after reading the book...

i recently finished reading To The Lighthouse and while some sections were so intricately written and amazingly detailed, i got lost and confused by the plot sometimes. its so different that virginia woolf would choose to write in a way that i can remember portions so vividly but not really be able to explain the story line from start to finish. in so many class discussions we talked about how she often looked to change the way people viewed literature, and i think that this book has altered slightly the way i think about normal text. to the lighthouse has so many contradictions and ins and outs that as the reader, you get enveloped and lost in the story before you realize that the story itself isn't that intracate. its the way she uses words and manipultaes sentence structure that creates an air of intertwinededness (word?).

the way the book ends also makes me question stereotypical literature. it is not well explained at the end and, while the family gets to the lighthouse, woolf makes the decision not to include information once they enter, but ends when they get there. and the actual ending of the book doesn't actually deal with the long awaited trip to the lighthouse at all, but instead ends with lily briscoe having her vision be completed in her painting. there are many different ways that i have interpreted the ending of both sections of the book, but the fact that woolf leaves so much up to the imagination of the reader frusterates me. i would be lying if i said i loved when things were open ended, for while every once in awhile its good to be able to end a book for yourself, in a book like this, which is so complex and challenged me so much, all i wanted was for an ending that clarified everything.

Intertextuality

Throughout the first sections of the novel, Alfred Lord Tennyson’s poem is constantly referred to as to give insight into Mr. Ramsay’s character and the way in which he views the world. In the latter sections of The Window, Mrs. Ramsay is reading to James from Grimm’s Fairy Tales. This specific intertextuality is important to the last few sections not only because the reading of mother to son is symbolic and proves to show Mrs. Ramsay’s continuing motherly traits but also because it gives the whole section an imaginary air. Sections are moved to and people are walking and thinking and talking (although mostly thinking to themselves, in their own heads) and all the while it seems as though Mrs. Ramsay is just sitting and reading while all is going on around her. More specifically, Mrs. Ramsay is reading a story of a fisherman, and when Mrs. Ramsay’s character becomes angry and short tempered with Mr. Ramsay, the story has a storm occur. Also, the way the fisherman interacts with his wife seems to be similar to the way the Ramsay parents interact. The wife is observant in the short phrases spoken about her in the story, like Mrs. Ramsay, and when the husband is hesitant, the wife is strong.
Out of all the texts to refer to in the story, and all of the phrases to choose from, Virginia Woolf carefully selects a specific fairy tale and lines from that fairy tale to emphasize the relationships and general air of the novel which she, herself, is writing.

Repetition in To The Lighthouse

Repetition of certain words and phrases constantly throughout various passages caught my eye. While paragraphs sometimes become unclear and I find myself having to read back to the beginning of a page long sentence or paragraph to remember the speaker of the phrase or the context of what is going on, the repetition of a specific word or phrase brings me back to understanding what is going on. This repetition also stresses the importance of a point. Regardless of whether I understood why that word or phrase was introduced to begin with or not, by being constantly repeated my mind starts to become familiar with it. The frequent use of such a word or phrase emphasizes its importance to the novel as a whole as well.


“The father of eight”
“Half swallowed by the sea” Land swallowed by the sea” “washed away by the sea”
“Some one had blundered”

Disconnect between male and female characters in To The Lighthouse

When reading sections XI to XIV, it struck me that the text became a back and forth change of perspective between Mr. Ramsay and Mrs. Ramsay. Also, section IX is a back and forth between Lily Briscoe’s perspective and William Banks perspective. Virginia Woolf creates a sense of separation between the male and female gender in the way that these changes of perspectives allow for the reader to catch a glimpse into what both parties are thinking while the characters go on thinking about each other unknowingly. Mr. Ramsay comes in from his walk outside and is saddened by the distant look in his wife’s eye, “aloof from him now in her beauty” (65). Meanwhile, when they start to walk and talk together, Mrs. Ramsay comments to herself that “He [Mr. Ramsay] would sit at the table with them like a person in a dream (70). Both Mr. and Mrs. Ramsay are thinking in detail about each other and how their heads are in the clouds basically, but because the thoughts are kept to themselves, a loss of connection is felt by the reader between the couple. When discussing their son, the topic of scholarships comes up, something they “disagreed always about… but it did not matter. She liked him to believe in scholarships, and he liked her to be proud of Andrew whatever he did” (67). This compromising for the other person brings back a sense of union between the individuals that were before so separated in the passage. However, the connection is made based on lying and falsely agreeing to something that each character does not necessarily believe in order to please the opposite party.
This disconnect between Mr. and Mrs. Ramsay is ironic because it gives a dismal look on married life while Mrs. Ramsay is constantly pushing marriage onto the young girls around her.
Words unheard and unspoken between two people but known by the reader allow for a better understanding of separateness. This separateness forced me to interpret that although Mrs. Ramsay is the stereotypical help-all wife and Mr. Ramsay is portrayed as the just one who is stern and right but not respected by his family, that how one is exposed or depicted in life (either by the author of the text, or broader as a human in existence) is not always how one is. Mr. Ramsay obviously cares a lot about his wife, as seen by the romantic descriptions of her in this passage, yet he is still described harshly in the novel. And, although Mrs. Ramsay is often rendered as the mother to all in the book, she has dark thoughts and is not perfect.
Regardless of the level of awkwardness in the relationship between the Ramsay’s, they are still viewed by other characters as the symbolic married couple. When Lily and William run into them on their stroll, Lily comments “so this is marriage” (72).

misunderstanding fear

John Mayer writes in his song “The Heart of Life” that “fear is a friend who is misunderstood.” Analyzing these lyrics in terms of the title helps provide insight into the fact that fear lies at the heart of all human life and is an emotion often deemed negative when it is actually simply misunderstood. In Henry C. Link’s introduction to Basil King’s Conquest of Fear, he introduces the idea that “as individuals we need difficulties to overcome” and extends that “fear is a stimulus to overcoming them” (Link). This concept that fear acts as a motivator in many of life’s hardships indicates that this avoided emotion is a necessary aspect of life. Link also refers to fear as the “the summons to putting forth new energies” once an individual accepts the idea that fear should not be feared. Rejecting the preconceived notion of fear in its negative connotation allows an individual to acknowledge the emotion as a guiding, motivating factor in life.

Narrowing the topic of fear

After my first lit x prewrite, Chia asked many questions in terms of attempting to narrow down the aspect of fear for my paper. I had previously been trying to keep it as broad as possible because i assumed that broad meant entering the situation with no preconceived thesis, but broad for me just meant wayyy to general.

So, as I have started to think about fear and brew over what i want to delve into for my paper, I think I want to focus on the roots of fear and how each person individually creates fear and associates fear with specific items or ideas.

More to come once i have officially finished my variety of Edgar Allen Poe's stories.

End of 'Salem's Lot

I just finished reading Stephen King's 'Salem's Lot. My Lit X paper focuses on fear and I figured starting with a horror novel would be the best, easiest place to start. Throughout the book, fear is a feeling that builds. It is often referred to as a growing feeling, an overwhelming sensation, or an undefinable nervousness and aprehension toward the unknown.
What I found to be most interesting in terms of plot progression was that fear was mentioned so much around the middle of the book where the plot was still growing, but very little at the end when the climax actually occured. I think this has something to do with the fact that King has to be descriptive while the story is being explained, but when fear is felt in extreme circumstances, like in the end, it almost disappears and is sidelined by adrenaline.