Thinking Activity: Virginia Woolf's "To The Light House"

Hello Readers,

 This Blog is a part of my Classroom activity on Virginia Woolf's "To The Light House"  given by professor in which our task is to think and interpret the following points. To see teacher's blog click here

1) How can you explain that 'What' Virginia Woolf wanted to say(for example, the complexity of human relationship, the everyday battles that people are at in their relationship with near and dear ones, the struggle of a female artist against the values of middle/upper class society etc) can only be said in the way she has said? (Key: The 'How' of the narrative technique is to be discussed along with features of stream of consciousness technique which helps Woolf to put in effective manner what she experienced in abstraction.)

Yes, very appropriately Woolf used complexity in human relationship like the Mr. Ramsay and Mrs. Ramsay. This kind of relationship we can find in everyone's relation in real life and also she said about the struggle in artist's life like in the novel Lily struggle a lot and also we can find similar in our time also that many artist like filmmaker, writers, cartoonist, painters also beaten by public and power or patriarchy.   If we read biographically then we can come to know that Virginia Woolf used this technique to prove that women also can write and paint better than men. So, she used stream of consciousness technique 3rd person narrative to move from one to another character's mind. With the help of this technique narrator shows us the inner flow of thoughts walking in the mind of character for instance the(James' thought). So, we can come to know about the inner and outer relationship of characters with each others.

2) Do you agree: "The novel is both the tribute and critique of Mrs. Ramsay"? Can we read Mrs. Ramsay in the context of the idea of ideal Indian Woman - Karyeshu dasi, Karaneshu manthri; Bhojeshu mata, Shayaneshu rambha; Kshamayeshu dharithri, Roopeshu lakshmi; Satkarma yukta, Kuladharma patni.

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

Yes, we read Mrs. Ramsay as an Ideal woman through above given slok. We will try to understand her characteristic through the slok.

Karyeshu Dasi - means not exactly one who works like maid. But what is the main quality we look in maid is loyality. So, we can say that Mrs. Ramsay is very loyal to her household and to her family who obey her husband and nurture her children very loyally.

Karaneshu Mantri: Mrs. Ramsay also a very good adviser. She gives very good advise to her husband and her children for what is good or bad.

Bhojyeshu Mata: She is very good at cooking and feeding food to her family even her husband get anger for the test of food but she keep calm and when we see the dinner party in which she arranged many delicious foods item and show her unconditional love for feeding food.

Shayaneshu Rambha: Rambha means Apsara who is very beautiful and give comfort to man. We can see this kind of quality in Mrs. Ramsay also, she is very beautiful and comfort giver to her husband and we can see through the numbers of her children that how she fulfilled sexual desire of her husband.

Roopeshu Laxmi: Mrs. Ramsay also Goddess of dedication and Humility. Her dedication towards her family and household make her gorgeous. 

Kshmayeshu Dharithri: Mrs. Ramsay is like mother earth who forgive every misbehavior of her husband. So, here we can find the quality boundless compassion. So, here we can say that Mrs. Ramsay is a Kula Dharma Patni(Perfect house wife) she possess the qualities like loyalty, intelligence, unconditional love, cheers for good causes, dedication, humility and boundless compassion. 

3) Considering symbolically, does the Lighthouse stand for Mrs. Ramsay or the narrator(Virginia Woolf herself who is categorically represented by Lily)? Secondly, the narrator/author cannot fully disappear from the novel and thus the stoicism of Lily to paint and thus prove that she can paint, is symbolically presented in stoicism of Lighthouse.

As it is suggested in the presentation, we can interpret the symbol of lighthouse with Mrs.Ramsay who is the center in the novel and direction giver to the family like lighthouse gives the way to the bushed people,About the narrator, with biographically context, we can say that Virginia's character is more presented in Lily's character and her dilemma is Virginia Woolf's own mental dilemma. Furthermore, we can say that Virginia portrayed her character in the Lily's character because Woolf also was  a stoic personality in her time as an artist so she is connected with the Lily throughout the novel.

4) In the article by Joseph Blonter, two myths are patterned together. Name the myths? How they are zeroed down to the symbols of 'Window' and 'Lighthouse'? How does the male phallic symbol represent feminine Mrs. Ramsay?

In the present novel Woolf used two myths one is Pagan myth in which Woolf connected Mrs. Ramsay with Rhea who had similar numbers of children like Mrs. Ramsay and also a well nurtured woman and with Demeter an important characteristic of Mrs. Ramsay in her Demeter aspect is her complete femininity as Demeter was worshiped more by men than women like Ramsay who respected more men than women and also Demeter was known as maker of earth fruitful while Mrs. Ramsay also a maker of Fruitful family. Another myth is the myth of Oedipus. We can see the aspect of the myth between Mrs. Ramsay and James, James hate his father because he do not want that his mother love his father.

5) What do you understand by the German term "Kunstlerroman"? How can you justify that 'To the light House' is 'Kunstlerroman' novel?

The German term  "Kunstlerroman"  means development or a struggle of an artist as in 'To the Light house" Lily's and Carmichael characters the novel itself is a struggle of an artist. It also deals with arrogant rejection of the commonplace life, and biographically we can say that Virginia Woolf also becoming an artist in her life and also faced lots of struggle in life because of patriarchal thinking about women of her time,in this novel the character of Lily makes it  'Kunstlerroman' novel.

6) Explain Lily's dilemma in 'To the light house' 

Throughout the novel, Lily strongly oppose to patriarchal power, she believe in feminism and freedom. She wants to be free without any kind of male company but at the end of the novel we come to know that she also wants be a like Mrs. Ramsay a married life have family and children to be enjoy thelife. Ramsay. So, Lily was very confuse to follow pure femininity or man company and also somewhere he attracted towards Mr. Bank.

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

When we read the beginning of the novel it has effective start like we enter in the mind of characters one by one and in the film it has differently begun with the introduction of the characters. At the end, the confusion of Briscoe  has very well described by the narration and in the film, it has described by the visual effects of light and sound. Both are effective but we can say that novel has long narration of Lily's dilemma and her vision.

8) How do you interpret the last line of the novel - It was done it was finished

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

9) What does the catalog named as 'Army and Navy' signify? What does cutting 'Refrigerator signify?

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

10)  Why did Virginia give such prominence to the tale of the "Fisherman's wife"? In particular, why did she weave such a misogynist tale into the fabric of a book which so eloquently challenges received patriarchal notions about the role and capabilities of women?

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

11) How is India represented in 'To the light house'

6th time India mentioned in the present novel, first is for patriarchal rule means male dominant country in which women's role like Mrs. Ramsay as Pure Bharatiya naari. Second is the wealth of India like Gold, Pearl etc. This kind of mentioning of India we can see in many English literature like in John Donne's poetry in which he mentioned spicy of India. Dr. Faustus in which Faustus's desire for Indian Gold and Pearls. And in this novel the poet Carmichael wish and desire to India for peace.