The idea of retreat is essential to the plot and relationships that characters develop in To the Lightouse.
The concept behind retreat is to take time out of daily habits. Having removed themselves from their working environments, the characters reveal themselves in their interactions with others and Woolf's introspection into their minds.
The first character who rejoices in his vacation is James. He eagerly sits and cuts out pictures from a catalogue hoping to visit the Lighthouse, all his actions filled with his excitement of the short journey. In contrast to James' anxiety to travel is Mr. Ramsay's cold logic and Tansley's echoing sarcasm. Their attitudes show that even during this break, they still have not relaxed but remain tense and overbearing. They take themselves too seriously and add up the success of their arguments and their achievements to a sense of self-import. Thus is the role of Mrs. Ramsay, the great neutralizer who notes the difficulty of seclusion and relaxation that Tansley is "the hundred and tenth young man to cahse them all the way up to the Hebrides when it was ever so much nicer to be alone." The need to be alone and contemplate is something that pervades all the characters, each using the time to understand themselves but to comtemplate their purpose and appreciate natural untangible things that feeds the mind. On page 14, Mrs. Ramsay describes the view of the Lighthouse which her husband so greatly enjoys yet puts off visiting and how the scenery is so eden-like that even artists venture there to paint. The fact that Mr. Ramsay avoids the Lightouse I think has to do with his P,Q argument of logics and his inability to reach R. What's important here is that Mr. Ramsay is brooding these things while he is not in his academic environment, not discussing what he fondly calls 'nonsense' but undergoing a self-evaluation during holiday. Perhaps the Lighthouse is a threshold, an unachievable end until he comes to terms with himelf, perhaps visiting the Ligthouse is his climatic ascent to R. Stylistically, Woolf paces her writing slow, out of time and place, here the continual work of being at home or study has no power but instead the power of relaxation lays bare the flaws of duty and work in the real world.
3 comments:
As I read your post, I found myself increasingly surprised at where your thought process led you. I am incredibly intrigued by your connection of this logistically tangible, yet put-off trip to the Lighthouse and each character's sense of self, specially including in this a interpretation of Mr. Ramsay's Q&R musings. Clearly, this particular view of the Lighthouse will have to remain in the reader's mind as he follows each character's perspective in regards to this mysterious symbol.
Though I agree To the Lighthouse deals primarily with withdrawal and timelessness, I wonder whether it explicitly concerns "the idea of retreat." Yes, this is a sea-side escape for the weekend, or something of a similar nature, but Mrs. Ramsay is quite aware of whom she has invited (just consider her obvious attempt to set up Lily Briscoe with Mr. Bankes), and the relationships that Woolf establishes remain rather nebulous, tentative, and insecure. In contrast to your conviction of James' "excitement" and "axiety," I believe he is the only person truly at ease. He cooly cuts out images, and, more along the lines of your description of Mr. Ramsay's calculating, "cold logic:" "had there been an axe handy, a poker, or any weapon that would have gashed a hole in his father's breast and killed him, there and then, James would have seized it." (8) Though the phrase that follows this ("such were the extremes of emotion" [8]) refers specifically to Mr. Ramsay, I feel it can be more properly attributed to most everyone else in the house, all of whom are trying actively to solidify their imperfect interactions with one another. Mr. Bankes dislikes Mr. Ramsay, though they were once friends, and both are now tied in knots in Lily's mind, because neither is perfect or good. Although Mr. Ramsay and Mr. Tansley remain at intellectual odds, and are said to be logical and philosophical, both are immensely concerned about their emotionality, with Mrs. Ramsay in the middle, as the subject of their admiration and love. In fact, only James remains aloof and exact in his cutting (and Mrs. Ramsay makes sure of this, by finding difficult-to-cut pictures), while Cam oscillates between obeisance and carefree-ness, Mrs. Ramsay loves her husband not unconditionally but ambivalently. The two connect via their mutual understanding, but just read any of the number of posts (mine included), and you'll see a relationship that both try actively to emend. "The need to contemplate" is indeed a part of the picture, but even the most mentally verbose character, Mrs. Ramsay, ponders what will soon proceed in reality, and not necessarily just the intellectual implications that derive thereof. Regardless, you make some excellent points here, so much so that this argument could probably, with the right citations, go in either direction. I would like to note, however, the incredible mirroring in your last comment of Woolf's Street Haunting, which dealt, from my perspective, with a similar sense of inescapable duty: the notion that everything must be founded securely in "the real world." The author might be revealing that this quality is exposed in the very atmosphere of To the Lighthouse, where Mrs. Ramsay, Mr. Ramsay, and Mr. Tansley must justify themselves, respectively, by means of her children, his intellectual letter-level, and his philosophical dissertation. Interesting thoughts!
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