Heather’s Annotated Bibliography

To The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf

Introduction

I like to think of myself as a very avid reader. My inventory of books is a very long list of books of all genres, varying in stories, plots, length, etc. Since the beginning of this year, I think my taste in reading has turned to mystery, and not just in reading. This includes shows and movies as well, sometimes even true crime podcasts, where I am trying to piece together the evidence to figure out the crime before the end. I will say that I used to read a lot more than I have during my college years, mostly because it is not required to read in English class every day, like in high school. With the beginning of college, I think many lose some of their hobbies that they’ve kept up throughout high school, because I know I certainly have lost more than just reading as well. It’s been a real struggle realizing how I’ve slowly stopped reading, and I am really grateful that this class brought reading regularly back into my life. I’ve noticed that how I read has also changed, from just reading for enjoyment to learning how to close read to find the deeper meaning, compared to other texts, and finding out that even after not reading for so long, I have still improved as a reader in one semester. 

When I was asked to choose one of the books to read as a group, I really had no idea what kind of book to choose, or where I would even start. Thankfully, we were provided with a long list of books from different time periods, so I just started glancing through the list at the titles to see if any title seemed familiar. I started searching up a few titles, not quite being drawn into the book from some of the covers, until the cover of To The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf caught my eye. It wasn’t exciting as a cover, it was kind of spooky looking, yet the title sounds almost adventurous. The cover shows a beach, with some people dressed in dark colors, and further away seem to be children playing in the water. Even further is a lighthouse, seemingly surrounded by fog, making the cover eerie, despite the children making it look like a fun time. So, after reading a short summary to find out that it is a story about a family, I chose it, not realizing that there was so much more to this book than I originally thought. 

Blog 1: Premise, Controlling, and Counter Ideas Link

With this book being the book I chose, I had written the first blog. Upon choosing this book, I was made aware that it was actually a difficult read, so it was to be the fourth book my group would read. It was very different from the types of books I usually read, since I usually read newer books, books where I recognize the author, or are recommended a book. I had never heard of Virginia Woolf, and after some quick research, I found that she was a feministic author and was an admired literary critic. My group had a short discussion about this book before we started to read it, and then we read the first two pages together. Within those first two pages, there was already so much to discuss. 

We were introduced to a mother, Mrs. Ramsey, and her family; Mr. Ramsey, James, and seven other children. My thoughts on the eerie front cover mathed my expectation of this being a more creepy book, “Had there been an axe handy, or a poker, any weapon that would have gashed a hole in his father’s breast and killed him…” (Woolf 4). A storm is brewing, and James was wishing he could kill his father? Our group leader, Destiny, asked us for theories on what we think was going to happen, and the first theory that came to my mind was that Mr. Ramsey was going to die. Was the lighthouse a symbol for this? Maybe James and his father would get to the lighthouse, and Mr. Ramsey would fall to his death? After completing the book, we would come to find out that Mr. Ramsey is one of the few major characters that doesn’t die. 

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 this book, Mr. and Mrs. Ramsey view their mortality in two completely different ways; Mr. Ramsey is extremely cautious as a person, planning things out based on the safety of him and his family, while Mrs. Ramsey is much less rational. Because of this, my group came up with the premise: “What is the quality of a life lived in the grip of the fear of death?” After reading through the book to find how Mr. Ramsey’s disposition changes, we came to the conclusion that Mrs. Ramsey took on the role of a lesson that Mr. Ramsey had to learn. Is this the reason Woolf killed Mrs. Ramsey? In the last act of the book, Mr. Ramsey actually takes his kids out on the water with his boat and they drive fast, having fun and not worrying (Rainford, Blog 1). He wasn’t constantly worrying about his mortality, and was instead living life as his wife had lived her life. 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. 

Along with the premise, we have the controlling idea of the novel. 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 our controlling value: if someone lives despite knowing their mortality, that person will live with a positive disposition. I think it’s safe to say that Mrs. Ramsey lived with a positive disposition on life, before eventually passing away and becoming a lesson for Mr. Ramsey. Although Mr. Ramsey did not have a positive disposition, he was able to learn to enjoy his life as it is, because death is inevitable.

Blog 2: Close-Reading for the Codes Link

My group member Rachel had written the second blog for this book. Like me, she also found this book to be a difficult read. It was a very symbolic book, where the reader had to do more than just read the words on the page- there were symbols in character development, as well as a symbol for a constant in their lives with many different changes. Rachel connected how death is inevitable no matter how you live it to the Fault in Our Stars, by John Green. I think this was a great connection, because both characters eventually die in Green’s book, after they both try focusing on living their lives even as the end of their mortality is drawing near. They were great characters to connect to Mrs. Ramsey, who lives her life the same positive way, unlike Mr. Ramsey, who is very cautious and rational. Even just a trip to a lighthouse is worrisome, with stormy weather. 

This book falls more into the genre of modernism. Modernism has a lot of symbolism written throughout, as well as individualism. Mr. Ramsey as an individual is what we were actually reading. I think there is less going on in the plot of the book itself, and more going on with the character development and what is going on inside their heads- why is Mr. Ramsey so cautious, and how does he change at the end of the novel? Rachel even mentions in her blog that Mrs. Ramsey, although has since passed, has everything to do with why Mr. Ramsey changes his disposition, enjoying his life at the end as he takes his children to the lighthouse. 

Throughout this novel, we follow a pattern of Mr. and Mrs. Ramsey’s behavior. Mr. Ramsey greatly depends on Mrs. Ramsey, living with his anxieties and rationalities, and then going to Mrs. Ramsey for comfort and intervention. This is repeated throughout the book, following the semic code which is defined as “characters, objects, and places through repetitively grouping a number of signifiers (“semes”: words and phrases) around a proper name.” (Silverman 251). This comforting behavior, represented by Mrs. Ramsey, is not only seen with Mr. Ramsey, but with many other characters. The lighthouse stands in the same spot over the many years, through all of the families deaths and troubles, and is still standing when they go back many years later. “It flattered him; snubbed as he had been, it soothed him that Mrs. Ramsey should tell him this,” (Woolf 10). Mrs. Ramsey is the lighthouse, consistent with her behavior in keeping her family together. 

Blog 3: Close-Reading for Intertextuality Link

With this third blog, Chelsea wrote it along with help from myself and Destiny, our group leader. This was a tough blog to write, because we couldn’t think of anything that we had read or seen that could compare to this book. We had a couple different books for ideas, until Destiny finally realized that A Walk to Remember, by Nicholas Sparks, has a very similar lesson. In her blog, Chelsea writes, “Mr. Ramsay represents pessimistic thinking when he told his son that the weather is going to stink and that the lighthouse trip is going to be no good. Mrs. Ramsey represents optimism when she says there could be a chance of going depending on the weather.”

In To the Lighthouse, the semic code is represented as Mrs. Ramsey, who shows a pattern of comforting behavior that keeps her family together throughout the whole novel, until her death about halfway through. Even with her husband’s pessimism, she continuously works hard to keep everyone together, and is essentially the glue to her family and the key to Mr. Ramsey’s change in his idea of mortality. This description of Mrs. Ramsey perfectly matches Jamie, a main character in A Walk to Remember, with just a different time period and storyline. 

Chelsea starts off this paragraph with, “Optimism in the face of death…” (Mclean, Blog 3). This is the main theme in the book/movie, where Jamie is a very nice girl, whose father is a church pastor. Sadly, Jamie has cancer, but no one knows about her illness until much later on. Following the typical boy meets girl idea, Landon is introduced as a bad boy, always in trouble, until he is required to complete community service for being involved in an incident that got him into real trouble. Landon meets Jamie, and after working together, they fall in love, and Landon is no longer the person he was at the beginning of the book. With Jamie’s pattern of behavior that allows Landon to learn how to become a better person, he is completely changed by the end of the novel, and when finding out that Jamie is sick, they get married. After her death, Landon continues to be a better person for her, because like Mrs. Ramsey, Jamie was a lesson for someone who needed help. 

With this, legacy is brought into both texts as part of a cultural code. Chelsea asks a great question in her blog- “If you were to die what would you want your legacy to be?…Heroes get remembered, but Legends never die.” (Mclean, Blog 3). With Jamie, she did everything that she wanted in life, completing school, falling in love, getting married, and after her death, she was remembered by Landon, the person that she helped change for the better. She left a legacy on him and many others that she showed her kindness to, even in church because she was so involved. Mrs. Ramsey’s legacy continues on through her husband, who she had also changed for the better, and her children, who learn to finally understand their father who seemed so cold. When they go to the lighthouse, it’s like that legacy was remembered, and even without Mrs. Ramsey present, they felt like a real family.

Blog 4: Reading for the Rhetorical Dimension of Narrative Link

My group member Ally wrote the final blog for To the Lighthouse. Distinguishing the relationship between the narrator and reader, the text requires the reader to become submissive, and then breaking free from that submissive role. Ally started her blog off with a really powerful quote from the text, “So that was the Lighthouse, was it? No, the other was also the Lighthouse. For nothing was simply one thing” (Woolf 186). Ally writes about how the simple family dynamic story of this book is simply the first layer, and beneath that, are the “complexities of the individual and human relationships”.  The book is a very psychological book, as long as the reader is able to figure the psychology behind each character.

With me being a part of this novel’s audience, I thought of how I could identify with how my other group members read this book, even how we all identify with the characters in the book. We all struggled because this book was a difficult read, but because there are so many different perspectives on each character, we are all able to connect with one or another. Breaking it down by audience, there is the actual audience, the authorial audience, and the narrative audience. Peter Rabinowitz’s “Truth in Fiction: A Reexamination of Audiences,” helps to better understand what each audience is and how to figure out who the audience is for this novel. 

With the actual audience being described as “the flesh-and-blood people who read the book” (Rabinowitz), anyone who just picks up the book to read falls into this audience. My group members started out in this audience, after I chose this book and they simply had to purchase it and then read it in order to write their own blogs. Next, we have the authorial audience, which is the audience in which the author ideally writes for. It is the audience in which the author believes will actually understand the book, and as Ally writes, “assumes has specific knowledge or beliefs already.” (Chopp, Blog 4). Rabinowitz uses The Catacombs by Demby in order to help the reader get a better idea of who the authorial audience is, which Ally included in her blog;

“Demby‘s The Catacombs, for instance, takes place during the early sixties, and the novel achieves its sense of impending doom only if the reader knows that John F. Kennedy will be assassinated when the events of the novel reach 22 November 1963. Had Demby assumed that his audience would be ignorant of this historical event, he would have had to rewrite his book accordingly. Since the structure of a novel is designed for the author’s hypothetical audience (which I call the authorial audience), we must, as we read, come to share, in some measure, the characteristics of this audience if we are to understand the text” (Rabinowitz 126). 

Lastly, we have the narrative audience, which is described as the “imitation audience” by Rabinowitz. Ally excellently describes the difference between the authorial and narrative audience, writing, “The difference between the authorial and the narrator audience is the addresseer— the author is addressing the authorial audience, while the narrator is addressing the narrative audience,” (Chopp, Blog 4).

With the authorial audience, the reader is able to understand why Woolf chose Mrs. Ramsey to be the character she was in the novel, and why she and Mr. Ramsey were represented as polar opposites on the idea of mortality. But the narrative audience is much more difficult to understand, because they read through the characters of the narrative. Because this story has so many perspectives of each character, it is difficult to follow along, but provides the ability to connect with one similar to the reader. I will, admit, that reading this myself I needed to read multiple passages/chapters more than once in order to better understand when it came to writing my first blog, and understand the rest of the blogs. This novel was a great representation that one simple story does not necessarily mean it is the only story, as there were many stories within each character’s perspective. 

Reflection:

At the start of How Writers Read, I was most definitely nervous before the semester began, mainly because we had that book inventory assignment due right on the first day of classes. I started to prepare myself for all the writing to come, along with my other courses, trying to work out a schedule that could work so I wouldn’t be stressing myself trying to get assignments done when they’re all due at the same time. Even with the worry, I was actually happy that this course included reading, and not textbook readings or books that were required, but books that my group and I would work together to choose ourselves. I used to hate going to Language Arts in grade school, because the teacher or curriculum would require certain books to be read, and they were never books I wanted to read. As a young student reading dystopian novels, I found them to be depressing and gloomy, and wanting to read something happier and more interesting. I would also read books at a very fast pace, most of the time finishing a class book long before everyone else and having to go back and reread it in order to stay on the same page. I was disappointed when I started college and stopped reading, but then came into this class and finding out we would be reading 5 books, 4 of our choosing, really got me back into reading again.

Within each of the books were four different blogs that we would all be writing. Within those four blogs were different strategies we would be learning to read for. Some of these strategies were new to me, like finding the different audiences, and what the different codes meant, but intertextuality reminded me of text-to-text connections we would do back in the earlier grades, just a little more complex. I think I can easily connect this course as a whole to Writing Arts Core Value III, “Writing arts students will demonstrate the ability to critically read complex and sophisticated texts in a variety of subjects.” In my first writing class here at Rowan, College Composition I, when writing my reflection for that class, I remember thinking that critically reading complex texts was something I have been doing since early Language Arts. Finding connections, the themes, plot lines, etc. seemed to be critical enough, compared how I used to read for enjoyment and not finding all that extra stuff. This course opened a whole new way of critically reading, and actually reading complex texts. To the Lighthouse is definitely the most difficult novel I have ever read and analyzed,  and I think I surprised myself with learning how to critically read such a difficult text and successfully write these blogs. 

This has been such a difficult semester, not only for me, but for many students all over. With my own personal struggles, I am impressed with how I still kept going to complete all of my work, even when it felt like way too much to even look at sometimes. This course has helped me become just a little more organized, because I had to work with many other essays and writing assignments (being an education major, there aren’t really any tests and there are more key assessments). I am also so glad that it has reintroduced reading to me, and that I feel I can continue to read texts with complex ideas and be able to understand why the author wrote what they did. I think I have become a much different reader in such a short amount of time.

Reading Inventory and Reflection:

Link

Works Cited

Chopp, Ally. “For Nothing Was Simply One Thing.” Blog 4.

McKee, Robert. “Structure and Meaning.” Story: Substance, Structure, Style and

the Principles of Screenwriting. New York: Regan, 1997.

Mclean, Chelsea. “Live Like You Are Dying.” Blog 3.

Moroze, Rachel. “The Inevitable.” Blog 2.

Rabinowitz, Peter. “Truth In Fiction: A Reexamination of Audiences.” Critical

Inquiry. 4.1 (1977): 121-141.

Rainford, Heather. “Mortality of A Husband and Wife.” Blog 1.

Silverman, Kaja. The Subject of Semiotics. New York: Oxford UP, 1983.

Woolf, Virginia. “To The Lighthouse.” London: Marshall Cavendish, 1988.

Blogs and Comments

Book 1: Animal Farm

• Blog 1: I also wondered how Orwell could write this book without making it seem childish. After the first chapter, I realized it was very political. I was questioning how the animals believed there would be a paradise if they got rid of the humans, because they began doing all of the things the humans actually did. So they got rid of the humans, but then started picking up all the human activities, like taking care of the farm, writing, reading, and eventually the pigs learning to walk on two legs, after they all agreed that those who walked on two legs were enemies. The last paragraph highlights how abuse of power can be the downfall of freedom, and the connection to the Soviet Union was a really important part that helps the reader understand the damage of power hungry individuals.
• Blog 2: Hey Chelsea! I liked what you chose as the climax of the story. It was really interesting to me that one of the pigs actually took control, especially after they decided that everyone would be equal. Putting one of the pigs in command broke the equality they all fought for, leading to the downfall of those with four legs being better, because slowly the pigs were taking on human characteristics. I like how you also included the commandments, so the reader can easily refer back to them after you wrote how they all were broken. This is important because the pigs were the ones to create those commandments, and yet at some point they were the ones who could break them too.
• Blog 3: Great job writing this blog Ally! I really liked how you included a tweet you recently saw about Animal Farm. It was an interesting anecdote that helped draw the reader into your blog. It would also encourage those who haven’t read the book to look into it, because by using animals as the main characters, the reader can understand more clearly how the animals feel used and overworked, and wanting to take back control over their humans. Your closing paragraph really draws the whole blog together, describing how the animals freed themselves from the humans, before essentially trying to become the humans. Great job!
• Blog 4: Link

Book 2: Never Let Me Go

• Blog 1: Chelsea, this is really good! I really like the connection you made from the book to our society now. It was definitely thought provoking for me, and I have to say that it makes sense. In the novel, the minorities were the clones, and it seemed normal for them to be treated poorly, and sadly they didn’t know. Even when Kathy found out, she just seemed to accept it. In our own society, people fight to make sure that we are all equal, so it was interesting to me that this novel was so accepting. Great job on this blog!
• Blog 2: Ally, you wrote this blog extremely well! You asked all the same questions I had thought, discussing the different language and how we didn’t really get answers until later on in the text. The hermeneutic code was a good choice to explore, because this book definitely had lots of mystery throughout. I really liked how you broke up the blog into three sections, referencing how the novel was separated into three parts of Kathy’s life. This was a good idea because then you can easily talk about each part without getting the reader confused about what part of Kathy’s life you were referencing to. Your ending paragraph was also really well-written and correct. The author definitely kept me interested. Great job!
• Blog 3: Link
• Blog 4: Rachel, this is so well written! You dive right into discussing the audience from the beginning, referencing Rabinowitz’s text.I definitely agree that the text was a bit confusing, maybe you can include a quote or two from the novel and from Rabinowitz to directly connect it together. I really liked how you also referenced the Hunger Games and how there are similarities between the two societies and differences in how the people react. At the end of your blog, you also posed some really great questions for the reader. This novel did seem to be different from others, because the main character accepts her fate and “completes”, whereas most main characters in other books would fight to change their fate. Great job with this blog!

Book 3: The Picture of Dorian Gray

• Blog 1: This is a really well-written blog, Ally! When first reading, I noticed Schumann was a name mentioned at the top of page 8, chapter 2. Him (Robert) and his wife Clara were both really talented pianists from Germany, as one of Robert’s songbooks was mentioned in this novel. Based on how it seems women were treated in this novel, (from how Dorian treats Sybil and how Lord Henry talks down on them), I found the inclusion of Schumann to be fitting, maybe even ironic. She barely got any recognition because she was a female composer, even though her and Robert’s music were very closely intertwined. However, after he passed away, she finally got her recognition, and continued playing the music he had written. Even though the main idea of this novel isn’t about the treatment of women, I think it adds to that background knowledge since the mention of the Schumann name fits with the way some of the characters were acting. The quote you chose by Basil was a great quote to use- it captures the insane difference of when Basil first met Dorian, to how Dorian acted at the end. Really great job with this blog!
• Blog 2: Link
• Blog 3: Rachel, this was such a well-written blog! I especially loved the closing paragraph- it seemed very powerful to me when you compared Dorian’s downfall to nature taking its course, and reminding us that everything comes to an end. One question I have, and correct me if I’m wrong, but I thought Sibyl’s death was a suicide? It could just be a small mistake though. I liked how you continued using the Great Gatsby that I wrote about in blog 2 to dive more into the connections- I really thought they were so similar. I think you could elaborate a little bit more on the hermeneutic code, and connect it to a situation from the novel. Otherwise, great job!
• Blog 4: Hey Chelsea, this was a great blog! One thing I want to add is to quote Rabinowitz, this will help further to your blog as a specific reader. I think you can also discuss more about the narrator in the beginning of the blog rather than summarizing so much of the book. You did a great job with explaining who the authorial audience, and asked some really great open ended questions to get the reader to really think about what really happened in the book. Your closing paragraph was also written very well, just a few grammatical errors but otherwise was easy to understand, and included a good connection. I never thought about comparing the book to vampirism, but it does make sense that the reader may think that because the book discussed immortality and looking young and beautiful forever. Really good job!

Book 4: To The Lighthouse

• Blog 1: Link
• Blog 2: Rachel, this is really good! I really like how you compared the novel to The Fault in Our Stars, and how both characters are terminally ill, but one tries to enjoy life as best as they can while with the other character. Like the one scene, where she finds him holding a cigarette in his mouth, he is holding the thing that gave him cancer, but does not light it so he feels he has control over allowing that cigarette to essentially kill him. I also liked the quotes you chose to show how Mr. Ramsey is very cautious, especially about going to the lighthouse in such bad weather- it is too dangerous and he is trying to preserve his moral human life. 
• Blog 3: Even though you struggled with this blog, it turned out really well! You clearly describe what the semic code is in the novel, and I love the connection you made to the novel A Walk to Remember– it’s the perfect connection, and even though the stories are so different, they have almost the exact same message. The guy is struggling down a different path than the girl, the girl lives life to the fullest and passes away, then the guy is led down the right path. I also liked how you asked the reader questions for them to think about for themself, but maybe expand more after you ask the group of questions, or why you decided to ask them.

Blog 4: Ally, this is such a well written blog! I felt a little bad about choosing such a hard book after reading it and writing the first blog, especially since you had to write the hardest blog, but you did awesome!  You broke it down really well when figuring out what each audience was and why. I think including how the author writes with a feministic idea, yet with this book Mrs. Ramsey falls into her gender role as a wife. I do think there was a slight gap between the third and fourth paragraph, but it might just be the “however”, since it doesn’t transition smoothly. Otherwise, this was great!