Blog 1: Mortality of a Husband and Wife

To The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf is a very different book than what I would typically read. I had chosen it after looking up the covers of different books, and the cover page seemed mysterious and had the ability to be polar opposites. At one glance, it seemed like it could be a dark and gloomy story, but at another glance, it could be a happier story about vacationing to a lighthouse. It was hard to tell, so I chose it. Within the first two pages, I had come to the conclusion that it would be the former prediction, with stormy weather and a son who wants to kill his father. 

Right from the start, I wanted to know what the lighthouse symbolized. We were introduced to a mother, Mrs. Ramsey, and her family; Mr. Ramsey, James, and seven other children, but such a big landmark meant it could be very important to pay attention to. It seemed to be the one constant thing in this family’s lives full of change, from just a simple vacation and a son wanting to see this lighthouse, to a brewing storm while being with friends, to a death in the family, WWI breaking out in Europe, and two more deaths. The vacation house becomes abandoned, since the family no longer wanted to vacation, and ten years go by before the family decides to go to the vacation house again. After all this time, the lighthouse was still there. 

In “Structure and Meaning,” Robert McKee defines Premise as ”the idea that inspires the writer’s desire to create a story,”  (112). The premise of the book is the question asking what the book is written for. In To The Lighthouse, I believe the premise revolves around how Mr. and Mrs. Ramsey view their mortality: What is the quality of a life lived in the grip of the fear of death? Even though Mrs. Ramsey doesn’t live as carefully as Mr. Ramsey, she ends up dying as a result. However, her point of view wins out in the end, because Mr. Ramsey takes his kids out on the boat to have fun. “Now he was happy, eating bread and cheese with these fishermen” (Woolf, 204).

After Mrs. Ramsey’s death, we realize how much Mr. Ramsey depended on his wife for emotional support. Mr. Ramsey has a very rational mind, but was drawn to Mrs. Ramsey’s not-so-rational self. When she dies, he is forced to confront his own mortality, otherwise his life would become meaningless. We can see the difference between Mr. and Mrs. Ramsey, where both are aware of their own mortality. Mr. Ramsey focuses much more on his mortality, trying to preserve his life and stay rational, while Mrs. Ramsey doesn’t share the same belief and lives with a positive disposition. Why would Woolf have Mrs. Ramsey killed off, though? After reading through the book to find that Mr. Ramsey’s disposition changes, we can conclude that Mrs. Ramsey took on the role of a lesson that Mr. Ramsey had to learn. In the last act, Mr. Ramsey actually takes his kids out on the water with his boat and they drive fast, having fun and not worrying. He had transformed from being the rational and careful man that he was in the beginning with his wife, into someone who goes on a journey and makes it to the lighthouse. McKee defines Controlling Idea, as “the story’s ultimate meaning expressed through the action and aesthetic emotion of the last act’s climax,” (112). With this comes one of our controlling value: if someone lives despite knowing their mortality, that person will live with a positive disposition.