Virginia Woolf’s famed 1927 novel "To The Lighthouse" was a cornerstone of modernist Literature, redefining the ways in which characterization, narration, and the passage of time influence storytelling. This project explores the novel’s contrasting of social conventions, philosophy, and art as the three mediums in which people attempt to rationalize the complexity of life. Through the maternal and hospitable Mrs. Ramsay, the objective and intellectual Mr. Ramsay, and the young, artistic Lily Briscoe, Woolf’s characterization shows the reader not only how these three lenses differ, but how they ultimately complement one another, representing a new understanding of life in a post-war world. Through close examination of the novel itself, as well as various literary criticisms and biographies, this project aims to bring our understanding of both Woolf’s enduring influence, and the shifting mind states of post-war society into focus.
