As many have already said, the most strinking part about the first two sections of this book is how time is decpited in each.  Through the contrasting time sequencing in the two sections the reader gets a sense of what some common responses would have been to World War I.  In the first section, The Window, time passes slowly as we are let into the inner thoughts of the characters.  Each character seems to have time to reflect and time to analyze the world around them.  Things still have meaning.  For Mrs. Ramsey, the mystery of her children's futures is what has meaning for her.  She wonders what they will  become in this pre WWI time.  For Mr. Ramsey, he finds meaning in the leagcy that he can leave behind through having had a family.  While he has lost hope in the great person he had hoped to become and in reaching that ever elusive "Q" he still gains some hope when he thinks of the legacy he can acheive through his family and children.  For James, he is able to find meaning in his father's actions.  He harbors resentment for his father because he thinks he is intentionally mean and cruel simply because he can be as the head of the house.  For each character, time isn't necessary to think about because everything seems to be running like life as usual.  

     All of this changes in "Time Passes".  Everything happens in fast forward.  There is no time to think, to contemplate, or to analyze.  Everything that happens simply happens without much explanation.  To me, this emphasized the issue of coping during and after the war.  Civilians and soliders had no way of preparing themselves for the massive death toll that would occured.  Such cruelty has no explanations. And so, famlies and veterans were faced with the delimna of simply not being able to process so much pain, dispair, confusion, and change.  Processing and coping takes time which no one had because of how quickly the deaths were adding up.  This is why I think everything is so superficial in "Time Passes".  The deaths that occur happen so casually and do not warrent much thought from the text.  They just happen and that's the end of it.  There is simply not enough time nor mental capacity for pain to process everything that has happened and so everything is simply another bullet point in the awful and scarring events during and after the war.