To The Lighthouse And A Day Goes By Critical Analysis

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According to the well known author, Timothy Ferriss: “Lack of time is actually lack of priorities” ("Tim Ferriss Quote"). This quotation provokes the true meaning of time and destiny. After a long life of complications, adults tend to have a different mindset towards time. If fact, even the priorities of the adult population alter depending on past experiences. The novel To The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf and the short story “A Day Goes By” written by Luigi Pirandello show a similar theme that both of the characters Mrs. Ramsay and the narrator form the short story have difficulties facing the perception of time in adulthood. Both adults start off with the eye opening fact that they are growing old, but they perceive that life is transcendent, however the different ways both characters dealt with time changed their recognition of life. Although the concept of time could vary depending on individuals, adults tend to obsess over their fate to the point where it stops them from living life, thus, major heartache and regret ensue. The adults from the novel To The Lighthouse and the short story “A Day Goes By” become aware that they are coming of age. Starting with the novel, To The Lighthouse, Even though, Mrs. Ramsay is in the first three chapters she acknowledged that time goes by quickly and memories always live. Lily says, “Although she continued to knit, and sat upright, it was thus that she felt herself; and this self having shed its attachments was free for the strangest adventures. When life sank down for a moment, the range of experience seemed limitless. And to everybody there was always this sense of unlimited resources” (Woolf 34). Lily is the guest in Ramsay's summer house and she is talking about Mrs. Ramsay enjoying herself. In the short story, “A day goes by” the narrator wakes up at the train station and doesn't remember anything in his life and he wonders how time went by so fast. The narrator was confused and he asked, “Is it possible, however, that I’ve grown as big as I have, yet remained all the time like a child, without ever having done anything?” (Pirandello, 120). The …show more content…
Both characters’ experience a life changing moment after that realization. In the novel To The Lighthouse, Mrs. Ramsay is fueled with the need to make precious and memorable whatever time she has on earth. She states, “ [...] like a ghostly roll of drums remorselessly beat the measure of life, made one think of the destruction of the island and its engulf mentioned in the sea, and warned her whose day has been slipped past in one quick doing [...]”(Woolf 20). Mrs. Ramsay lives her life to the timing of surrounding noises. The narrator form the short story ,“ A Day Goes By”, acknowledged that life goes by fast to the point where he does not even realize it. He states, “Seated there I look at them, I listen to them. And I get the feeling that they’re playing a joke on me in a dream.Has my life already come to an end? ” (Pirandello 123). In this quote he is talking about how his children are aging and it is happening so fast that he does not even notice. The character decided to spend those last moments in his deathbed with his children and grandchildren watching them while they make

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