Influence

Central to this novel, To the Lighthouse, is the theory of relationship. Mr. Ramsay, a man as much loved as he his hated for his philosophies, is studying “the influence of something on somebody,” (pg14). The reader, while Mr. Ramsay himself is pondering the intricacies of his philosophies, notices that clearly it is the relationships between characters that most obviously influence each individual. In order to further research this concept, one has to first examine this description of Mr. Ramsay’s work in more detail. At first glance, it is extremely vague, without connection to the broader context of the novel. However, if one then reviews the reading so far, this ambiguity reappears, except, this time in the musings of Mrs. Ramsay, and her observations of another relationship. Mrs. Ramsay gives this simple insight into her own relationship with her husband stating: “Marriage needed—oh all sorts of qualities (the bill for the greenhouse would be fifty pounds); one—she need not name it—that was essential; the thing she had with her husband.” (pg 50). This leads the reader to observe, as Lily Briscoe does, what lies beneath the “apparitions, the things you know us by…” (pg 53), and discover what that essential quality of human relations is, what gives relationships meaning. Furthermore, in connection with Mr. Ramsay's study, if one can derive the meaning of the relationship, one can then understand that influence that the "certain qualities" has on each individual. Once that has been revealed, one will know why it is Mr. Ramsay, "resolved,no; he would not interrupt her..." and from what "he wished, she knew, to protect her." (pg 55). It is this influence of each character on another that is so striking in this novel, and a theme that reflects the true aims of the author, one of which appears to be how relationships affect human nature.