World War I

What I have found most striking about To the Lighthouse thus far is—given the meticulous attention Woolf pays to individuals, their thought processes, and their interactions—just how quickly and uneventfully their deaths are passed over.  Mrs. Ramsay and Prue both die within a few pages of one another, and despite the time spent in Mrs. Ramsay's head, despite the monumental sense of her importance in the keeping the family together, she disappears almost without mention.  Her passing is not even mentioned as an event in and of itself, only as an afterthought when Mr. Ramsay is struck by her absence in the hallway.  Prue, because she has been mentioned less in the course of the book prior to her death, does not spark such shock, but nevertheless, her death is jarringly abrupt as well, a parenthetical statement that merely happens.

This bothered me for a significant portion of the reading, but in hindsight, it makes sense in a way.  The people in this story are defined by their perceptions and by the perceptions of those around them, so their deaths are, in a sense, only important so far as they affect others.  We find out about Mrs. Ramsay's death through its effect on her husband, through his loss.  We find out about Prue so parenthetically because, while people regret that she has been cut off so early, she has not played so integral a role in the story as some others; therefore, callous as it may be, her death is not so significant an event and does not affect as many people.

Not only does the minimal mention of character deaths force a reevaluation of the way people are considered, but it also serves to further strain the framework of time.  Generally, we the time we spend on an occurrence corresponds to its importance, which lends itself to a sort of pattern by which we can asses time passed with a fair degree of accuracy; in To the Lighthouse, however, a death can happen in an word, a split second over several paragraphs, depending on the way they are perceived by the characters.  The disconnect formed by that jarring time discrepancy forces the reader to pay attention, and also encourages a rethinking of what human events are really worth taking time on.

In the first two sections of "To the Lighthouse," Virginia Woolf goes to great lengths to explore how people's perceptions shape the world. In order to achieve this, Virginia Woolf uses indirect discourse to an incredible extent, telling the entire story through the internal thoughts of the various characters. Through the various thoughts the reader is presented with, one constant emerges, and that is the ability of certain people, specifically Mrs. Ramsay, Prue Ramsay, and Andrew Ramsay. It is through the interventions of these peoples that the vacation house becomes a happy inviting place to the various characters.

However, in the novel's second part, "Time Passes," these people die for various reasons. As a result, the vacations to the house stop and the house falls into a state of disrepair. After the war however, the characters decide to return to the house and various workers have to scramble to rebuild the now disheveled house. I believe that this situation speaks a great deal to what the public must have felt after the First World War. After a devastating war that killed many of the people that made their lives worth living, the public needed to rebuild their lives and instill new meaning to their lives on their own, just as the visitors need to rebuild the Ramsay Summer house and make it a meaningful place on their own.

Looking specifically at “Time Passes,” Virginia Woolf uses narrative style in a particular way to mirror the experience of time for those living during and after World War I. As we’ve read throughout the semester, those involved with the War (especially soldiers) experienced intense detachment and disillusionment. Section II, “Time Passes,” screams detachment and disillusionment.

            The detachment is particularly obvious in Chapter 4, where the narration describes the house gradually falling into decay. The narration speaks as if the house, now without the presence of the Ramsay family, is part of a different world. In this world, there is no vitality, no fertility, and no humanness. The house is a dead, hollow image of a former life, as the following sentence conveys: “What people had shed and left—a pair of shoes, a shooting cap, some faded coats and skirts in wardrobes—these alone kept the human shape and in the emptiness indicated how they were once filled and animated.” The lack of human vitality in the house mirrors the experience of many soldiers after the War. They experienced profound emptiness, feeling cut off from the world of their past, the world of the living.

            Similarly, the narrative technique conveys a sense of disillusionment in this section of To the Lighthouse. Some major plot points occur in this section, including the death of Arthur, Prue, and Mrs. Ramsay. However, these significant events barely get a passing glance in the narration. All of them occur within brackets, suggesting that they are an afterthought of secondary importance. By presenting plot points in this manner, Woolf unnerves her readers. She gives us the information in brief, unexpected fragments, creating a sense of unreality. Again, these feelings are similar to those of people involved in the War. As we know from personal accounts, many soldiers found it impossible to process the grotesque massacre that was World War I. The War held so many horrors that it seemed unreal. People simply could not process it. 

The use of free indirect discourse in this novel creates a unique reading experience.  The narrative shifts focus from one character to another and in doing so creates a fragmentation that can prove difficult to follow.  The reader is given an insight to the minds of the characters and a hidden layer of communication and interaction that the characters do not receive.  For instance, Mr. Ramsay might have known that he upset James on the first pages of the book, but could not have known of James' desire to stab him in the heart as a result.

Woolf also complicates the reading with her description of the passage of time over the course of the book.  In the pre-war segment "The Window," time moves very slowly, whereas in the wartime segment "Time Passes," true to its title, time passes very quickly.  This alteration in the perception of time is based in the perspective of the characters.  Before the war begins, time moves more slowly because nothing exciting or out of the ordinary is happening, and may even seem slower due to possible rising tensions.  During the war, time passes much more quickly because the characters' worlds have fallen into disorder and chaos, and several characters die, including a war fatality.

Throughout The Window and Time Passes, Virginia Woolf used a highly experimental technique to tell the story of the Ramsay family before, during and after WWI. Although her use of free indirect discourse was a then-revolutionary way to indirectly and directly discuss the events and inhumanity of WWI, it is not the only interesting literary technique pioneered by Woolf in the book. Woolf also used a lot of metaphorical images and allusions in To The Lighthouse, and the most interesting one (to me) is the varied metaphors surrounding the Ramsay house and their implications in light of the war. 

This is most prominently seen in The Window though the perspective of Mrs. Ramsay as she is throwing the dinner party. Mrs. Ramsay sees the house display her inner notion of shabbiness which is representative of the inability to preserve beauty during WWI. Then, in the Time Passes section, all the ravaging, destruction and passing of time during the war are reflected in the condition of the house rather than any particular characters. The house appears to stand as some sort of collective conscience for the Ramsay family and the other people who stay inside the house. It personifies the unseen emotions of the characters while also giving the reader a deeper glimpse into the direct impact of WWI on the familial unit as well as the individual.  

Virginia's Woolf's book To the Lighthouse is a comlex book dealing with many themes.  One is the passage of time shown by the waves hitting the shoreline, and the two main characters. Mr. Ramsay stares at the waves in the first part of the book, "The Window".  He is preoccupied by his death (not in the physical sense, but that of his talent and never having become the great man he thought he should have become.  Yet he is able to make peace with the demise of his expectations when he realizes that he will have immortality of another sort with his family.  Mrs. Ramsay's gazing at the same scene with the waves has more prosaic thoughts, but just as intense.  She centers upon the children (ie James) and wonders what they will become as adults.  She knows that life will change and no one can protect them from the dangers of life and of the uncertain future.  However Mrs. Ramsay also bears the brunt (as many women did) of being the caretaker physically and emotionally of the family but also of her husband.  This is a theme that the author touches on in many of her novels and also laments that women cannot produce something great as they never have any time to themselves.  Lily is able to speak the thoughts Mrs. Ramsay cannot thanks to the authors technique in 'direct discourse'of all the other characters. "He wears Mrs. Ramsay to death".  Lily is also able to reflect on the theme that human relations between men and women are not only unequal but can be the worst type.  'The Window' can also reflect on the window of the soul or the thoughts of all characters in this panoramic vision.

In 'Time passes' the author still uses the technique of the characters' random thoughts with each musing about the war and of the changes of the family at this beach house.  It is now tem years later and Lily has come back to finish the portrait of Mrs. Ramsay (now dead) as are two of her children-one from the war, but one from the more prosaic tragedies in life as Prue died in childbirth.  The war has changed all the people, and they remain incomplete puzzles of shells, each with their own private grief.  In many ways, their reality is the same as the characters of another war writer, Satre whose characters would claim that "hell is other people".  Virgina Woolf's novels are more lightly done, the characters don't scream and rant, but their despair is as heavy as Hemmingway's characters in their empty lives wasted in bars.

To the Lighthouse uses a unique form of language called free indirect discourse to show us multiple sides to all of her characters. We are not stuck inside just one person's mind, but have the ability to experience all the characters thoughts. With all the characters thoughts we are able to see each of their interactions before, during, and after the war. Each shares a different experience of what has happened to them and they share, the interactions between them shows how the war affected people in different ways. In many of their conversations there is disagreement and a tone of distrust among each other, in a way. This shows the disconnect of how the war had affected this family. They are no longer able to communicate, but then again as we read before, it could be a way that these people are dealing with it. To disconnect from the world and those around it is their way of coping with the new life. Though the speech can be confusing at parts, it adds to what these people were going through.

Another interesting way disconnect is used, is with the aspect of time. Before the war started, much of life seemed to drag out, when you read it. But time before the seems to have a sense of meaning which is way it seems to carry on. But then the war starts and time flies by and passes them by. The use of disconnect during the war time is just another way the people did not cope with things. Instead they allowed time to pass by and not deal with anything. Which is why there is so much disconnect after the war and in many of their conversations, I believe.

To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf is an odd novel with many unique traits. The strangest trait in this novel is the author’s use of time. The use of time seems to be used to show emphasis in a way that is counter-intuitive to typical ideas. Woolf seems to emphasize events which pass more quickly. This is seemingly opposite of what one would expect: to emphasize events by slowing down the narrative and adding detail.

The unusual use of time is also used another way in this novel in the passage of time before, during and after the war.  Time before the war goes by more slowly as life has meaning, and even detail feels necessary to reveal the entire story. However, as the war starts and deaths begin, the novel’s pace increases drastically. This seems to say that as death increases to monumental proportions, everyone becomes more numb, and the details feel less necessary. This causes the story to feel extraordinarily flat as though someone is writing without passion, with no feeling for the writing – or even for living.

Several themes have shown up multiple times in the book thus far. One of these themes is one that is very closely associated with the war itself: unexpected and continual deaths. The way the death comes so suddenly and almost without reason is the same as with the war in which senseless death would happen almost daily at the time.

A second theme that must be noted is that in the first part of the novel, the waves are seen as a symbol of destruction and death. This theme is brought up again at the end of the second part of the novel as Lily is sleeping in the summer house after ten years away. She is said to be sleeping and dreaming, but she can still hear the waves. This shows that even though the war is over, those touched by the war will never be the same. The war will always reverberate in their minds and lives – just like the waves do in Lily’s mind.

The most interesting part of reading To the Lighthouse for me is Virginia woolf's use of the free indirect discourse style. It comes across as experimental, but far from it being a purely formal experiment, I think she is attempting to recreate the psychology of the post-war era. Something about the Great War was extremely shattering and disintegrating, and that is just the kind of social picture that Woolf presents to us of the Ramsay family. There is no way that any of the people here can fully communicate their thoughts and feelings. This is due to some unknown social pressure that forces one to consider their words and actions from an outside perspective; I think of Lily Briscoe trying to paint but not being able to because of the "demons" that haunt her. She characterizes them as an outside force over which she has no control. This kind of anxious, paralyzed behavior is a symptom of the effects of the Great War on everyone.

Further than this, the free indirect discourse method is a literary representation of the fact that, if there existed a single, useful, cohesive worldview before the War, it has since been lost in the political and social maelstrom of the war. Woolf's characters and their thoughts are symbolic of the pure subjectiveness of the post-war world, and by this I mean the fact that each individual has to structure his/her experience of the world on their own; if there were any large institutions around before the war to assist in this construction, the air has since been sucked out of them. The Lighthouse is Virginia Woolf's representation of the confused grasping for meaning that took place among individuals after the war. But she seems to be suggesting that this process stretches back to before the war, too, since The Window takes place before the war ever happens. The free indirect discourse method is an intensely real depiction of human subjectivity, then, regardless of the time, which is why it is such an interesting take on the war.

In her novel To The Lighthouse, Virginia Woolf uses free indirect discourse to present us with the thoughts, opinions, and feelings of all her characters. This is an interesting technique that presents the reader with a lot of the issues that would have been felt leading up to, during, and after WWI. Because we are not limited in the narrative to the thoughts of a single character, we get pieces of thoughts from many different ones as they interact with one another. For me this really highlighted the insincerity of much of their interaction and conversation. We are presented with a character thinking one thing, and then from the perspective of another we hear that first character saying something that doesn't quite go with what they were thinking. Maybe that description doesn't make sense... but at times the narrative seems to work that way. I think this insincerity that is shown is a result of the disconnectedness that is felt between all of the characters. None of Woolf's characters seem to really be able to relate with and understand one another. Woolf's narrative technique makes this really clear, as we see them all interacting with each other, but each thinking about something different. This insincerity and disconnectedness would have been felt among people in and around the time of the war. 

The second section of the novel, "Time Passes," does something different I think. In this section a lot of time goes by and we see little disconnected glimpses of the house, the characters, and the events of the war and after the war. Again, I think the disconnected nature of things is a comment on the sensibilities that were common as a result of the war. Like with The Wasteland, in a way. They're like puzzle pieces that the characters and people were trying to put back together after things were shattered, but they can't quite seem to make it fit. That's how I interpreted this section. I was also struck by the three major deaths, and how they were presented to us in brackets, with little detail. Just a statement of a fact. This aspect of Woolf's narrative style seems to comment on the fact that death was so common, unexplainable, to the point of being just unfeeling statistics by the end of the war. Although only one of the deaths was a direct result of the war, I think any deaths would have been viewed in this way because of the war.