Thinking Activity: "To the Lighthouse"

Hello  readers!

Here on my blog. This blog related  to the thinking activity  on "To the Lighthouse."

 Question : 1can 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 abstractions.)

Answer : 

yes Virginia Wolf has used this technique very well.In earlier times it was believed that a woman could do nothing.But the power of this novel woman is shown that a woman can do anything and Virginia Woolf has also used human relationships very well in this novel and has also used a lot of techniques.If we look at today's times, there are many such conflicts that a woman can do this work and can do this work.

For example we can take "Jhansi Ki Rani."

Question:2 Do you agree: "The novel is both the tribute and critique of Mrs. Ramsay"? (Key: Take some clues from the painting of Mrs Ramsay drawn by Lily Briscoe and the article by Andre Viola and Glenn Pedersen. Can we read Mrs. R in context of the idea of Ideal Indian Woman - Karyeshu dasi, Karaneshu manthri; Bhojeshu mata, Shayaneshu rambha; Kshamayeshu dharithri, Roopeshu lakshmi; Satkarma yukta, Kuladharma pathni. )

Answer:

 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.

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.

Question:3 Considering symbolically, does the Lighthouse stand for Mrs. Ramsay or the narrator (Virginia Woolf herself who is categorically represented by Lily)? (Key: Take help from the presentation on Symbolism to connect Mrs. Caroline Ramsay with Lighthouse. 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. Read 'lighthouse' symbol from presentation slide with this insight to connect lighthouse with the narrator. Give your concluding remarks in the comment below in this blog )

 

Answer: Much has been suggested by Mrs. Ramsay in this novel. The lighthouse is a symbol that can be said to be a beacon that shows the right way to a scattered family.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.

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

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

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

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

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

Answer:The novel presents the ideas of Mrs. Ramsay's daughters. There are many differences in these ideasIn To the Lighthouse, Mrs. Ramsay’s daughters are represented s sporting with infidel ideas; there is also mute question in their mind about difference and chivalry, they are also credited with “Manliness in their girlish hearts.” Mrs. Ramsay’s three daughters are mentioned namely Nancy, Rose and Prue. But two of them of them, Nancy ands Rose are to speak non-existence but Prue, dies from too complete an obedience to her mother’s wishes. Others are Lily and Cam. Lily is adopted child. Here Lily symbolizes her fight against patriarchy and its ministering figure of the Angel in the House, with the death of the mother; it was to be fought against her image.

Question:7  Movie Screening.

Answer: We can see the link of this blog: Click here

Question:8 You have compared the 'beginning' and the 'ending' of the novel and the film adaptation of the novel directed by Colin Gregg (you can see it again in the embedded video below this). Do you think that the novel is more poignant than the movie? If yes, do you ascribe the fact that the power of words is much greater than that of the screen / visuals?

Answer : Yes it is. The novel is more poignant than the movie.  Both words and screen have its own advantages but words are more powerful than the screen. In reading novel one has chance to imagine the things with various aspects with various colours but it is not possible in the screening the movie. Screening movie is restricted the power of imaginations. Novel has poetic charm which movie can't provide to readers or audiences. And  movie is always directed as director wants, not as writer actually described in novel. No doubt screening movie also help us to clarify the ideas and some confusion but it harms readers pictorial quality

Question: 9 How do you interpret the last line of the novel (It was done; it was finished.

Yes, she thought, laying down her brush in extreme fatigue, I have had my vision.) with reference to the ending of the film (After the final stroke on the canvass with finishing touch, Lily walks inside the house. As she goes ante-chamber, the light and dark shade makes his face play hide-and-seek. She climbs stairs, puts her brush aside, walks through the dark and light to enter her room. Gently closes the door - speaks: "Closed doors, open windows" - lies on the bed and with some sort of satisfaction utters: "Dearest Briscoe, you are a fool".) 

Answer: The last lines " It was done; it was finished.Yes, she thought, laying down her brush in extreme fatigue, I have had my vision." It interprets with two aspects with two aspects. first one as literal meaning of the words now painting is completed and finished means work is done by her successfully. And metaphorically, it suggests that  she completed the painting of Mrs.Ramsay who is alive in her painting for womanhood and her qualities.

Question: 10   What does the catalogue named as 'Army and Navy' signify? What does cutting of 'Refrigerator'  signify?

Answer:

The last lines " It was done; it was finished.Yes, she thought, laying down her brush in extreme fatigue, I have had my vision."

It interprets with two aspects with two aspects. first one as literal meaning of the words now painting is completed and finished means work is done by her successfully. And metaphorically, it suggests that  she completed the painting of Mrs.Ramsay who is alive in her painting for womanhood and her qualities

Question:11  Why did Virginia give such prominence to the tale of the “Fisherman’s Wife”? In particular, why did she weave such a misogynist tale into the fabric of a book which so eloquently challenges received patriarchal notions about the roles and capabilities of women?

Answer:

Today’s “rickety and ramshackle fabric” will be run up around the framework of “The Fisherman’s Wife.” My construction method will be similar to the one I used for the refrigerator, and my experiences in making sense of the refrigerator should help me round my fairytale investigations into something “sufficiently like the real object to allow of affection, laughter, and argument.” As always I am trying to be a good “common reader.”

Enough throat clearing. As with the refrigerator, my starting point is why? Why did Virginia give such prominence to the tale of the “Fisherman’s Wife”? In particular, why did she weave such a misogynist tale into the fabric of a book which so eloquently challenges received patriarchal notions about the roles and capabilities of women? The emotional and moralizing weight of “The Fisherman’s Wife” seems totally at odds with the strong feminism expressed in To the Lighthouse. What is the tale doing and how is it working in the novel?

The answers to these questions are various and complex. Structural parallels between tale and novel abound, yet the parallels are not always easy to interpret. Take, for instance, the parallel between the fisherman’s wife and Mrs. Ramsay. Both make unreasonable demands upon their husband. The wife keeps asking her husband to return to the sea and request more and more from the flounder–while, in opposition to Mr. Ramsay’s rejecting the possibility of a sea excursion, Mrs. Ramsay repeatedly and unreasonably insists on the possibility of fair weather. In her desire to protect James’s sensibilities, she opposes hopes and wishes against Mr. Ramsay’s “accuracy of judgment” and Charles Tansley’s insistence that “There’ll be no landing at the lighthouse.”

In telling her tale, Mrs. Ramsay is harming herself and her society. Virginia makes this self-harm explicit when she has Mrs. Ramsay consider her husband while she resumes reading the tale to James. As Mrs. Ramsay reads aloud, she feels not just physical fatigue but some undefined “faintly disagreeable sensation.” Even if she does not know precisely where the sensation comes from, and even if she does not “let herself put into words her dissatisfaction,” she realizes that she is bothered by her husband’s dependence upon her, and also by the burden which that dependence puts on her. To protect her husband and to keep him happy, she feels driven to conceal the truth and possibly even tell lies. She not only hides the small daily problems, she conceals her doubts about his accomplishments. Her support of her husband and her manipulation of public perception make her physically unwell. Though she seems to triumph and to create a harmonious world by her acquiescence at the end of “The Window” section of the novel, in the subsequent “Time Passes” section we find her mysteriously dead and the world at war.

Question 12  How is India represented in 'To The Lighthouse'? (Read this blog for passing reference) 

Answer:

“Yes, of course, if it’s fine tomorrow,

Said Mrs.Ramsey.” But you’ll have to be up with the lark. ”she

added ” 

                     This dialogue proves that she is a loving and traditional mother who loves her child a lot. And, to give him consolation that tomorrow is whether will good we will go for the ‘Lighthouse’. In that time Mr. Ramsey said that-

“ but.” said his father, stopping in front of the drawing room window”

“It won’t be fine.”

                     This dialogue is the image of father image in the ‘patriarchal society.’ And second dialogue about the ‘power position’ of men in the house. India is ruled by the men.

Question:13 Write summaries of these articles:

(1)Mythic Patterns in To The Lighthouse.

(2)Fluidity vs Masculinity: Lily's Dilemma in Woolf's To The Lighthouse

(3)Vision in To The Lighthouse by Glenn Pedersen

Answer:

Mythical Patterns in ' To the Lighthouse ' by Joseph L. Blotner :

                      According to Joseph the most useful myth for interpreting the novel is that of the Primordial Goddess, who is threefold in relation to Zeus: Mother ( Reha ), wife ( Demeter ) and daughter ( Persephone ). One of the major source of the myth is the Homeric ' Hymn to Demeter'. May be she consciously  used myth in the writing. In the novel the myth of Oedipus and the kore whose provide framework and this novel can be explained in the term of christian myth. Sigmund Freud's interpretation of the Oedipus myth is almost as famous as the myth itself. in the novel James jealousy and feelings of rivalry with his father are intensified by his perhaps unconscious knowledge of the sexual aspects of the relationship between his parents. As Mrs. Ramsay gives love, stability and fruitfulness to her family and those in her orbit.

Fluidity vs Masculinity: Lily's Dilemma In Woolf's ' To the lighthouse ' by Andre Viola :-

                                             According to Andre Viola in the novel character of Lily Briscoe's reaction when Mrs. Ramsay was died. Her reactions are same to those of another daughter. In the novel one phrase spoken by Tansley that,

" Women can't Paint...."

                                              Mrs. Ramsay betrays a similar ambivalence at dinner. No doubt she is the presiding hostess who smooths over tensions between people over tensions between people and offers them exceptional nature.

                                              Virginia Woolf it must be stressed in view of the conditions of her early life in late Victorian england, fought an extremely courageous battle against these conditions and formulated audacious and far seeing position on gender issues.

Vision in ' To the Lighthouse ' by Glenn Pedersen :-

                                                 According to Gelenn Pedersen , In the novel ' To the Lighthouse ' the vision of Lily Briscoe reveals that it was Mrs. Ramsay. She was matriarch whose dominion lives ten years  but Mr. Ramsay experience it and Lliy Briscoe finally comes to know her vision. Moreover She has relations with ,ale members of the household her to self- centered. Another thing was that Mrs. Ramsay had attitude towards others is determined by their attitude towards her. When Mr. Ramsay demanded sympathy, Mrs.Ramsay became animated and alive. at the last part of the novel Mr. Ramsay went to lighthouse with family members and Lily is continuously confrnted with the necessity of remarking her vision. As Lily stood looking thoughtfully towards the lighthouse for her vision, She said,

" He must have reached it..."

In the Picture included Mrs. Ramsay and the past and attempt at integrity but it was not yet complete.

" The steps...were empty...her canvas...was blurred. With a sudden intensity, as  if she saw clear for a  second, she drew a line there in the center.

☆ Reference:

https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/460303.pdf?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents

Thank you...