To The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf

    To The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf

                                                     

Virginia Woolf.....

             Virginia Woolf was boen on January 25, 1882. a descendant of one of victorian England's most prestigious literary families. Her father, sir Leslie Stephen was the editor of the Dictionary of National Biography and was married to the daughter of the writer William Thackeray. As a young woman . Woolf published her most famous novels by the mid-1920s, including The Voyage Out, Mrs.Dalloway, Orlando and To The Lighthouse. With these works she reached the pinnacle of her profession. On March 28,1941,she wrote her husband a note stating that she did not to spoil his life by going mad. She then drowned herself in the River Ouse.

To The Lighthouse......

 " The Window " opens just befor the start of World Wat I. Mr.Ramsay and Mrs.Ramsay bring their eight children to their summer home in the

Hebrides. Across the bay from their house stands a large lighthouse. Six-year-old James Ramsey wants desperately to go to the lighthouse , and Mre.Ramsay tells him that they will go the next day if the weather permits. James reacts gleefully, but Mr.Ramsay tells him coldly that the weather looks to be foul. James resents his father and believes that he enjoys being cruel to James and his siblings.

Time Passes..... more quickly as the novel enters the " Time Passes " segment . War breaks out across Europe. Mrs.Ramsay dies suddenly on night. Andrew Ramsay, her oldest son, is killed in beetle, and his sister Prue dies from an illness related to childbirth. The family no longer vacations at its summerhouse, which falls into of disrepair; weeds take over the garden and spiders nest in the house. Ten years pass before the family returns. Mrs.McNab, the housekeeper, employs a few other woman to help the set the house in order. They rescues the house from oblivion and decay, and everything is in order when Lily Briscoe returns.

" The Lighthouse " sections, time returns to the slow detail of shifting points of view, similar in style to " The Window " Mr.Ramsay declares that he and James and Cam , One of his daughters, will journey to the lighthouse. On the morning of the voyage, delays throw him into a fit of temper. He appeals to Lily for sympathy, but, unlike, Mrs.Ramsay , she is unable to provide him with what he needs. The Ramsay set off, and Lily takes her place on the lawn, determined to complera a painting she started but abandoned on her last visit. James and Cam bristle at their father's behavior and embarrassed by his constant self-pity. Still, as the both reaches its destination the children feel a fondness for him. Even James, whose skill as a sailor Mr.Ramsay praises, experiences a moment of connection with his father, though James so willfully resents him. Across the day, Lily puts the finishing touch on her painting . She makes a definitive stroke on the canvas and puts her brush down, finally having achieved her vision.