BOOK 30: To The Lighthouse

[Rachel]

This is the discussion thread for To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf. Discussion day is Sunday, January 8, but questions are being posted now to give everyone plenty of time to prepare.

And remember, you don't have to stick to the questions I've written - feel free to skip any of these, or add your own.

1. okay this is the dumbest English Class 101 question ever but you knew it was coming What does the lighthouse represent?
2. What did you think of the way Woolf played with time (e.g. a single afternoon took up half of the book, and ten years were condensed to ~20 pages)?
3. Discuss Mrs. Ramsay's character - what were the ways that her character (a) defied and (b) dovetailed with the gender expectations of the time? What was the ultimate 'point' of her character, so to speak?
4. What role did Lily's character play in the story?
5. Since there isn't a lot of action in this book, what do you consider to be the climax of the story? Or does Woolf intentionally subvert the novel's traditional format but forgoing a climax?
6. Which other characters do you consider the most noteworthy, and why?
7. Which themes struck you as the most significant? What points does Woolf make about human relationships, gender roles, marriage, etc...?

Happy discussing!

[Rachel]

sorry virginia woolf that you're not getting any attention. here we go. I... did not particularly like this book. I was really in awe of woolf's skill but at the same time I just found the prose almost impenetrable in a really frustrating way. I had absolutely no idea what was going on for at least half of this book and I actually had to use sparknotes to keep up, which I haven't done since high school. it was brilliant, just not a particularly enjoyable reading experience for me.

1. What does the lighthouse represent?

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

2. What did you think of the way Woolf played with time (e.g. a single afternoon took up half of the book, and ten years were condensed to ~20 pages)?

this was one element that I found really interesting. I do enjoy experimental prose like this. I guess the point was the subjectivity of time to the human experience; how time isn't the linear thing that we think it is.

3. Discuss Mrs. Ramsay's character - what were the ways that her character (a) defied and (b) dovetailed with the gender expectations of the time? What was the ultimate 'point' of her character, so to speak?

as a woman who embodied a lot of the ~virtues of femininity~ mrs. ramsay wasn't really an openly subversive figure, but at the same time, there were certain aspects of her character that didn't fall in line with the way she was meant to behave. e.g., refusing to tell mr. ramsay that she loved him. I think that's significant because it highlights how the power dynamic in their relationship isn't as clear-cut as it appears to outsiders: he's essentially begging her for validation and she refuses to give it to him.

4. What role did Lily's character play in the story?

I liked lily a lot. a lot of the central action (as far as there was 'action' in this book) was surrounding a domestic scene and lily sort of existed and observed outside that. she's also a sort of antithesis to the conventional femininity embodied by mrs. ramsay... I think she sort of longs to be accepted while still wanting to embrace her own differences?

5. Since there isn't a lot of action in this book, what do you consider to be the climax of the story? Or does Woolf intentionally subvert the novel's traditional format but forgoing a climax?

I think you could consider mrs. ramsay's death to be the climax.... but I would actually argue that it isn't, because of the off-hand manner in which it's presented. in a more traditionally formatted novel I think it would probably be the climax, but not here. so maybe it's when they make it to the lighthouse? but I'm not sure.

6. Which other characters do you consider the most noteworthy, and why?

mr. ramsay and james, I think, for the way their characters sort of parallel one another.

7. Which themes struck you as the most significant? What points does Woolf make about human relationships, gender roles, marriage, etc...?

the thing that stuck with me about this book was how it was a commentary on the passage of time and how transient and subjective that is, and how we use art as a means to try to escape death in a way? I also thought woolf's portrayal and commentary on gender roles was interesting and certainly innovative for her time.

sorry that none of this is particularly eloquent - this book was really thought-provoking for me but it's hard to articulate a lot of it because of just how dense it is. there's a lot to unpack here and it's the sort of book where I almost wish I'd studied it in an english class in school. I think I would have hated it back then, but I would have benefited from a professional explaining a lot of these themes.