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”