramsay felt like she wanted to go with them but she restrained herself, and went instead to Mr. Ramsay.

Mrs. Ramsay knits while her husband reads. As she knits, she quietly recites to herself snippets of the poem they had been discussing at dinner. She opens a book and begins to read aloud, until she becomes aware of Mr. Ramsay watching her. Mr. Ramsay thinks how beautiful his wife is; unfortunately, she is rather less educated than he is. Mrs. Ramsay mentions that Paul and Minta are engaged.

They look at each other, saying nothing. He wants her to tell him that she loves him, but she couldn’t; she finds it difficult to do so. She thinks if there is anything else she could do for him, but comes up blank. Instead, she gets up, goes to the window, and looks out to the sea.

And here comes my favorite part: she turns around and smiles at him, and with that smile she wanted to tell him that she loves him. And she knew that, without words, he knew that she loves him.

As for Part II, Chapters 1-10, we read about how the years pass by, taking with it the lives of Mrs. Ramsay, Prue, and Andrew, their deaths brought about by different reasons and transpiring at different times. Isle of Skye deteriorates, with the Ramsays absent and only the caretaker, Mrs. McNab, to look after the house. She laments that no one from the family has sent anything to keep the house in order.

Until one day, the house is filled up with people once more: Mr. Ramsay, Cam, and James, and Lily Briscoe and Augustus Carmichael. (hide spoiler)]

Question 23:
(view spoiler)[I think – it being a skull and all, which symbolizes death – the boar skull hanging on the wall of the children’s room is a reminder that death can come to anyone, anytime. It sounds morbid that it should be placed inside the nursery, of all places, but it seems more effective in driving home the point, because they are children. (hide spoiler)]

Question 24:
(view spoiler)[That life is ever-changing, fleeting. (hide spoiler)]

Question 25:
(view spoiler)[In Part I, time moved too slow. The entirety of it happened in less than a day: from the afternoon when James and Mrs. Ramsay were sitting by the window, until the end of the dinner attended by almost everyone in the house. Meanwhile, in Part II, time spanned years , effectively glossing over the events that transpired in between.

In Part I, nearly every detail was narrated with the passage of time, but in Part II, the details were omitted but they had more impact. In Part I, time passes from the perspectives of the characters involved, while in Part II, time passes from a completely disconnected, disengaged narrator’s point of view. (hide spoiler)]

Question 26:
(view spoiler)[The bracketed sentences in Part II matter-of-factly stated what happened to our protagonists while all those described in the non-bracketed sentences were happening. For me it was very effective – the bracketing – because as I was reading the beautiful words and the lovely thoughts, the contents of the brackets at the end of each chapter sent me reeling. It felt like, Oh, the spring, the clouds, the beautiful waves… which prompts the reader (me) to swoon and sigh and then here comes the bracket: [Mrs. Ramsay died during the night…] and the reader (me) is jolted out of the swoons and sighs and is prompted to message the moderator (you) her denial. There. (hide spoiler)]

Question 27:
(view spoiler)[That human life is short and fleeting, and that any moment it can be taken away. (hide spoiler)]

Question 28:
(view spoiler)[Mrs. Ramsay’s death, the cause of which was not specified, illustrates the entire point of Part II: that life is momentary and short, that death can come anytime, whether the person concerned and the people around him are ready or not.

Prue died from childbirth, which I think symbolizes how there are people who sacrifice their lives in order to (or at least in an attempt to) give life.

Andrew died in the war, from a shell that exploded, which in turn symbolizes the useless deaths and wasted lives that result from war. (hide spoiler)]

[Angus]

We're on Part III, and aren't you tired of me yet (at least the ones left remaining answering the questions)? Thanks a bunch for keeping the online discussion alive. :) Anyway, point updates are on the other thread. And kindly check the schedule below:

Questions 22 to 28: Until May 25, Sunday, 11:59PM
Questions 01 to 21: You may still answer these but they will no longer earn points k.

Questions for Part III: Chapters 01 to 05 will be posted in a bit.

Hi Buddy,
(view spoiler)[
So if the skull symbolizes death and Mrs. Ramsay covers it with her green shawl, what can you make out of this?
(hide spoiler)]

Hi Meliza, thanks for the follow-up. :)

[Angus]

Part III: Chapters 01 to 05

Question 29:
(view spoiler)[
Summarize Part III: Chapters 01 to 05. (1 point for every 20 words, maximum of 10 points)
(hide spoiler)]

Question 30:
(view spoiler)[
What feeling does Chapter 01 of Part III: The Lighthouse create in you? (1 point)
(hide spoiler)]

Question 31:
(view spoiler)[
Describe the relationships of the characters now, ten years later. (1 point)
(hide spoiler)]

Question 32:
(view spoiler)[
What does the tying of Lily Briscoe's shoe by Mr. Ramsay signify, if any? (1 point)
(hide spoiler)]

Question 33:
(view spoiler)[
Why does the memory of Mrs. Ramsay live in Lily Briscoe's consciousness? (1 point)
(hide spoiler)]

Question 34:
(view spoiler)[
Why is Lily Briscoe's imagination of the Rayleys' failed marriage important to her? (1 point)
(hide spoiler)]

Score Boosters:
(view spoiler)[
The hours and minutes on the time stamp of your post will act as additional points (2 per hour, 1 per minute). Example: you posted your answers at 10:30AM, you get an additional 20 + 30 = 50 points.
If your post is edited, the time stamp of the edit will be the one considered.
(hide spoiler)]

[Monique]

BUDDY: (In answer to your follow-up question) (view spoiler)[I think it was Mrs. Ramsay subconsciously denying - delaying? - death from afflicting her family. Covering up the skull with her green shawl was, at the time, merely for Cam's benefit, but it was also a foreboding of things to come, and covering it up with the shawl cannot really prevent it from happening. (hide spoiler)]

Also, can you please elaborate how the score boosters work on the latest set of questions? I didn't get it, hehe. :D

[Meliza]

Question 22
(view spoiler)[Chapter 18-19

After Mrs. Ramsay left, everyone else got up and went into different directions. Mrs. Ramsay went into her children’s room and found James and Cam still awake. There’s this boar skull on the wall. Cam can’t sleep because of this while James didn’t want anyone to touch it. Mrs. Ramsay decided to cover it with her shawl. She told Cam stories until the child fell asleep. James asked her again if they’re going to the lighthouse. She said no but will go next time when the weather turns good. After leaving the room, she saw Minta, Paul, and Prue who were about to go to the beach. Mrs. Ramsay wanted to go too but instead she went to the room where her husband was reading.

Mrs. Ramsay knitted a stocking while Mr. Ramsey read. She thought about how her husband was stressed about his books. While knitting, Mrs. Ramsay muttered some lines of a poem. She then opened a book and read. Mr. Ramsay watched her wife and thought about how beautiful she was. He’s also thinking about how she was less educated than him. Mrs. Ramsay then told her husband that Paul and Minta were engaged. They continued talking then Mrs. Ramsay realized that he wanted her to tell him "I love you." But she didn’t. She’s having a hard time saying what she feels. She got up and looked at the sea. Afterwards, she turned around and smiled at him. She knew that he knows that she loves him even without telling him. She told him that he was right, that they won’t be able to go to the Lighthouse tomorrow.

Part II
Mr. Bankes, Lily, Paul, Minta, Prue, and Andrew came back from the beach. They went to their rooms and turned off their lights. Mr. Carmichael stayed late reading Virgil so he kept his candle burning.

Woolf described the darkness and the wind creeping in. Mr. Carmichael blew out his candle.

Nights, trees, autumn, sea, solitude and other things were described. A sleeper got up from bed to seek an answer. Then it was said that Mr. Ramsay stretched his arms but his arms remained empty because Mrs. Ramsay died last night.

The house and random things in it were described. The wind asked, “Will you fade? Will you perish?” The objects answered, “We remain.” Mrs. McNab opened the windows and cleaned the rooms.

Mrs. McNab hummed a song while cleaning.

It was spring. Prue Ramsay got married. Then it was summer. Prue died while giving birth. The house was described as ruined while the light of the lighthouse still swept through it. A shell exploded in France. Andrew Ramsay died. Mr. Carmichael published a volume of poems.

Mrs. McNab thought about how dirty the house was and how she’s having difficulty in cleaning it since she’s already old. The Ramsays never visit. She continued looking and thinking about the things in the house. She also saw the skull.

One of the young ladies wrote to Mrs. McNab to get the house ready. Mrs. McNab and her friend Mrs. Bast started cleaning. Mrs. Bast’s son, George, caught the rats. Mrs. Bast and Mrs. McNab said that the family will find the house changed. Lily arrived at the house. Mr. Carmichael arrived by the same train as her.

Lily listened to the sea. Mr. Carmichael read a book. They slept. In the morning, Lily woke up. (hide spoiler)]

Question 23
(view spoiler)[The boar skull symbolizes death, while the nursery symbolizes youth. (hide spoiler)]

Question 24
(view spoiler)[Mrs. Ramsay recited this poem about lives and trees and changing leaves. This could signify the different changes in everyone’s lives through time, including birth and death. (hide spoiler)]

Question 25
(view spoiler)[The events of Part I just happened in less than a day, from an afternoon until a night. The events of Part II spanned many years. It’s amusing that Part I happened in a very short time but it stretched into more than half of the book, while Part II spanned in many years yet gave us few pages to read. (hide spoiler)]

Question 26
(view spoiler)[With Part II telling us about time and the changing of seasons, it describes mostly its effects on things, like the house and the objects inside it. It’s as if Part II is making me feel indulged in its words, its prose, the passing of time, and then boom! Here’s a bracketed sentence! This is unexpected! The bracketed sentences gave us information about the people we met in Part I. It’s like going on with the flow of time and then news about the characters came unexpected. Just like how in real life, inevitable things happen when we least expect them to. (hide spoiler)]

Question 27
(view spoiler)[Part II tells us that human life is fragile, that death is inevitable and could happen anytime. (hide spoiler)]

Question 28
(view spoiler)[Mrs. Ramsay's death, since this is the first death in the novel, represents death that is most unexpected. Besides, I thought of her as the main protagonist in Part I, so yes, I was surprised.

It was first said that Prue married, and was very beautiful, then she died. Her death represents that death could still come after bliss.

Andrew died during the war. It was said in Part I that he was intelligent, being good in math. His death represents an unnecessary death caused by the war, a life of potential wasted. (hide spoiler)]

[Tin]

Q 22: SUMMARY(view spoiler)[
Part 1: Chapter 18 -19
With the dinner party done, the guests and the Ramsays part ways. Mrs. Ramsay begins to walk upstairs feeling quite pleased about how the night went. She thinks that every one of them will remember that evening and flatters herself into thinking that it is all because of her. She tries to be quite because the kids might be asleep. But she soon finds out, to her annoyance, that Cam and James are still awake. And it is because of the boar skull hanging on the wall. James does not want anyone to touch it. Cam wants it gone. So Mrs. Ramsay covers it up with her shawl and that seemed to appease the two. James then asked whether they are going to the Lighthouse the next day. Mrs. Ramsay says, no, but some other time when the weather permits it. She now feels angry at Charles Tansley for continuously rubbing in the “not going to the lighthouse” thing and she hopes that he won’t go about banging his books upstairs for the children were light sleepers.

Minta, Prue and Paul are downstairs. Prue spots her mom standing above them, and she says: “That’s my mother.” It’s as if she is telling Minta and Paul to look at Mrs. Ramsay, because she was proud of her mom. The three then tells Mrs. Ramsay that they want to go to the beach to watch the waves. Mrs. Ramsay suddenly feels like a she just became a young girl of 20 something, she is laughing and running down the stairs and tells them: “Of course, you can go” and asks if anyone of them has a watch. Paul says he has and he shows her a beautiful gold watch out of a wash-leather case. Mrs. Ramsay even goes more berserk at this point and thinks how lucky Minta is for marrying someone who has a lovely watch (Lol) She then thinks of how she wishes she could go with them, but can’t because it’s “impossible”.

She then goes to the room where her husband is reading Sir Walter Scott. She does not want to disturb him so she goes to do knit a stocking but she is worrying that her husband is worrying about his books and legacies and such. She goes on to murmur the poetry that Mr. Carmichael and her husband recited at dinner. She feels compelled to pick up a book and open at some random page, and read whatever was in there. She then notices how Mr. Ramsay is looking at her. The latter thinks about how beautiful she looks and that she also probably doesn't know what she’s reading about. Mrs. Ramsay then begins to make small talk and says that Paul and Minta are getting married to which Mr. Ramsay says that it’s no surprise. Mr. Ramsay now says that she won’t finish the stocking and then continues to look as Mrs. Ramsay, as if to say: “Tell me that you lurve me.” Mrs. Ramsay is having a hard time doing so and starts to look for something to do. Brush his coat or something. Finding none, she begins to look at the sea, and then turns around to look at her hubby and smiles at him. And that one smile conveys that she just told him she loved him. She tells him that he is right, they really won’t be able to go to the lighthouse on the morrow. And she now feels that she has triumphed over Mr. Ramsay. (Why is that?)

Part 2: Time Passes
Paul, Minta, Andrew, Prue, Lily and Mr. Bankes return home from the beach, and then lights were turned off for the night, with only Augustus Carmichael’s candle still burning. Now darkness began to creep all through the silent house, as if it is a creature or a person. It blots out all objects and then the wind too is personified and comes to blow in and out the house asking the objects if they will allies or enemies, and how long will they endure. “Gusts of lamanetation”, they were. Then random light now comes in, the source of which is not revealed, it can be from the lighthouse, a ship etc. Soon Augustus Carmichael blows out his candle and call it a night.

Now autumn comes and nights are stormy. Winds start to batter the house, trees plunge and bend, leaves scatter and fall and gutters choke with them. And something about a sleeper asking the night what, why and wherefore? And then Mr. Ramsay is tumbling along a passage with arms outstretched for Mrs. Ramsay, only to find her dead.

Now one finds the Ramsay home empty and desolate. The only inhabitant are the winds, that once again comes in and out asking: “Will you fade? Will you perish?” and the objects answer: “We remain.” Mrs. Mcnab breaks the silence by plodding inside the house to dust the place and open the windows.

Mrs. McNab now starts to go about cleaning the place. She feels a bit weary. She ctaches a glimpse of herself in the glass and saw her own sorrowful face. But then she thought, “I have my consolations.” That cheered her up a bit. She now thinks about her kids and began to sing a tune.

Spring now arrives, bright like a virgin tats for the beri first taym. Prue is now leaning on her father’s arm, as she was given in marriage. People said that she was beautiful and nothing could ever be more fitting for her.

Summer now replaces spring, and during such time, Prue Ramsay died of some illness related to child birth. People said it was a tragedy for everything promised so well. Now shifting back to the Ramsay residence, hot summer winds yet again visits the place. Then flies inhibit the rooms, weeds grow close to the windows, etc. Mrs. McNab goes on dusting and cleaning. A shell exploded. Men were blown up, and one of them was Andrew Ramsay who died instantly. And then something about silence and fishing boats and mud pies and mirror reflection and beauty and that the mirror was broken? Now Augustus Carmichael wrote a volume of poems which had been successful. People said the war revived their interest in poetry.

Storms rage at night while the day remains bright and still. Now days, months and years merge shapelessly together.

Mrs. McNab thinks that the family will no longer come to this house and it would likely be sold at Michaelmas. She soon thinks of Mrs. Ramsay and how she would never have her things again because she was dead. She died in London, she says. She imagines the Mrs. in her grey cloak tending to the garden with one of her kids. She could see her coming up the driveway, greeting her a good evening. Mrs. McNab thought about hoe pleasant she was. But she’s dead, Prue is dead. Andrew is dead. She now sighs and feels that the house work is too much for one woman. Rats are in the attics, rooms are damp and moldy, some locks were gone, there’s a skull in one room…too much she says, too much…She soon left and locked the place up.

So now the house is yet again, deserted. And everything is old and rusty and moldy and overgrown with briars and brambles and stuff. In comes Mrs. McNab, this time with Mrs. Bast and her son George to restore the place because Mrs. McNab received a letter from one of the Ramsays saying that they well be coming in for the summer and wish to find the place as they had left them. So they go about toiling and toiling and toiling…then they drank some tea in the bedroom for their midday break. Mrs. McNab then contemplates about Mr. Ramsay and how he talks to himself. Then she and Mrs. Bast go down memory lane together, remembering who died, and Mildred the cook, and about the 20 or so guests they always had in the house, why there is a skull on the wall….Mrs. Bast now says that when they come, they will find the place changed. Lily Briscoe now had her bags carried upstairs one late evening, and Mr. Carmichael arrive on the same train.

Lily is now lying on her bed and she hears the winds and the waves. The house is occupied again, with Mr. Carmichael and Mrs. Beckwith, along with her. Lily sees how Mr. Carmichael sat reading as just like how it was years ago. Then morning comes and then Lily tries to grasp her blanket as if she was on the edge of the cliff, and then shoots bolt upright. (hide spoiler)]

Q 23: (view spoiler)[The boar skull on the wall seems like a representation of death and decay, which will soon come to the Ramsay residence (hide spoiler)]

Q 24:(view spoiler)[The poem read by Mrs. Ramsay seems to say that life is fleeting. That overtime, life changes. Present becomes the past, and the future may become the present or not…. (hide spoiler)]

Q 25: (view spoiler)[ In Part 1, everything happens in like a day. But it feels stretched because it’s like the time depends on which character is narrating. Say Mrs. Ramsay is narrating, and it’s the time when she is reading to James. The next chapter comes and then it’s Lily’s narration now, and still the time is at the same moment where Mrs. Ramsay is reading to James. While in Part 2. Time moves in lightning speed. 20 years is compressed in just a few pages. It’s like this technique they do in nature shows where they speed up the blossoming of a flower. Or like the opening sequence in True Blood where they speed up death and birth. There is this dead fox and you see it decaying at warp speed and then maggots start to eat at it fast. Okay, I’m rambling. (hide spoiler)]

Q. 26:(view spoiler)[ Because in Part 2, everything moves so fast, and the night, the winds, they talk and move. Everything seems unreal, like something out of a dream, so the bracketed sentence seems to act like updates of reality, to keep let us know what is happening to The Ramsays. (hide spoiler)]

Q 27:(view spoiler)[Part 2: Time Passes says that human life is fleeting (hide spoiler)]

Q 28(view spoiler)[Mrs. Ramsay, Prue and Andrew’s death represents how life can change in an instant. That Death comes to all, whether young or old. But I have a feeling that that isn’t the precise answer. Do you mean that each of the deaths have their individual meanings? Okay so I went back to the old chapters and then I gathered that Andrew is good in math, up for a scholarship and at one point Mr. Ramsay mentioned that the former will become a better man than he is. While many say that Prue is a beauty. Mrs. Ramsay is charming and sociable and keeps the family together. So could this mean that the death of Andrew is the death of the traditional ideal guy? And Prue’s death is the death of the traditional ideal girl? And Mrs. Ramsay’s death is the death of…I don’t know…family? The death of all things good? Argh. Rambling again. (hide spoiler)]

[Angus]

Buddy: Here's the formula:

2x + y = bonus points

where
x = time stamp hour
y = time stamp minute

If your post's time stamp is 10:30AM,

2(10) + 30 = 50

The higher the numbers, the more points you earn. ;)

[Alexa]

Aww I'm back but I'm probably too late 3 I'll try my darnedest to finish this by the F2F anyway :D miss you guys!

[Angus]

Hi Meliza,
(view spoiler)[
I didn't ask about the nursery per se, hehe, but what do you make of it? Death and youth?
(hide spoiler)]

Hi Tin,
(view spoiler)[
Regarding Mrs. Ramsay's triumph, I was also baffled (and I've already read the book three times). There are some editions that have an additional sentence after it (my edition, the original 1927 edition, does not have it): "For she had triumphed again. She had not said it: yet he knew." Does it make more sense now? What do you make of it?
(hide spoiler)]

Hi Blue, welcome back! Did you see any lighthouses at Leyte? You may still catch up. We have a week more before the F2F.

[Louize]

Part I: Chapters 18 to 19, Part II: Chapters 01 to 10

(view spoiler)[

Question 22:
Like a broken spell, the harmony of the assemblage was broken when Mrs. Ramsay rose to visit the nursery. Everyone made excuses and went to different directions. In the nursery, Mrs. Ramsay found the children still awake. A skull of a boar was nailed to the door and James refuses anyone to touch it. Mrs. Ramsay then took her shawl and wrapped it around the ominous figure. She calmed Cam with a made up story until the child fell asleep. She then turned to James, who asked her if they are going to the lighthouse on the morrow. Mrs. Ramsay said no, but they will try if the weather permits it.

Back downstairs, Prue, Minta and Paul caught her attention. It was a lovely thought when Prue looked at her mother and felt very proud. They mentioned about going to the beach and watch the waves. And although Mrs. Ramsay wanted very much to go with them, she was held back by a certain urge to stay. Then she joined her husband in the parlor.

Mr. Ramsay sits reading a book, the concentration on his face spoke that he doesn’t want to be disturbed, so, Mrs. Ramsay picked up her knitting. Her silent thoughts went back to the poem recited earlier and started murmuring snippets. She then, picked up a volume of sonnets and read, until she felt her husband’s eyes on her. Their eyes met briefly, but then the awkwardness of the moment bound them speechless. Mr. Ramsay thought the progression of human thought doesn’t matter; someone else can succeed to Z.

After reading a sonnet, she went back to knitting, while finding something to say to her husband. Finally, she mentioned about Minta and Paul’s engagement, which didn’t surprised Mr. Ramsay at all. But then, he insinuated that Mrs. Ramsay will not finish her knitting tonight. He was rather asking her something else entirely. Mrs. Ramsay knew that her husband is asking her to tell him “I love you”, which was really hard for her. She got up and looked at the sea for a time. When finally she turned around, she gave him her best smile to convey her love for him, and somehow she knew that he knew it too.

Part II, was much too swift. The house deteriorates through the passage of time, decay sets in, and along with it are the deaths of Mrs. Ramsay, Prue, and Andrew. Mrs. McNab struggled to keep the house, but no help was sent.

Then, haste and labor is a must from Mrs. McNab’s crew of three. The next few days filled the house once more with people, life, and noise.

Question 23:
I’ve asked myself the same question. Why hung a skull in the nursery? Of course, a skull signifies death, but why a boar? I assumed that a child might die soon, since it was in the nursery. But then, Mrs. Ramsay covered it with her scarf. Did it mean to say that Mrs. Ramsay averted the death of one of those small tykes?

Question 24:
And all the lives we ever lived
And all the lives to be,
Are full of trees and changing leaves.
Beautiful lines, aren't they? For me, it means lives will be lived, and although death will come, life will go on –a never ending motion.

Question 25:
The Window was much too slow. It showed how life is lived in every passing moment, like looking in a window at the people from within.
Time Passes declares the events contained in every passing season, a brief glimpse of a life done and over.

Question 26:
For me, those bracketed sentences gave emphasis to the events that took place in the family. Each event punctuated the aforementioned season. It gave Part II a bridge-like structure, moving the past to the present in a more cohesive way, without spreading the storyline too thin.

Question 27:
That life passes by like any season, fleeting and unpredictable.

Question 28:
Right before the narration stated that Mrs. Ramsay died, it had a winded description of how a night may pass enveloped in darkness. And like death, it answers no questions.

Meanwhile before the Summer of Prue’s death, the Spring promised a new life, that happiness will prevail, but then a cloak was thrown over her.

It was a summer that took Andrew away too. A night, while the lighthouse beamed its light across the bay, into the gloom of the empty house, another fold of the shawl loosened. And then night after night, even on a sunny day, the bombs drop.

(hide spoiler)]

[Meliza]

Angus:(view spoiler)[Hehe! I included the nursery because I think we couldn't see the real meaning of this skull symbol if it was placed somewhere else. This signifies that death is there, even in youth. I also remember Mrs. Ramsay saying that she wants her children to stay young. I think this is somehow connected to her act of covering the skull with her shawl. (hide spoiler)]

[Monique]

Hello, Buddy! I have a question regarding time stamps. I posted my answers for Questions 22-28 at 12 noon, per Philippine Standard Time. But the time stamp on my post says I published it at 9:00AM instead. What's going to happen then? :)

[Tin]

Q 29: SUMMARY(view spoiler)[
Part 3: Chapters 1-5
Lily asks herself: “What does it mean?” What does it mean to have come back to this house to find Mrs. Ramsay dead? She came last night and now she is at the breakfast table, alone. James and Cam and Mr. Ramsay are going to the lighthouse that day. But they are late because Cam is not yet ready and Nancy forgot to order the sandwiches. All these, swelled Mr. Ramsay’s temper. “What’s the use of going now?” he says. As he was huffing and puffing on the terrace, Nancy bursts in and asks: “What does one send to the lighthouse?” Lily could think of a variety of answers for that question. Tobacco, tea etc. But still she found the question baffling and she repeats it in her head. Suddenly, she realizes how alone she is in the room and that everything around her seems like strangers. The death of Mrs. Ramsay, Andrew and Prue, evokes no emotions in her. She soon looks out the window and find and that it’s a beautiful day.

Mr. Ramsay passes by Lily and looks at her with a penetrating gaze. This discomforts Lily who pretends to drink from her empty coffee cup. “Alone” She heard him say. “Perished” she heard him say. She now feels that words are tuning to symbols and writing themselves on the walls, but she somehow could not decipher their meaning to get at the truth (no idea what this means). Mr. Carmichael comes out, got some coffee and his cup and proceeds to sit outside in the sun. This felt unreal to Lily. She now turns back to the window to escape Mr. Ramsay. She remembers how she sat on the same spot 10 years ago and how she was thinking about a painting of hers at that time. A tree that needs to be moved in the middle of the painting. She had never finished that painting and it has been nagging at her mind for years. She got up to fetch her paints, pitched the easel at the edge of the lawn and she’s about to get to work, only that Mr. Ramsay comes bearing down on her again. She remembers what he said last night, when he stopped before her, with the 6 kids looking: “You find us much changed.” No one uttered a word. Mr. Ramsay then reminded them that they were going to the lighthouse and not one of the kids dared say no. James and Cam reluctantly said yes. Lily lamented and thought that this was a tragedy, to coerce children into doing things. She started looking for Mrs. Ramsay, only to find kindly old Mrs. Beckwith. She now truly felt her absence. And then she slept. Zzzzz. Once more, she set up her easel and canvas to paint. But again, Mr. Ramsay imposed himself on her and she just couldn’t get to work. She fidgets and picks one brush and another. She is afraid that she will be forced to give, just as Mrs. Ramsay was. She thought, she died, giving and giving and giving and it was her (Mrs. Ramsay’s) own fault. Still, Mr. Ramsay came close, greedy for sympathy. Lily decides that she would give him whatever she could.

Mr. Ramsay thinks how skimpy and wispy Lily looks, but not unattractive. He asks her if she has everything she wants. She said yes. Then an awkward pause follows. Lily looks at the sea. Mr. Ramsay says: “Why would she look at the sea when I am here asking for sympathy.” (LOL) Lily laments at her inability to provide that sympathy and thinks of herself as an ill-tempered, dried up old maid. Mr. Ramsay sighed and thought: “Was she not going to say anything?” (♩ Say something I’m giving up on you ♩) He said that he wanted to go to the lighthouse because there are people there and his wife used to send them things. Still Lily could not say anything. Mr. Ramsay continued to make small talk and sigh and sigh and sigh. (Sympatheeeee! Sympatheeee! *In slow zombie speak*) And his self-pity started to overflow and spread in pools over at Lily’s feet. And she could not do anything save to gather her skirts closer lest she gets wet. James and Cam are coming now and Mr. Ramsay realizing that he has little time left, decided to hit Lily with a full-on self-pity haduken blast that would make Ryu proud. Lily looked down (maybe to avoid the blast) and sees his boots and said: “What beautiful boots!” She thought she’d be annihilated for this somewhat mundane remark, but surprisingly he brightened up and told her about how his were made of the finest leather, blahdeeblah. Lily started to warm to him now. He asks her if she could tie a knot and taught her how to do it better, he knotted and unknotted her shoe 3 times. Now Lily, began to feel great sympathy for him. Cam and James soon comes down, a picture of sadness which irked Lily and thought that they could be more cheerful. So, Mr. Ramsay, Cam and James now prepare for their expedition and they looked like an impressive company. Mr. Ramsay saluted Lily as they passed her. “What a face!” Lily said. She remembers how he looked at the sparse table and maybe he is thinking whether it’s real or not. She thought that he has doubts and that is why he is asking for sympathy. But she recalled how he brightened up awhile ago and how such vitality passed and changed into another phase or region and another and another. But an extraordinary face! (Lol)

So they trio were gone. Lily sighed with relief and disappointment because she feels like she wasted her emotions. Now that she felt sorry for him, he had gone. She saw her canvas in front of her but she doesn’t know where to begin. But she plunged in, took the risk of making her first mark on the canvas, other strokes followed suit. But a space loomed before her from the painting. And she heard a voice saying she couldn’t paint, couldn’t create. Can’t paint, can’t write, she murmured. Charles Tansley used to say that she remembered. She thought about how he flaunted his poverty and principles, and how he had this purple book. She now remembers a scene on the beach with Tansley and Mrs. Ramsay. Mrs. Ramsay sat on a rock writing letters and squinting at some object floating in the water asking them what it was. Tansley was super nice that time and they were playing ducks and drakes. Mrs. Ramsay was laughing. Lily now thinks of how Tansley and her getting along on that day, depended on Mrs. Ramsay, how she has the power to bring this and that together. She remembers that memory and it stayed on her mind like a work of art. She then asks, “What is the meaning of life” and remembers again that memory on the beach where Mrs. Ramsay made life stand still, permanent. And how she owes everything to her. She now looks out to see a little boat and set aprt and thinks about Mr. Ramsay, Cam and James being in it.

Mr. Ramsay is sitting on the boat, very impatient and fidgeting at their slow pace. He told Mcalister’s boy to row. Cam and James are on opposite ends, and these two vowed to oppose the tyranny of their dad to the bitter end. They secretly hoped that his plans would be thwarted every second of the way and the whole trip would fail. But alas, winds started to pick up and they were on their way. Mr. Ramsay now engage Mcalister for some small talk. They talked about the great storm last Christmas, stranded boats, the sunken ships. Then Cam suddenly felt proud of her dad because he could have easily went on a life boat to help and reached the wreck because he was brave and adventurous. But no, Cam thought, she had a compact to adhere to, to fight tyranny to the death. They breeze was picking up and they were slicing the waters and there was foam…and Cam felt her tie with James sagged a little. Mr. Ramsay felt exhilarated by the breeze and all that he spurted out some lines from a poem, as he is won’t to do. He pointed to a house and wanted Cam to look. And she did so, reluctantly. Mr. Ramsay again spurted more poetry. This outraged Cam. And then her father began pointing again at some island and asked her if she could read the compass and asked her about a puppy and who will take care of it and what will she name it…(Tanslation: Sympatheeee, Sympatheee). Cam felt torn between James the Just and their oppose tyranny pact and Mr. Ramsay’s sympathee sympathee. James remembers the time when his dad interrupted his mother and him. (Children don’t forget!) Cam decided to adhere to the pact and not answer her ad. But unbeknownst to James, she has given her father a private token of her love already (What token? When she answered him that Jasper will look after the puppy?) But then she remembers her father’s tyranny that poisoned her childhood. “Do this, do that.” “Submit to me.” He would say. She still wakes up at night trembling with rage. (Children don’t forget!)(I was shocked by this! I did not expect how deep the “tyranny” ran) And so she said nothing and looked at the shore and how there was no suffering there.

Lily stands at the edge of the lawn and sees a boat. She thinks about how Mr. Ramsay and the kids are sitting silently in it. She laments at how she could not reach Mr. Ramsay, when she had all these sympathy for him now. This weighed her down and so she couldn’t paint. She begins to think about her relationship with Mr. Ramsay, that it is neutral and has no element of sex in it. And how he has a different manner when it comes to Minta, he’s all gallant and gay. She begins to feel inclined to ask Mr. Carmichael if he remembers, but she just passed by him and thinks of the time when she was on a beach with Mrs. Ramsay. And how that memory survived in her mind after all these years. It’s so vivid it even seems like she is sitting with her on the beach right now. She remembers the Rayleys. And made up a story about how the marriage is not going great. About Minta coming home late eating a sandwhich, and Paul being mad at her. And of Paul going to coffee houses to play chess and of how he and Minta were no longer in love with each other. She imagined telling that tale to Mrs. Ramsay. She felt triumphant because this contests Mrs. Ramsay’s view that marriage is the best thing. And how had she lived, might insist that Lily marries, William Bankes, most likely, but now she is free to be single and paint. She thinks about Mr. Bankes and how she likes him, as a friend, and of the day when they went to Hampton Court and how he lets her be. But then Mrs. Ramsay’s image burned in her mind. She wanted to talk to Mr. Carmichael about life and death and Mrs. Ramsay. But she hesitated and the moment was gone. She started to shout her name all over the house and tears ran down her face. (hide spoiler)]

Q 30: (view spoiler)[I somehow felt empty. The house clearly was noisy because of all the hubbub of going to the lighthouse. But Lily’s thoughts made me feel sad and detached. Outside was a beautiful day but the house is clearly experiencing some gloominess. (hide spoiler)]

Q 31:(view spoiler)[The relationships of the characters seemed tense. The kids are sullen and silent and feel like they are under tyranny. Mr. Ramsay keep on forcing everyone to give him sympathy, without Mr. Ramsay to sow peace and harmony, the family relationship feels strained. (hide spoiler)]

Q 32: (view spoiler)[ The tying of the shoe feels like a “moment” for the two. It’s like they finally clicked. He got her drift. She got his drift. I think it signifies that they now have an understanding, that the next time Mrs. Ramsay asks for sympathy, Lily will give it, willingly. Might be, she will assume Mrs. Ramsay’s role. (hide spoiler)]

Q. 33:(view spoiler)[ Part 1 established how much Lily admired Mrs. Ramsay. The latter had exerted considerable influence on Lily and I guess that is why she lives on in her consciousness. (hide spoiler)]

Q 34:(view spoiler)[ I think the imagination of the Rayleys' failed marriage is important to Lily because it signifies her triumph over Mrs. Ramsay’s conventional thinking that marriage is the absolute best thing in the world. And if Minta and Paul are having trouble and are unhappy, Lily can go about being single and painting and she didn’t have to be under the power of Mrs. Ramsay who says do this (marry this guy) and one did. (hide spoiler)]

[Tin]

Follow-up Q:(view spoiler)[I don’t think it makes more sense, to me even after reading the extra sentence. Hehe. This is how I make of it. Mr. Ramsay wanted a verbal “I love you?” but since Mrs. Ramsay conveyed her love without having to say it out loud and Mr. Ramsay accepted it and did not press her any longer, means she wins. (hide spoiler)] (view spoiler)[About your previous remark: Lol! Mc Fassy and Dane Dehaan, these boys make me do mischievous things, like make up some crazy thing using Virginia Woolf’s text. She must be rolling in her grave now. (hide spoiler)](view spoiler)[ Also, I think I got carried away with my summary! Nalula ako when I clicked my spoiler tag open,after posting it. But I wanted to earn the extra points for the time stamp so no more editing!(view spoiler)[ (hide spoiler)] (hide spoiler)]

[Angus]

Hi Buddy, all times are converted to Manila Time (UTC/GMT +8 hours). Time stamps here are displayed in Pacific Daylight Time. Goodreads doesn't have an option to select your time zone? Meh.

[Monique]

Question 29:
(view spoiler)[So Lily has come back to Isle of Skye and Part III opens with her waking up. Later, she sits as the breakfast table with Mr. Ramsay, who was waiting for his children: James, Cam, and Nancy, because they were going to the Lighthouse that day. Lily silently bears Mr. Ramsay’s temper when Nancy forgets the sandwiches, while Cam and James take too long to be ready. Lily feels isolated from the Ramsays and wonders what she was doing there. As Lily and Mr. Ramsay awkwardly sit there, Mr. Carmichael comes in, makes a cup of coffee, and goes out.

Lily remembers her unfinished painting from the last time she was in the house, and sets up her easel at the exact same spot where she used to paint. Unfortunately, she can’t get anything done because Mr. Ramsay walks over, and his presence bothers Lily so much. On the other hand, Mr. Ramsay looks at Lily and thinks how shrunken she looks, and at that moment he thought he needed to hear sympathy. Lily realizes this but couldn’t give it to Mr. Ramsay, but she does comments how beautiful Mr. Ramsay’s boots are. While this isn’t what Mr. Ramsay was waiting for, he smiles anyway and they discuss the boots. (Yep.) Then they discuss how they tied shoelaces, with Mr. Ramsay showing Lily how he tied his laces by tying hers. Somewhere in the middle of this, Lily felt ready to give Mr. Ramsay the sympathy that he needed, but then James and Cam came loping by, and the Ramsays leave for the Lighthouse.

Left alone, Lily ruminates on the meaning of life. She thinks about what will happen to her painting when she’s done with it. She thinks of Mrs. Ramsay and how she had learned so much from the woman. Looking out to sea, she thinks she sees the boat with the Ramsays.

Meanwhile, on the boat, Mr. Ramsay reads a book while James and Cam are quietly sitting by, each busy with their own thoughts. They have an unspoken agreement to “fight tyranny” - that they would not cooperate with their father’s wishes. Mr. Ramsay teases Cam about her inability to tell directions. On the other hand, James thinks how weak Cam is and how she will be unable to hold on to their silent pact. The Ramsay children think of their father’s tyranny, and how they were affected by it.

Back to Lily, she think about Minta and Paul, whose marriage fell through because Paul had gotten together with another woman, but who remain friends nonetheless. She thinks for a moment that she had one over Mrs. Ramsay, since she and William Bankes had never gotten together, as well, but they were also friends.

And then Lily thinks about Mrs. Ramsay, and she calls out her name in anguish. (hide spoiler)]

Question 30:
(view spoiler)[Hmm, it creates an empty feeling: the empty house save for the Ramsays that are left, Lily, and old Augustus Carmichael. Mrs. Ramsay’s absence has left a gaping hole, and I felt it. While she may have had her idiosyncracies and imperfections, she *did* hold her family together, and without her there, which was emphasized in this chapter, it felt quite null. (hide spoiler)]

Question 31:
(view spoiler)[The relationships of the characters that are left haven’t really improved from 10 years ago, perhaps because nothing much has changed where they were concerned. Mr. Ramsay still needed sympathy, James and Cam resented their father, and Lily was still a trying artist and a single woman who missed Mrs. Ramsay. If I may say so, they are still distant from each other, perhaps even more so without Mrs. Ramsay around. (hide spoiler)]

Question 32:
(view spoiler)[Perhaps it was Mr. Ramsay’s way of showing how life can be possibly “tied” back up together after the trials from the loose ends? He knotted her shoelaces 3 times after having “pooh-poohed” Lily’s manner of tying her shoelaces, so it could mean that he was teaching her how to put her life on track. (view spoiler)[I’m sorry, I’m not really sure about this answer. (hide spoiler)] (hide spoiler)]

Question 33:
(view spoiler)[Because Lily truly loved Mrs. Ramsay. Because Lily misses her, and her ways, and because Lily has learned a great deal from Mrs. Ramsay. (hide spoiler)]

Question 34:
(view spoiler)[Because it proved Mrs. Ramsay wrong, that a woman could not “know” life if she did not marry, that marriage is important. Lily adores Mrs. Ramsay, but she disagrees with the notion that people *needed* to marry in order to truly live life. Lily feels that she won that round against Mrs. Ramsay, seeing as how the latter had been pairing her up with William Bankes when she was still alive. (hide spoiler)]

BUDDY: Thank you for that clarification. :D And I can totally feel your disapproval over the lack of time zone choices. :/

[Angus]

Finally! The last batch of questions. Yay! But before that, the point updates are on the other thread. And please check the schedule below:

Questions 29 to 34: Until May 29, Thursday, 11:59PM
Questions 01 to 28: You may still answer these but they will no longer earn points k.

Questions for Part III: Chapters 06 to 13 will be posted in a bit (deadline for this batch is also on May 29, Thursday, 11:59PM).

And here are some interactions:

Hi Mommy Louize,
(view spoiler)[
A certain Edward, presumably a family friend, sent them the skull. A hunting souvenir, perhaps? Mrs. Ramsay let them put in the nursery and it was nailed fast. You ask, why hung a skull in the nursery? I ask, why not (putting into context that the skull, after all, symbolizes death)?
(hide spoiler)]

Hi Tin,
(view spoiler)[
I think Cam's (aka Cammy) token of love is her intention to name her puppy Frisk, the same name that her father named his own puppy (a mongrel, I believe). But she could not say this out loud, hence, the token was private. About the tyranny, Mrs. Ramsay (aka Rose) was not present to perform a Level 3 Aura Soul Spark against Mr. Ramsay, (aka M. Bison, or Akuma, to connect the Hadouken reference). Why the Street Fighter references? Because children don't forget, hehe. Anyway, I was just wondering if you have speculated something on why Lily didn't marry. Do you have any theories?
(hide spoiler)]

Hi Buddy,
(view spoiler)[
The shoelace answer is a curious answer to a trying question. I like how different everyone's answer is for this question.
Anyway, I'd also like to ask you the same thing that I asked Tin. I was just wondering if you have speculated something on why Lily didn't marry. Do you have any theories?
(hide spoiler)]

Thanks Meliza for the A to the FQ. :)

[Angus]

Part III: Chapters 06 to 13

Question 35:
(view spoiler)[
Summarize Part III: Chapters 06 to 13. (1 point for every 20 words, maximum of 10 points)
(hide spoiler)]

Question 36:
(view spoiler)[
What does the short Chapter 06 represent? (1 point)
(hide spoiler)]

Question 37:
(view spoiler)[
Aside from longing, why do you think Lily Briscoe calls out Mrs. Ramsay's name? (1 point)
(hide spoiler)]

Question 38:
(view spoiler)[
What does the lighthouse mean for James Ramsay? (1 point)
(hide spoiler)]

Question 39:
(view spoiler)[
What did distance, both in time and space, allow Lily Briscoe and James Ramsay to realize? (2 points)
(hide spoiler)]

Question 40:
(view spoiler)[
What does Lily Briscoe's painting represent? What is her vision? (2 points)
(hide spoiler)]

Score Boosters:
(view spoiler)[
Check out the set of activities on the next post. If you have answered the questions for this batch, the points that you will earn for the activities will be multiplied by two.
(hide spoiler)]

[Angus]

Hello, these activities are for everyone!

Activity 1: Let's Go to the Lighthouse!
(view spoiler)[
On a separate post, share one photo of a lighthouse per spoiler tag. (1 point per photo, 2 points if photo is a gif, 5 points if you are in the lighthouse photo)
Notes:
-Photo editing and manipulation are not allowed.
-Each photo in your post must be unique.
-You may have multiple posts or a single master post (just let me know if you have updates on the master post).
-Deadline is on May 29, Thursday, 11:59PM.
(hide spoiler)]

Activity 2: The Meaning of Life
(view spoiler)[
On a separate post, share one To the Lighthouse quote per spoiler tag. (1 point per quote, 5 points if they partially match my selected quotes, 7 points if they exactly match my selected quotes. You just have to trust me on this one)
Notes:
-Each quote must end in a period, question mark, or exclamation point (or quotation mark, if using a direct quote).
-Each quote must be at least 20 words.
-You may have multiple posts or a single master post (just let me know if you have updates on the master post).
-Deadline is on May 29, Thursday, 11:59PM.
(hide spoiler)]

-----

A Note from Your Discussion Leader (view spoiler)[all sorts of cheesiness and maybe a dose of TMI are present (hide spoiler)]:
(view spoiler)[
If you are still struggling with the book or if you are looking for a more critical look at the text, I suggest you read the answers of the participants of the online discussion (view spoiler)[at least those who stayed until the very end of this stream (hide spoiler)]. You kick ass, seriously! It is no easy feat to do those summaries. I'm so happy and so proud of you. Difficult book, eh? Hah!

Thank you so much for many, many things (view spoiler)[one of them is for not letting me talk to myself on this thread, haha (hide spoiler)]! I really appreciate your time and effort, and I enjoyed reading ALL your answers (every single line and typo did not escape my eyes). You made our reading, especially my own reading, of the book very special. It feels like I've reread the book ten times, and I don't mind that. I hope the book has imprinted something in your consciousness. If it did, I guess it is worth not paying too much attention to my writing project to focus on this (view spoiler)[if you really want to know, my deadline is in three weeks, and I don't think I can beat that deadline, and I can't help being consumed by this novel because I'm like that, and it's okay, at least for now (hide spoiler)]. This is why I like volunteering to be discussion leader. I secretly harbor a hope that at least one reader will love the chosen book and will think back of the time when he or she read it and not remember the moderator (or maybe vaguely) but remember the reading experience itself.

I consider this is as the F2F that is truly mine alone [The Remains of the Day was assigned to me (award-winners was assumed to be my strongest suit); Lolita was shared with Mae]. Speaking (view spoiler)[bitch mode is on (hide spoiler)], let us remind ourselves of a simple rule in any F2F:
(view spoiler)[
Read the book, join the discussion.
Not ditch the book, diss the discussion.
(hide spoiler)]

Ktnxbye
(hide spoiler)]

[Monique]

BUDDY: In answer to your follow-up question (view spoiler)[I think it was a personal choice for Lily, not to get married. I think she really didn't want to, because she views marriage and personal creativity as contradictory ideas. During that final dinner (view spoiler)[last supper? (hide spoiler)], when the newly-engaged Minta and Paul were there and Lily was looking at Minta being all charming to Mr. Ramsay at the end of the table, she thought:

"For at any rate, she said to herself, catching sight of the salt cellar on the pattern, she need not marry, thank Heaven: she need not undergo that degradation. She was saved from that dilution. She would move the tree rather more to the middle."

For me, the Tree is she: Lily, and "moving the tree to the middle" signifies she must come first, her art and her craft are priority. (hide spoiler)]

In answer to your last post:
(view spoiler)[ (view spoiler)[OMG I totally have a photo with a Lighthouse as background! Haha. Wala lang. (hide spoiler)]
HUGS and congrats in advance for what I know will be a fruitful and honest-to-goodness discussion. :) (hide spoiler)]

[Monique]

Question 35:
(view spoiler)[Chapter 6 describes how the Macalister boy, one of the Ramsays’ companions on the boat on their way to the Lighthouse, catches a fish but throws it back out into the water after lopping off a piece from its side.

Lily continues to paint, and cry out for Mrs. Ramsay. She sees the Ramsays’ boat out on the sea.

Meanwhile, on the boat, James thinks about how much he hates his father, and even thinks about killing him. He thinks about his mother, and how she was the only one who spoke the truth. Clearly, the boy misses his mother. As Cam trails her hands on the water, she hopes that James would eventually make peace with their father.

Back on land, Lily continues to paint, and thinks back on Mrs. Ramsay. She also thinks about Mr. Carmichael and his poetry, Charles Tansley and the married life and daughter that he eventually had, and the life that Mr and Mrs Ramsay had, from what she knew of them.

Back on the boat, the company is almost at the Lighthouse. Surprisingly, Mr. Ramsay doles out praise for James, who had a hand in navigating the boat. James silently appreciates this but keeps detached. Cam, however, knew that her brother appreciated it, and was pleased herself. Later, they reach the Lighthouse.

Finally, Lily finishes her painting. (hide spoiler)]

Question 36:
(view spoiler)[I think it represents a second chance at life. It represents the idea that despite the trials and tribulations that a person is faced with, which is in turn symbolized by that missing square portion on the side of the fish – battle scars, if I may – anyone can still go on and do something about his life, even if he is incomplete. (hide spoiler)]

Question 37:
(view spoiler)[It was also a call made in anguish and despair. It may also be because Lily wanted to accept the fact that Mrs. Ramsay is really dead, that calling her name aloud like that would lend some sort of finality to the situation, thus helping her accept it and then move on. (hide spoiler)]

Question 38:
(view spoiler)[The lighthouse symbolizes authority for James, something that represents what he truly wanted to achieve but which his own father, Mr. Ramsay, has effectively deprived him. I read in a comment somewhere (view spoiler)[perhaps it was yours, Buddy? Can’t remember (hide spoiler)] about a possible Oedipus complex in this novel, and I can’t exactly wrap my head around that idea yet, but if I were to embrace it and use it in the context of the lighthouse then I guess, for James, the lighthouse is Mrs. Ramsay. (hide spoiler)]

Question 39:
(view spoiler)[For Lily, she has realized a lot about herself, about the meaning of her own life. She realized that she can live as an artist, with her painting, and that she is happy with it, and that, from her detached point of view, the Ramsays and the Lighthouse can teach her and help her with her own existence.

As for James, he realized how much he truly hated his father and his tyrannical ways, to the point that he thought about plunging a knife through his heart. Still, he will eventually live out this hatred because his mother, for whose attention and love he craves and feels he is competing against his own father, is no longer there. (hide spoiler)]

Question 40
(view spoiler)[Lily’s painting represents her life, something which tremendously helps her gain perspective. She uses it to understand the meaning of life, painting the scenes that touch her senses in her endeavor to fully appreciate what life has to offer her. (hide spoiler)]

[Louize]

Ito muna! :)

Activity 1: Let's Go to the Lighthouse!
(view spoiler)[

(hide spoiler)]

(view spoiler)[

(hide spoiler)]

[Angus]

Bakit wala akong picture na may lighthouse background?? (view spoiler)[Actually, hindi pa ako nakakita ng lighthouse, haha! (hide spoiler)]

[Meliza]

Question 29
(view spoiler)[Lily Briscoe was alone at the breakfast table. Mr. Ramsay, Cam and James were going to the lighthouse. But Cam and James were not ready and Nancy had forgotten the sandwiches that made Mr. Ramsay lost his temper. Mr. Ramsay looked at Lily. She pretended to drink out of her empty cup to escape him. Mr. Carmichael came with his coffee and sat in the sun. Lily remembered her painting 10 years ago so she got a chair and pitched her easel close enough to Carmichael. Mr. Ramsay stopped by her side.

Mr. Ramsay asked Lily if she had everything she wanted. He sighed (3 times, hehe) and Lily sensed his insatiable hunger for sympathy. Still, Lily said nothing. She heard sounds that could mean James and Cam must be coming. Suddenly, she exclaimed, “What beautiful boots!”. Mr. Ramsay smiled and held his boots while saying that they were first-rate. He talked about the boots then of knots. He unknotted and knotted Lily’s shoes three times. But as Lily wished to say something, Cam and James came. The Ramsays went out to go to the lighthouse.

Lily looked blankly at her canvas and wondered where to start. She painted but remembered Tansley saying that women can’t paint nor write. She also remembered Mrs. Ramsay and James; Charles Tansley throwing stones and Mrs. Ramsay watching. She also contemplated at the meaning of life. She walked to the end of the lawn and saw a boat rather apart from others. She decided that that boat was were the Ramsays sat. She watched the boat take its way out to sea.

Mr. Ramsay sat in the middle of the boat. James and Cam hoped that the breeze would never rise because their father had forced them to come. They vowed, in silence, to stand by each other and resist tyranny to the death. Mr. Ramsay and Macalister talked about ships that were driven into the bay in a storm. Macalister's boy went fishing. Cam felt proud of his father but remembered to resist tyranny to the death. Mr. Ramsay asked Cam which was their house and teased her about points of the compass and directions. He then noticed that she looked frightened and decided to make her smile at him. So he asked about the puppy. James then thought grimly that she would never resist tyranny to the death. Cam then thought about the tyranny that poisoned her childhood. She looked at the shore, wrapped in peace and thought that they have no suffering there.

The sympathy Lily had not given Mr. Ramsay weighed her down so it was difficult for her to paint. She was inclined to ask Mr. Carmichael but he was asleep. She thought of Mrs. Ramsay and the Rayleys. She imagined herself telling it to Mrs. Ramsay that their marriage had turned out rather badly. Lily thought that she triumphed over Mrs. Ramsay by this failure of marriage and because she was also not married, not even William Bankes. She then remembered William Bankes, their friendship and that she loved him. She came back to the surface and wanted to say not one thing, but everything to Mr. Carmichael; about life, about death, about Mrs. Ramsay. She then shouted Mrs. Ramsay’s name and cried. (hide spoiler)]

Question 30
(view spoiler)[Chapter 1 gave a down feeling. Even though there are people in the house, there is something lacking. It’s as if there is no connection among the people inside the house. (hide spoiler)]

Question 31
(view spoiler)[Ten years later, the relationships of the characters have worsened. It could be because of Mrs. Ramsay. Her death somehow made the characters’ lives disconnected. (hide spoiler)]

Question 32
(view spoiler)[Mr. Ramsay wanted to show Lily his method, which is the better method, of tying knots. This soothed his ego. He felt important that he knew the proper method. Lily, on the other hand, allowed him to tie those knots, thus showing sympathy that Mr. Ramsay badly needed. (hide spoiler)]

Question 33
(view spoiler)[It’s because Lily looked up to Mrs. Ramsay. She admired her, her beauty, her power to understand people. And because of the emptiness felt in the current household, she misses her more. She even thought of her while she was painting. It’s as if she needs her guidance too about her current life. (hide spoiler)]

Question 34
(view spoiler)[Mrs. Ramsay once said that it is important for a woman to marry. I think Lily is somehow disturbed of her decision to not marry. But thinking about the failed marriage of Paul and Minta has been a solace for her. This became proof that not every woman could be really happy if married, that a woman could still find happiness and comfort in other things and in her case, thru her art.
(hide spoiler)]

[Monique]

Activity 1: Let's Go to the Lighthouse!

(view spoiler)[
Guia Fortress, which includes the Guia Chapel and the Guia Lighthouse, located in Macau. The Guia Lighthouse is the first modern lighthouse on the Chinese coast. Photo taken November 2007.



Since it's the same lighthouse anyway, I thought I'd upload this inside the same spoiler tag. Posted it because it shows the lighthouse better than the other photo. :)

(hide spoiler)]

(view spoiler)[
The Corregidor Island Lighthouse. I visited Corregidor back in 2002 and saw this lighthouse - unfortunately, I have no photos to show for it. :(

(hide spoiler)]

(view spoiler)[
Look! That's a lighthouse in the background, right? :D In Ocean Park, Hong Kong! :D

(hide spoiler)]

(view spoiler)[
Someday, I will go here and see this. Basco Lighthouse, Batanes.

(hide spoiler)]

(view spoiler)[
The Bagacay Point Lighthouse in Liloan, Cebu. Oldest lighthouse in the country.

(hide spoiler)]

(view spoiler)[
Cape Melville Lighthouse, Palawan.

(hide spoiler)]

(view spoiler)[
Apo Reef Lighthouse, Occidental Mindoro.

(hide spoiler)]

I think if I keep at this, I'm going to develop a certain fascination for lighthouses. Haha.

[Louize]

Extension for
Activity 1: Let's Go to the Lighthouse!

(view spoiler)[
I have to scan and edit these pictures first, because I have to crop my sister and myself off. Ang weird ng itsura namin e. hehehe
(hide spoiler)]

(view spoiler)[

(hide spoiler)]

(view spoiler)[

(hide spoiler)]

(view spoiler)[

This was my biggest disappointment then. We didn't get to see this up close because there was a high tide and can't walk in the sandbar leading to the lighthouse. It's the oldest lighthouse in France, and people said that the inside looks like a cathedral because of the Renaissance decoration.
(hide spoiler)]

[Louize]

Activity 2: The Meaning of Life
(view spoiler)[
To want and not to have, sent all up her body a hardness, a hollowness, a strain. And then to want and not to have- to want and want- how that wrung the heart, and wrung it again and again!
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Beauty was not everything. Beauty had this penalty — it came too readily, came too completely. It stilled life — froze it.
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The urgency of the moment always missed its mark. Words fluttered sideways and struck the object inches too low. Then one gave it up; then the idea sunk back again; then one became like most middle-aged people, cautious, furtive, with wrinkles between the eyes and a look of perpetual apprehension.
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It seemed to her such nonsense—inventing differences, when people, heaven knows, were different enough without that. The real differences, she thought, standing by the drawing-room window, are enough, quite enough.
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Life is difficult; facts uncompromising; and the passage to that fabled land where our brightest hopes are extinguished, our frail barks founder in darkness, one that needs, above all, courage, truth, and the power to endure.
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Naturally men are drowned in a storm, but it is a perfectly straightforward affair, and the depths of the sea are only water after all.
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Our apparitions, the things you know us by, are simply childish. Beneath it is all dark, it is all spreading, it is unfathomably deep; but now and again we rise to the surface and that is what you see us by.
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But what after all is one night? A short space, especially when the darkness dims so soon, and so soon a bird sings, a cock crows, or a faint green quickens, like a turning leaf, in the hollow of the wave.
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Angus, you have to consider this one just because... :)
And she looked at him smiling. For she had triumphed again. She had not said it: yet he knew.
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[Angus]

Hi Buddy,
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Congratulations for swimming through the English channel and streams of consciousness! As of 2:45PM, you are in the lead (view spoiler)[it's still possible that an upset will happen, but it's quite unlikely (hide spoiler)]. I am a firm believer of the reward system, especially for hardworking people who'd give their all to be in the top spot (translation: you get a bookish surprise from me). :)
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Hi Meliza,
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What thoughts or behavior of Lily made you think that she's somehow disturbed of her decision to not marry?
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Hi Mommy L,
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Why did you crop the pics? We'd love to see you in those classic photos!
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[Louize]

Angus wrote: "Hi Mommy Louize,

A certain Edward, presumably a family friend, sent them the skull. A hunting souvenir, perhaps? Mrs. Ramsay let them put in the nursery and it was nailed fast. You ask, why hung a skull in the nursery? I ask, why not (putting into context that the skull, after all, symbolizes death)?"

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I do realize that. But for all intent and purpose, why put it in the nursery? It's a bit unrealistic to put it there. But since symbolism is at stake here, gora lang!
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Angus wrote: "Hi Mommy L,

Why did you crop the pics? We'd love to see you in those classic photos!"

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It's not appropriate for public consumption! LOL
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[Tin]

Q 35:(view spoiler)[The Mcalister boy cut a piece of flesh from the side of the fish and out it on a hook. He then threw the still alive but mutilated body back to the sea.

Lily cried Mrs. Ramsay’s name in painful anguish. Nothing happened. Mr. Carmichael has not heard her. No one did and she was glad of that. The pain slowly subsided to be replaced by relief. She now saw a vision of Mrs. Ramsay putting on her own forehead, a wreath of white flowers, as she was walking in a field of flowers. But the vision soon vanished. Whenever she is painting in London or in the countryside, that same vision would come back to her only to be interrupted by some paper boy crying out, or a face. So that that vision had to be constantly remade. Lily now looks out at the bay and saw a brown spot which she took for Mr. Ramsay’s boat. Mr. Ramsay, who saluted her as he left, who had beautiful boots and asked her for sympathy, which she then refused. She now saw a steamer and the lighthouse. Where are they now? Lily thought. The boat remained in the middle of the bay.

Cam was looking at the shore and thought about how things are more relaxed now. The lighthouse stands immovable and fixed. Mr. Ramsay was reading a book with a mottled cover that looks like a plover’s egg. James felt each page turn and he dreads the time when his dad would look up from it and would tell him some command or remark about something unreasonable. James felt the need to strike his heart with a knife, just as he recalled he did back when he was young. But it wasn’t the old man reading that he wanted to strike, it was the “black winged harpy”, the thing that made his dad act this way, tyrannical. And that James would devote his life fighting such despotism. Somehow James thinks that he and dad know each other and he questions where his anger is coming from. He recalled the time when he told him they won’t be going to the lighthouse. Of how his mother had stiffened and left him alone, with his pair of scissors, so as she could tend to Mr. Ramsay. He feels that he is bound by this rope tightly wound around him by his dad and there is no way out save for him cutting it with a knife.
Lily, still looking at the bay, saw how the sea stretched on like silk and all was calm and quite. The steamer she saw earlier was gone but left its smoke in its wake.

Cam starts to tell himself an adventure story of escape from a sinking ship and felt himself relieved by the tension that was once there, being torn between her and James’pact to oppose tyranny and her father’s plea for sympathy. She begins to think about the time when she crept in from the garden and walked in on her dad sitting opposite some old guy, both reading The Times and talking about some news and another. And she wanted James now to see their father not as the tyrannical figure, but as this old man reading a book. James resisted. Cam went on to tell herself the adventure story, and now she felt so safe being with her dad, same as that day when she crept in from the garden. The waves lulled her now and she murmured “How we perished, each alone”

Lily, looking at the sea, contemplates about distance and how it affects relationships. She thinks that as the farther away Mr. Ramsay sails, her feelings for him changes too. Mr. Carmichael grunts and picks up his book, that made Lily laugh. But after that, she felt the quiet and the stillness of the surroundings. She begins to think now of how Mr. Ramsay and kids will be reaching the lighthouse on lunch time and then she felt bothered by the disproportionate arrangement of the ships outside. This then brought her attention to her painting and its lack of harmony. She cannot seem to reconcile Mrs. Ramsay and her picture. She waits for inspiration to come so that she can fix her painting. She then thinks or Mr. Carmichael and how he is now famous, having his poems published and all. Poems that Lily considers as impersonal. And how he was never the same once he found out Andrew died. As well as how he disliked Mrs. Ramsay and avoided her back then. It must be because of her positiveness and directness. And there might be other people who disliked her for it and for her beauty. She soon thinks of Charles Tansley, how he is now married and has his fellowship and how he is now advocating brotherly love and anti-war stuff, and it seems so different from the Tansley that Lily knew. She now thinks that one needs fifty pairs of eyes to ever truly get a measure of Mrs. Ramsay. After which she thinks of the Ramsay marriage. How it was a hard one. Mr. Ramsay with his gloom and temper, Mrs. Ramsay with her impulses and quickness. How there would be door slamming and throwing of milk and such. How Mr. Ramsay would soon ask for pity from Mrs. Ramsay and the latter would hold back but eventually give in. How everything would seem okay at dinnertime. Then she feels someone come into the drawing room. She wishes the person win’t come out to talk to her and he did not. That mysterious person cast a shadow which Lily held in her mind, for her painting. But then winds stirred and she suddenly cried out Mrs. Ramsay’s name again in anguish. She then marched out past Mr. Carmichael and into the lawn looking for and wanting very much for Mr. Ramsay to come back.

Mr. Ramsay is almost done reading and they were getting close to the lighthouse now. James somehow thinks about how old his dad is and how they shared some sort of knowledge and mutters a line from a poem. Mr. Ramsay says its time to eat and he gave everyone sandwhiches. He praises James for his excellent steering skills and Cam thought about how pleased James must be because this is what he has been waiting for. James is pleased but he doesn’t want anyone to know. Mr. Ramsay soon jumps out of the boat as sprightly as a young man and brought the parcels for the occupants of the lighthouse.

Lily thinks that Mr. Ramsay must have reached the lighthouse by now. She is relieved now because she thinks she has given him sympathy. Mr. Carmichael stood beside her and agrees to the thought that they must have landed on the island with the lighthouse. Lily then turns to her painting and considers how it doesn’t matter if it gets hung in the attic or destroyed. She now drew a line at the center of her painting. She was finished. She now had her vision. (hide spoiler)]

Q 36:(view spoiler)[ The fish was now dead and yet the boy threw it back to the ocean, when it clearly won’t be swimming anymore. I think it kind of represents how we relieve the memories of the dead. Just like how Lily keeps on thinking about Mrs. Ramsay, and it’s like she’s still living in her memories when she clearly won’t be coming back no matter how many times she calls for her. (hide spoiler)]

Q 37: (view spoiler)[I think she calls out Mrs. Ramsay’s name because she only now, truly and fully, had gotten to know who she is. Not only her beauty but her flaws too. And this realization makes her longings run deeper. She admired Mrs. Ramsay before, but this time, it's like she understood her. (hide spoiler)]

Q 38: (view spoiler)[ It said “it confirmed some obscure feeling of his own character.” I really don’t know what that means. But here’s what I make of it anyhow, The Lighthouse of his childhood is quite different from the lighthouse he is seeing now. They are one object, to be sure, but he thinks they’re two separate things. Just like how he sees his father, in two different ways. So maybe the lighthouse represents his dad. (hide spoiler)]

Q 39: (view spoiler)[The distance in both time and space made Lily and James realize the beauty and harmony of things. I think it somehow made both of them turn the chaos they initially were experiencing into a feeling of satisfaction and calmness. They now saw the world more clearly. (hide spoiler)]

Q 40: (view spoiler)[ The painting represents Lily. It’s like for 10 years the painting was incomplete, not in harmony…just like how she was. Confused and bewildered by life. And now with her back at the Ramsays, she has gained perspective. Gotten a grip of who she is and that was her vision, I think. Let me type sing, one last time, because I am going to miss doing this! ♪This is real, this is me, I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be now. Gotta let the light(house) shine on me.♪ (hide spoiler)]

Follow Up Q:(view spoiler)[ Lol! Your Street Fighter cred runs pretty deep. I think Lily has not gotten herself hitched because I feel like she just doesn’t like how marriages go during that time. The whole women should be the sympathy givers and such. And I think observing the union of Mr. and Mrs. Ramsay, in depth, scared her off of holy matrimony for good. Or maybe it was Charles Tansley who scared her off. Haha. (hide spoiler)]

[Meliza]

Angus:(view spoiler)[I think Lily's continuous thoughts about Mrs. Ramsay's belief that women should marry and even about Mr. Bankes showed us that she was a little disturbed. But Paul and Minta's failed marriage wiped off her doubts and ensured that she triumphed over Mrs. Ramsay. (hide spoiler)]

Question 35
(view spoiler)[Macalister’s boy took a fish and cut a square out of its side to make bait and threw it back into the sea.

Lily cried and shouted Mrs. Ramsay’s name. When the longing lessened, she continued painting. She saw a brown spot in the middle of the bay. She concluded that it was Mr. Ramsay’s boat. It was now half way across the bay.

Cam had her hand cut a trail in the sea. They came to a stop. Mr. Ramsay was reading. James kept dreading the moment when his father would look up and speak sharply about the stopping of the boat. He thought that if he does, he would take a knife and strike him to the heart. He realized that it was not him whom he wanted to kill but the thing that descended on him, which he compared to a harpy. He even thought that his father and he alone knew each other. He then remembered 10 years ago, when his father told him that they won’t be able to go to the lighthouse. He looked at the lighthouse and contemplated on the difference of his past and present view of the lighthouse. He also thought of his mother. The sail swung again and the boat move again and shot through the waves.

Lily still stood and looked over the bay. She felt that the Ramsays were gone forever. The steamer had vanished but smoke still hung in the air.

Cam drew her fingers through the waves. She began to tell herself a story of adventure about escaping a sinking ship. He thought of her father and the other men whom his father talked to in his study. In her mind, she wanted James to look at their father, to understand and get along with him. She went on telling herself the story about escaping the sinking ship. Waves were all around them. She dabbled her fingers in the water once again.

Lily Briscoe thought that so much depends on distance. Her feeling for Mr. Ramsay changed as he sailed further across the bay. He contemplated on the life of Mr. Carmichael, on his dislike for Mrs. Ramsay. She thought that there must have been people who disliked Mrs. Ramsay very much. He also thought of Charles Tansley, how he got married and even compared him to the red ants crawling. She again imagined Mr. and Mrs. Ramsay’s lives and their marriage. Then, she went past Mr. Carmichael holding her brush, and wondered where the boat and Mr. Ramsay were and that she wanted him.

Mr. Ramsay was almost done reading. They were very close to the lighthouse now. Cam was tired of looking at the sea. James and Cam looked at each other and vowed that they would fight tyranny to the death. Macalister praised James in his sailing. James thought grimly that his father never praised him. Mr. Ramsay opened the parcel and they ate. Macalister and Mr. Ramsay talked, about their ages and three men drowning at that same spot. At last, Mr. Ramsay praised James. Cam thought and addressed James silently that he got it at last, what James had wanted. James was so pleased that he was not going to let anybody share his pleasure. He looked indifferent. They saw two men on the lighthouse, watching and ready to meet them. When they arrived at the lighthouse, Mr. Ramsay put on his hat, stood and sprang like a young man holding his parcel. The others followed.

Lily thought that the Ramsays must have reached the lighthouse. Mr. Carmichael stood beside her and agreed that they have landed. Lily turned into her canvas. She thought that it would be hung in the attics or destroyed but it didn’t matter. She drew another line in the center. It was finished. She have had her vision. (hide spoiler)]

Question 36
(view spoiler)[It could represent that even if someone has a deficiency or a defect, he could still start over again and continue living. (hide spoiler)]

Question 37
(view spoiler)[I couldn't think of any other reason aside from longing. Huhu. Maybe she thinks that by calling her name, she could call out some inner realization that could help her in her vision. But still, I associate this to longing. (hide spoiler)]

Question 38
(view spoiler)[The lighthouse for James is his father's power over them. When he was still 6 years old, he wanted to go to the lighthouse. He wants his father's power, his status, including her mother's attention. When he grew up, his father was the one who wanted for them to go to the lighthouse. James was not that interested anymore because of his mother's death. Their trip to the lighthouse could signify that his father shared to him his power and that his father was not that dominant anymore. This was shown when Mr. Ramsay didn't speak sharply to them when the boat stopped, when James realized that it was not his father he wanted to kill, and when his father praised him. (hide spoiler)]

Question 39
(view spoiler)[To Lily Briscoe, it was distance in time with Mrs. Ramsay and distance in space with Mr. Ramsay. Both of these distances made her realize that it wasn't necessary to follow the domestic life for a woman that the Ramsays portray.

For James Ramsay, it was distance in both time and space with the lighthouse. He realized the difference of his perspective of the lighthouse when he was still young and today when he's close to the lighthouse. (hide spoiler)]

Question 40
(view spoiler)[Lily's painting represents the fulfillment in her life. When she completed the painting, she had her vision. Her vision is her fulfillment as a woman and as an artist. (hide spoiler)]

[Meliza]

Activity 1: Let's Go to the Lighthouse!
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My cousin and I at the Guia Lighthouse in Macau

(Hi Monique!)
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This is the 18th century Guisi Point Light House in Brgy Dolores, Nueva Valencia in Guimaras. We missed this on our Iloilo/Guimaras trip last month. :(
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[Arjaye]

oh shoot.. i totally bummed out of this discussion.. arrgghh! sorry...sorry! big goals at the start,,now just want to reach the finish line at least... duty called, things happened, anyway, have fun going to the lighthouse, friends! :)

[Tin]

Activity 1: Let's Go to the Lighthouse!

(view spoiler)[Sadly, I have never been to or seen a lighthouse. And I honestly never given them much thought until now. They look really grand standing alone, like a sentinel, in the middle of a vast body of water. They look so darned romantic (hide spoiler)]

(view spoiler)[This is a lighthouse in New Brighton. It looks cool because it seems like the water has covered the land from which it stands. Image source:HERE
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(view spoiler)[This is Roosevelt Island Lighthouse. I like the image because there's a seagull perched at the peak of the structure and may naglalampungan pa sa tabi. :) Image Source:HERE (hide spoiler)]

[Tin]

Activity 2: The Meaning of Life
(view spoiler)[ “Was there no safety? No learning by heart of the ways of the world? No guide, no shelter, but all was miracle, and leaping from the pinnacle of a tower into the air? Could it be, even for elderly people, that this was life?--startling, unexpected, unknown?” (hide spoiler)]

(view spoiler)[ “No, she thought, one could say nothing to nobody. The urgency of the moment always missed its mark. Words fluttered sideways and struck the object inches too low.” (hide spoiler)]

(view spoiler)[ “Our apparitions, the things you know us by, are simply childish. Beneath it is all dark, it is all spreading, it is unfathomably deep; but now and again we rise to the surface and that is what you see us by.” (hide spoiler)]

(view spoiler)[ “What is the meaning of life? That was all—a simple question; one that tended to close in on one with years, the great revelation had never come. The great revelation perhaps never did come. Instead, there were little daily miracles, illuminations, matches struck unexpectedly in the dark.” (hide spoiler)]

(view spoiler)[“It seemed to her such nonsense-inventing differences, when people, heaven knows, were different enough without that.” (hide spoiler)]

(view spoiler)[“When life sank down for a moment, the range of experience seemed limitless... Beneath it is all dark, it is all spreading, it is unfathomably deep; but now and again we rise to the surface and that is what you see us by. Her horizon seemed to her limitless.” (hide spoiler)]

(view spoiler)["The Lighthouse was then a silvery, misty-looking tower with a yellow eye, that opened suddenly, and softly in the evening. Now-James looked at the Lighthouse. He could see the white-washed rocks; the tower, stark and straight; he could see that it was barred with black and white; he could see windows in it; he could even see washing spread on the rocks to dry. So that was the Lighthouse, was it? No, the other was also the Lighthouse. For nothing was simply one thing. The other Lighthouse was true too." (hide spoiler)]

[Arjaye]

Activity1: Lets go to the Lighthouse!

(view spoiler)[ ive been in one, last year.. parola ng cape boreador sa ilocos.. but i dont know how to put up the pic here. :) (hide spoiler)]

[Monique]

Activity 2: The Meaning of Life

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"It is permissible even for a dying hero to think before he dies how men will speak of him hereafter. His fame lasts perhaps two thousand years. And what are two thousand years?" (hide spoiler)]

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"If he put implicit faith in her, nothing should hurt him; however deep he buried himself or climbed high, not for a second should he find himself without her." (hide spoiler)]

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"Every throb of this pulse seemed, as he walked away, to enclose her and her husband, and to give to each that solace which two different notes, one high, one low, struck together, seem to give each other as they combine." (hide spoiler)]

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"If Shakespeare had never existed, he asked, would the world have differed much from what it is today? Does the progress of civilization depend upon great men? Is the lot of the average human being better now than in the time of the Pharaohs?" (hide spoiler)]

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"For him to gaze as Lily saw him gazing at Mrs Ramsay was a rapture, equivalent, Lily felt, to the loves of dozens of young men (and perhaps Mrs Ramsay had never excited the loves of dozens of young men). It was love, she thought, pretending to move her canvas, distilled and filtered; love that never attempted to clutch its object; but, like the love which mathematicians bear their symbols, or poets their phrases, was meant to be spread over the world and become part of the human gain. So it was indeed." (hide spoiler)]

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"Was it wisdom? Was it knowledge? Was it, once more, the deceptiveness of beauty, so that all one's perceptions, half-way to truth, were tangled in a golden mesh?" (hide spoiler)]

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"What are was there, known to love or cunning, by which one pressed through into those secret chambers? What device for becoming, like waters poured into one jar, inextricably the same, one with the object one adored? Could the body achieve it, or the mind, subtly mingling in the intricate passages of the brain? or the heart?" (hide spoiler)]

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"How then, she had asked herself, did one know one thing or another thing about people, sealed as they were? Only like a bee, drawn by some sweetness or sharpness in the air intangible to touch or taste, one haunted the dome-shaped hive, ranged the wastes of the air over the countries of the world alone, and then haunted the hives with their murmurs and their stirrings; the hives which were people." (hide spoiler)]

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"There was freedom, there was peace, there was, most welcome of all, a summoning together, a resting on a platform of stability. Not as oneself did one find rest ever, in her experience (she accomplished here something dexterous with her needles), but as a wedge of darkness. Losing personality, one lost the fret, the hurry, the stir; and there rose to her lips always some exclamation of triumph over life when things come together in this peace, this rest, this eternity; and pausing there she looked out to meet that stroke of the Lighthouse, the long steady stroke, the last of the three, which was her stroke, for watching them in this mood always at this hour one could not help attaching oneself to one thing especially of the things one saw; and this thing, the long steady stroke, was her stroke." (hide spoiler)]

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"But what after all is one night? A short space, especially when the darkness dims so soon, and so soon a bird sings, a cock crows, or a faint green quickens, like a turning leaf, in the hollow of the wave. Night, however, succeeds to night. The winter holds a pack of them in store and deals them equally, evenly, with indefatigable fingers. They lengthen; they darken." (hide spoiler)]

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"Loveliness and stillness clasped hands in the bedroom, and among the shrouded jugs and sheeted chairs even the prying of the wind, and the soft nose of the clammy sea airs, rubbing, snuffling, iterating, and reiterating their questions--'Will you fade? Will you perish?'-- scarcely disturbed the peace, the indifference, the air of pure integrity, as if the question they asked scarcely needed that they should answer: we remain." (hide spoiler)]

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"What is the meaning of life? That was all--a simple question; one that tended to close in on one with years. The great revelation had never come. The great revelation perhaps never did come. Instead there were little daily miracles, illuminations, matches struck unexpectedly in the dark; here was one." (hide spoiler)]