To The Light house

Virginia Woolf was known for her experimental writing style-stream of consciousness. This novel remains as her autobiographical novel. This novel covers one family but talks about the general family and that family is Ramsay’s Family.

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 abstractions.)

= Virginia Woolf talked about the routine life. People cannot pay their attention on those things. We can see the character of Mrs.Ramsay who was always in struggle with her husband Mr. Ramsay and her children.  We can see that Mrs. Ramsay handle James. We can find the complexity in Mrs.Ramsys life.

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          Now, we can see the life of Brisco who has also suffered from the struggling. She is the painter and she believed that through painting she reveal the reality of heart of people.

   These two characters, we can find the complexity of human relationship and problem of woman artist.



2.

1. 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. )

=   we can find the critical analysis of the painting of Mrs.Ramsay which is drawn by Lily Brisco. We can find that Mrs.Ramsy only obeyed her husband’s rules and orders which is not significant.

In the article Vision In The Lighthouse by Glenn Peterson we also found that it talk’s about Mrs.Ramsay as negative force. Here, we can find that author believed that Mrs.Ramsay was alived till her family was not united.

If we talked about Indian culture, we can find the shloke which describes the quality of ideal woman ..

Karyeshu dasi, Karneshu manthari;

Bhojeshu mata, shayaneshu rambha;

Kshamayeshu dharithri, Roopeshu lakshmi;

Satkarma yukta, Kuladharma pathni.

According to this good wife must work like maid ( karyeshu dasi) who works alot but never demand for anything. Her family is everything for her. The other quality is she must be a good adviser (karaneshu manthri ) whenever husband is wrong she must give her right advise. The next quality is she must be a good food maker as well as she must like to feed people and that thing must have her satisfaction ( Bhojeshu mata ). The next quality is about giving of sexual pleasure whenever husband demand for sexual relationship she must ready ( shaynesu  Rambha). The other quilty is of forgiveness she must forgive people and take care of them ( Kshamayeshu dharithri ). The next quality is of taking care of finical think of house ( Roopesu Lakshmi). She must did good work and so because of her Karma  family will get good life(  Satkarma yukta),  this thing makes good wife (Kuladharma pathni). 

When we look at this in Mrs. Ramsay we found all this quilty.  She works for her family, she always provide sympathy to Mr. Ramsay, she like to feed the people and also she good forgiver. Mr. Ramsay insult her in front of everyone still she forgive him. So we can  read the character of Mrs. Ramsay in the context of the ideal Indian woman. 

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 )

=  We can connect the thoughts of Virginia woolf and Mrs.Ramsay which is very shown very symbolical in the novel To The Light House. It shown the path of ship when there was storm and when ship does not find the way. Mrs.Ramsay stood as the path to her family. She provide the emotional safety for her family.

Whenever we read or study any novels we cannot say that the author is completely disappear.   We can find some effect of the writer in their work. So, we can say that Lily can be categorically repeat as Virginia woolf.

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. . . )

=  we can find two myths in the novel. One myth is about Pagan. In this myth, we can find Pagan connected with Reha. Both the characters have similar number of children. The other character Demeter who is compared with Mrs.Ramsay. Demeter made the earth with fruitfulness whereas Mrs.Ramsay also made family with fruitfulness.

The another myth is about the Oedipus. We can compare the relationship of Oedipus and her mother/wife with James and Mrs.Ramsay.

5. What do you understand by the German term 'Künstlerroman'? How can you justify that 'To The Lighthouse' is 'Künstlerroman' novel? (Key: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/325047/Kunstlerroman)

=   The kunstleroman novel talks about the artist’s growth.  We can take it with two visions. The first is the character of Lily Brisco. She faced so many crisis during her journey as a painter.

The second is Virginia Woolf. We can connect it with Virginia’s life. As a author she also faced struggle during her life.

6.

1. "... 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 remark, explain briefly Lily's dilemma in 'To The Lighthouse'. 

=   In this novel, we can find the most feminist character is Lily Brisco. She did not believe in practice of traditional womanhood.  She did not like to serve to man. When Mr. Ramsay looked with sympathy at her, she did not like it. She also didn’t like Mrs.Ramsay.  She also didn’t like suggestions of marriage. So she decided to live alone.

7. 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?

=   Yes, I think that the novel is more poignant than the movie. Because when we watched the movie we looked at the beginning of both the movie and novel, I like more novel rather than the movie. Because from very beginning , we enter in the mind of different characters. It allows us to know about the actual act. Some words and some scenes are not there.  And if we want to know about in details, we have to rad the novel rather than watching the movie. So, I like novel rather than movie.

8.

1. 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".) 

=   May  be the line has two meanings. First is ‘it is completed’. ‘’It means she proved the patriarchal world.  For example: women can write, women can paint and also they can express their ideas and feelings. Second, she  completed Mrs.Ramsay’s painting and found the vision. It means her mental confusion r dilemma about Mrs.Ramsay’s character is clear. With reference to the movie, Lily favoured and Mrs.Ramsay’s character and she accepted her character with using her thinking like; ‘closed doors’, ‘open windows’. She might accept the idea that some changes in life is necessary.


9..What does the catalogue named as 'Army and Navy' signify? What does cutting of '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. Apart from this refrigerator is also a symbol of change that new era new technology is coming and people also using it. 

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 Lighthouse'?

India is represent 6 times in this novel. The wealth of India is mentioned in this novel. 

12.Write summaries of these articles:

1. Mythic patterns in To The Lighthouse :