A Study of Feminism in To the lighthouse by Using Symbolic Techniques

基于象征手法研究《到灯塔去》中的女性主义思想

Introduction

When it refers to the forerunner of feminism, Virginia Woolf is bound to be mentioned. Virginia Woolf (1882-1941), was a famous British writer, who was also considered, as one of the most important feminist as well as a pioneer of stream of consciousness. During the interwar period, Woolf was an important part of London's literary and artistic society. In 1915 she published her first novel, The Voyage Out, through her half-brother's publishing house, Gerald Duckworth and Company. Her best-known works include the novels Mrs. Dalloway (1925), To the lighthouse (1927) and Orlando (1928). Her works have been translated into more than 50 languages. Woolf became one of the central subjects of the 1970s movement of feminist criticism and her works have since garnered much attention and widespread commentary for "inspiring feminism." How Virginia Woolf become such a great female writer?

Virginia Woolf was born in an affluent household in South Kensington, and she lived in a blend family, which shaped the rich thoughts. Woolf's father and her mother bore another four children after their marriage, and Woolf was the eighth child of her parents. The boys in the family received college educations, while the girls were home-educated of English classics and Victorian literature. Due to the summer home the family used in St Ives, Cornwall, Virginia had the chance to accept knowledge in a relaxing environment. Moreover, it was in that place that Woolf saw the lighthouse for the first time, which inspired her to create the novel To the lighthouse.

However, Woolf's childhood came to an abrupt end in 1895 with the death of her mother, and she experienced the first mental breakdown, and then two years later her stepsister and surrogate mother died one by one. A series of blows made her realize the cruelty of reality, and she was depressed by life for a while. From 1897 to 1901, she attended the Ladies' Department of King's College London to ease her grieve, where she studied classics and history and came into contact with early reformers of women's higher education and the women's rights movement. Other important influences were her Cambridge-educated brothers and unfettered access to her father's vast library. Encouraged by her father, Woolf began writing professionally in 1900. Her father's death in 1905 caused another mental breakdown for Woolf. Following his death, the Stephen family moved from Kensington to the more bohemian Blooms bury, where they adopted a free-spirited lifestyle. The image of the dead parent emerged in Virginia Woolf#8217;s brain for decades, which even caused her mental illness, so she decided to create a novel to clarify the feelings of her father and mother. The two important characters, Mrs. Ramsay and Mr. Ramsay in, are modeled on Virginia Woolf#8217;s parents.

The book To the lighthouse is divided into three sections: ”The Window#8217;, ”Time Passes#8217;, and ”The Lighthouse#8217;. The first section, ”The Window#8217;. The first part, the "window" described Professor Ramsay's family and a few friends on a seaside holiday. The son, James, told Mrs. Ramsay that he wanted to take a boat out to the lighthouse. However, Ramsay always came to interfere and insisted that it would not clear the next day. Even so, the dusk ended in the laughter of the dinner. The second section, ”time passes#8217; showed that the villa gradually fell down because the owner spared no time to spend holiday during the World War one. During this period, Ramsey#8217;s wife and eldest daughter died. The eldest son also died in the war. The third part of the "lighthouse" is that after ten years, Mr. Ramsay and his younger son James and daughter Came went to the lighthouse by boat to realize James#8217;s wish of ten years ago. And the painter Lily Briscoe finally completed the painting of James via Mrs. Ramsay which was suspended ten years ago.

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