Eternal Love
To the Lighthouse, written by Virginia Woolf, is a novel about the effect relationships have on people’s lives. The first part of the novel The Window is about the Ramsay family and their guests’ time during a 12-hour span period at a summerhouse. All of them have the basic story of considering visiting the lighthouse the next day, but each character has a sub-plot. In the second part of the novel Time Passes, about ten years have gone by. Mrs. Ramsay has passed away, and the rest of the characters’ lives have changed. In the final part of the novel, The Lighthouse, the rest of the surviving Ramsay family and guests, revisit the vacation home and meet again. This time only part of the Ramsay family decides to visit the lighthouse. …show more content…
Ramsay forges cherished relationships with others through motherly love. She actively tries to fix others’ problems, embrace people as they are, and protect them from any pain. For instance, she cares for the sick Lighthouse Keeper’s boy and his family by sending the boy a “reddish-brown stocking” and his family “a pile of old magazines, and some tobacco” to “give [these] poor fellows … something to amuse them.” (4 Woolf) She can not bear seeing the boy in pain and whole-heartedly hopes that her actions, even if small, will make the Lighthouse Keeper’s family happy. Another character who Mrs. Ramsay touches with her kind nature is the grouchy apprentice of Mr.Ramsay, Mr.Tansley. For example, when she goes to run some errands, she “[knows] without looking” that Mr. Tansley is “fidgeting with something awkwardly” and is left behind (6 Woolf). She pities this rude, social outcast and goes out of her way to make him feel included in the summerhouse vacation. This illustrates her readiness to accept others and her commitment to protect people from the pain of loneliness, her one central fear in the story. Her despair towards loneliness shows when she talks about the Lighthouse keeper’s lifestyle. She questions, “how would you like … to be shut up for a whole month at a time… and not see your wife…your children…”. These remarks illustrate her high value for marriage and family and how she feels it is essential to settle down and never be lonely. Due to this strong belief, she particularly tries to aid the single, painter Lily Briscoe. As a married woman and mother, Mrs. Ramsay takes it upon herself to help Lily find a suitable husband. Despite Lily’s constant refusal of marriage proposals, Mrs. Ramsay perseveres in the hope of one day seeing Lily as a settled housewife, a future she wishes for her own daughters. One can see a Mother-Daughter relation between Ms.Ramsay and Lily even after Mrs. Ramsay passes away because Lily still follows Mrs. Ramsay’s advice. In
To the Lighthouse, written by Virginia Woolf, is a novel about the effect relationships have on people’s lives. The first part of the novel The Window is about the Ramsay family and their guests’ time during a 12-hour span period at a summerhouse. All of them have the basic story of considering visiting the lighthouse the next day, but each character has a sub-plot. In the second part of the novel Time Passes, about ten years have gone by. Mrs. Ramsay has passed away, and the rest of the characters’ lives have changed. In the final part of the novel, The Lighthouse, the rest of the surviving Ramsay family and guests, revisit the vacation home and meet again. This time only part of the Ramsay family decides to visit the lighthouse. …show more content…
Ramsay forges cherished relationships with others through motherly love. She actively tries to fix others’ problems, embrace people as they are, and protect them from any pain. For instance, she cares for the sick Lighthouse Keeper’s boy and his family by sending the boy a “reddish-brown stocking” and his family “a pile of old magazines, and some tobacco” to “give [these] poor fellows … something to amuse them.” (4 Woolf) She can not bear seeing the boy in pain and whole-heartedly hopes that her actions, even if small, will make the Lighthouse Keeper’s family happy. Another character who Mrs. Ramsay touches with her kind nature is the grouchy apprentice of Mr.Ramsay, Mr.Tansley. For example, when she goes to run some errands, she “[knows] without looking” that Mr. Tansley is “fidgeting with something awkwardly” and is left behind (6 Woolf). She pities this rude, social outcast and goes out of her way to make him feel included in the summerhouse vacation. This illustrates her readiness to accept others and her commitment to protect people from the pain of loneliness, her one central fear in the story. Her despair towards loneliness shows when she talks about the Lighthouse keeper’s lifestyle. She questions, “how would you like … to be shut up for a whole month at a time… and not see your wife…your children…”. These remarks illustrate her high value for marriage and family and how she feels it is essential to settle down and never be lonely. Due to this strong belief, she particularly tries to aid the single, painter Lily Briscoe. As a married woman and mother, Mrs. Ramsay takes it upon herself to help Lily find a suitable husband. Despite Lily’s constant refusal of marriage proposals, Mrs. Ramsay perseveres in the hope of one day seeing Lily as a settled housewife, a future she wishes for her own daughters. One can see a Mother-Daughter relation between Ms.Ramsay and Lily even after Mrs. Ramsay passes away because Lily still follows Mrs. Ramsay’s advice. In