To the Lighthouse and Brideshead Revisited - Essay Example

The narrator is Charles Ryder who discloses that through his friendship with this family, his concepts of love matured and he went through a gradual conversion that he conveyed to his art. The novel unfavourably compares the values of modern Britain with the aspirations held by Ryder and the Marchmains. Thesis Statement: The purpose of this paper is to determine how Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse and Evelyn Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited engage the relationship between time and place, particularly due to its impact on the individual’s sense of identity and belonging.

The approaches through which these concerns form an integral part of the narrative itself, will be taken into consideration. Relationship Between Time and Place in Woolf’s ‘To the Lighthouse’ Virginia Woolf employs several motifs and symbols to tell the story, and particularly emphasized the role of ‘time’ in the novel. The story focuses on moments of being, and on the link between the past and the present. The first part of the story is ‘The Window’ which portrays one evening in the summer house of the Ramsays in the Hebrides.

The second section of the novel is termed ‘Time Passes’ and encompasses the ten years of war. The third and last section ‘To the Lighthouse’ takes place at the summer house again, appearing as a continuation of the evening of part one, and the night of part two which are actually separated by ten years. In the first chapter, the vision of the particular afternoon in the summer house, “the events taking place and the moments which leave impressions on the characters will be recalled in the third part” states Luhrig (15), thus refering to the flow of time during the ten years that elapse. Mrs. Ramsay thinks to herself that however long they lived, they would come back to this night with its extraordinarily memorable moon, the wind, the house, and to herself too (Woolf 92).

Time is an important concept in the lives of all the characters in the novel. Mrs Ramsay does not like the want her youngest children James and Cam to grow up, because she believes that they will suffer; and she would rather they remained forever as children. Mr. Ramsay on the other hand, thinks only of the future, and the prospects for his career. His wish is to become a great philosopher, and to be recognized and remembered by others. Lily Briscoe the family friend is also concerned about time; earlier she was worried about her paintings, whether they will be accepted; later in the third part, Briscoe’s ideas are more oriented towards the past and in her reflections of Mrs. Ramsay. She brings her personal vision of being a successful artist into focus, supported by her memories of her close friend, Mrs. Ramsay. This contributes to her feeling of identity and belonging in her friend’s house.

During the ten years that form the middle section of the story, the second world war takes place, some members of the Ramsay family pass away, including Mrs. Ramsay. ‘Time Passes’ breaks the structure of the first part where the characters’ views are focused upon. The second part narrates the personal and historical events that take place. According to Luhrig