"To The Lighthouse" by Virginia Woolf - blog task

"To The Lighthouse" by Virginia Woolf - blog task

Hello Friends,
This Blog is a part of my online blog task for Virginia Woolf’s “To The Lighthouse”.
Click here to see the Worksheet of the blog task         

 

1. Virginia Woolf tries to talk about a simple life with a simple wish and simple style. But she makes it pretty complex with her style of writing. Writing style also meters lot in any form of art and that’s why some particular things must be needed and as per my understanding she done justice with what a message she tries to convey through her writing. She drags reader into absurdity with her writing and it is her stream of consciousness. She presented it very well and that’s why I can say that what she wants to say can be said effectively in this way and in this style only.    

 
2. Yes I am fully agree with this statement that, “The novel is both the tribute and critique of Mrs. Ramsay”. At one point writer tries to convey that she is quite good at house hold work and good housewife. But at the same time she portrays Lily Briscoe and it is known as Virginia Woolf herself. So, we can say that may be she is not satisfied with Mrs. Ramsey’s character and she wants to throw light on both the perspective of a lady’s life. One is as a good house keeper and another one is as an individual human being. Mrs. Ramsay’s painting gives us message that she is also a person outside the home, without home.

3. As per my thinking, lighthouse is not stand for only Mrs. Ramsay or Lily Briscoe but it is stand for individuality, it is stand for inner voice. As we know, though Mrs. Ramsay does only household work but she is a strong individual person, who handles everything in every situation. Lily is also a painter and it is itself an achievement. They both did their work very positively. So it is not particularly for any single lady character but it for individuality. It is for strong, personal self confidence, self assurance, faith, belief and support. This lighthouse is stand for their strong inner foundation.     

4. Here Woolf has used Oedipus myth and myth of Rhea and other Goddesses. The light house is relevant to the human phallic symbol but here it stands for Mrs Ramsay. She is the live force, creative force of the Ramsay family. Exalting the feminine principle in life over the masculine, Virginia Woolf built her novel around a character embodying the life-giving role of the female. In opposition, she shows the male, both in the father and son aspect, as death-bearing?arid, sterile, hateful, and "fatal" . The female principle in life is exalted in all its aspects of love which are opposed to the harsh and critical aspects of the male principle, of fertility with its pattern of triumph over death in rebirth. What, then, becomes of the single obvious central symbol, the Lighthouse. 

5. “Kunstlerromen” means growth of an artist in simple words. So, we can easily say that ‘To the Light House’ is a Kunstlerromen novel because it shows two artist’s growth. Fist one is inside the novel and another one is outside the novel. Lily Briscoe completes her painting at the end of the novel which was started and left by her. It means that painting grows in her mind. So, Lily Briscoe’s growth as a painter in the novel and Virginia Woolf’s growth as an author outside the novel is clearly visible. And main part is that growth is natural and because of experiences.

7. This novel is an open ended novel that is the first thing. Another thing is if we look at its ‘beginning’ and ‘starting’ then we can conclude that James’ wish was fulfilled at the end of the novel. So it is the major thing which is different in it. And I am agreeing with it that novel is more poignant than movie because movie can restrict our imagination. We can simply feel tone in movie but in novel we cannot. So we have to assume speaker’s tone as per our wish and it makes it more sharpen than movie. What may be reader’s mood is that type of emotions he/she can read from a text. 

8. At the end Lily Briscoe completed her painting and after completing it she realizes that she made a mistake. She tries to portray Mrs. Ramsay but she is such a huge personality so she cannot portray her in a painting and that’s what she realizes that she is such a fool that she even try to done such an impossible work. She also repeats Mrs. Ramsay’s words that “Closed doors, open windows” and I feel that she is instruction to herself that she can never become Mrs. Ramsay and she cannot justify with her painting also. So now close door of thinking about her and open windows of understanding that she has to believe in herself.