To the Lighthouse

"she lacked something. Lacked what was it? She had charm;
she had extraordinary charm. But to be frank . . ." (188).

Points for Reflection

"The Lighthouse"

1. is Mr. Ramsay truly a tyrant?
2. in what way does Lily’s memory of Mrs. Ramsay function as a piece of art (160-61)?
3. why does Lily move from her easel to the edge of the lawn where she can watch Mr. Ramsay’s boat departing (161-62)?
4. does Mr. Ramsay’s desire to make Cam smile signal his tyranny, or his kindness (167)?
5. exactly what does Lily believe she escape “by the skin of her teeth” (176 top-mid)?
6. how much of what Lily imagines about Paul and Minta Rayley is imaginative conjecture, and how much is grounded in things she knows to be true (172-74)?
7. why did Lily and William Bankes never marry?
8. what drawback does female beauty carry with it, according to Lily?
9. is James correct in his recollection that his mother "alone spoke the truth" (187)? What does he mean by this claim?
10. what qualities of her father does Cam appreciate, and does her own point of view concerning her father differ from those of Lily and Mrs. Ramsay (164-70, 189-91)?
11. Lily considers a number of reasons why Mr. Carmichael, the poet, might never have liked Mrs. Ramsay (195, 196). Which of her conjectures seems most valid?
12. does "The Lighthouse" provide an explanation for why Mrs. Ramsay died?
13. Lily believes that life is at its most vivid when it feels unreal (191-92). What does she mean?
14. what does Lily begin to realize about her old antipathy towards Charles Tansley (197)?
15. what image does James attempt to create “to cool and detach and round off his feeling in a concrete shape” (185)?
16. which of Mr. Ramsay’s philosophical ideas have been internalized by Cam? By James?
17. what does the lighthouse now represent for James (203), and has its value changed since James's youth?
18. generate a cogent explanation of Lily's artistic theory and practice which incorporates her reflections on interpersonal connection and communication.
19. is the Cam of "The Lighthouse" the same character we saw in "The Window”?
20. is Lily’s memory complete and impervious to the ravages of time?
21. do Lily’s memory and imagination construct a solid bridge to the past and to the dead? Do these facilities aid or destabilize her connection to the deceased Mrs. Ramsay? To others?
22. does Lily's ability to hold opposing features of a person in tension without categorizing that person set her apart from the other characters (24-25)? Is her mode distinctly artistic--do the other artistic characters share a similar perspective? Or, is her mode distinctly that of a female artist?
23. what are the central crises Lily faces at the opening of "The Lighthouse" (145, 146) and throughout this section of the book? Are they ultimately resolved?
24. what generates Lily's feeling of sympathy for Mr. Ramsay, and why does she not express it to him before he leaves for the lighthouse? What does her ultimate, absent-present expression of sympathy allow her to accomplish?
25. earlier, Mrs. Ramsay thought of herself (or the narrator did) as a "wedge-shaped core of darkness (62). Is this how Lily ultimately chooses to represent Mrs. Ramsay in her painting?
26. does Lily capture what William Bankes’ considers the “something incongruous,” the “quivering thing, the living thing” (29) in her portrait of Mrs. Ramsay?
27. recall Woolf's call in A Room of One’s Own for the impersonal, "incandescent" mind that avoids betraying the author's own "grudges and spites and antipathies" (56). Is the mind behind To the Lighthouse more incandescent than the mind behind Mrs. Dalloway?

Longships Lighthouse, Lands End (1834-35)
J. M. W. Turner

Dr. Paul Marchbanks
pmarchba@calpoly.edu