To the Lighthouse is a novel published in 1927 by Virginia Woolf. This story takes place with the Ramsay family on an island in Scotland in the early 1900s. In 1998 the Modern Library ranked To the Lighthouse #15 out of 100 of the best English-language novels of the 20th century. To the Lighthouse consists of three parts which are The Window, Time Passing, and The Lighthouse. Throughout the story the Ramsay’s go through hard times such as death and war that cause a delay in the family’s journey to the lighthouse. To the Lighthouse presents the theme of time which plays a role on how the characters change towards the land and one another while awaiting the chance to voyage the lighthouse as the years go by.
I. The characters have different attitudes towards one another throughout the story which changes as time sets in and the children grow up and the parents and friends age. Virginia Woolf makes it clear that every character is different as the book progresses (Stromer, 1). The characters grow up to realize that they cannot always get what they want and also mature over time. The Ramsay’s are a middle aged couples that have eight children and they all visit the lighthouse with multiple family friends (Kronenberger, 1). James is the youngest in the Ramsay family and would constantly badger his dad to take him to the lighthouse. James “hates his dad with a passion” (Woolf, 35). even though his dad would tell him that they would eventually go. As time rolls on throughout the story, James grows up and thinks that he has to fight for his mother’s love with his dad and the other children. In part one of the story, it felt as if James was fighting for his mother’s love and he wanted to be her center of attention but Mr. Ramsay was in the way. This angered James and what made him hate his father. As James grew older and his mother passed away, James had no reason to have anger towards his dad so he no longer felt the need to compete with his father. The older James now resembles his dad as he is shy, easily offended and wants to be by himself. After all of the years that have passed, James has sailed to the lighthouse with his dad and that he is just like his dad and confirmed his true identity and emotions which is just like his fathers, along with something to pass on to his children, which is the lighthouse. Another character that changed over time was Mrs. Ramsay. Mrs. Ramsay was what seemed to keep the family together through the rough times such as war and death. Mrs. Ramsay is a beautiful, charming, intelligent woman that understands everybody in the family (Bennet, 1). Mrs. Ramsay did not put up with anything as "she would get annoyed” (Woolf, 199). and would not put up with any foolishness. Mrs. Ramsay was getting sick of Mr. Ramsay being an embarrassment and bullying the kids so she was starting to drift away from him. As Mr. and Mrs. Ramsay learn their flaws in their marriage they compromise and she helps him with his insecurities and his unkind treatment that went on in the family. Before, Mrs. Ramsay could not quite find the chance to live her own inner life but she concludes to accept that she has a beautiful family and loves her life (Kronenberger, 1). Mrs. Ramsay was the one who controlled peace in the Ramsay family and kept everybody from wanting to kill each other. Even though the death of Mrs. Ramsay affected the family’s emotions, they were able to overcome the hatred of one another and love each other just as Mrs. Ramsay would want them to do. In addition to the first two characters, Mr. Ramsay changed over time throughout To the Lighthouse. Mr. Ramsay started the story as a father who lacked sensitivity (Kronenberger, 1) and “worked a hard- seven hours a day at his job” (Woolf, 15). Mr. Ramsay in the beginning of the book came off as rude and mean to his kids as he told them they could not go to the lighthouse and used ‘the bad weather” (Woolf, 8) as an excuse and always ridiculed the kids every time
