Discuss the narrative technique of To the Lighthouse.

Answer

Discuss the narrative technique of To the Lighthouse.

Virginia Woolf’s (1882-1941) To the Lighthouse (1927) is a modern novel that uses a very new kind of storytelling. It does not tell the story in a straight line like traditional novels. Instead, it shows how people think and feel inside their minds. The novel moves between past and present, between different thoughts, and between different people. Woolf uses a method called “stream of consciousness” to present the story. Through this, we do not just see what happens, but we feel how life passes through the characters’ minds.

Stream of Consciousness: The main feature of Woolf’s technique is the stream of consciousness. It means the continuous flow of thoughts and feelings in a person’s mind. Woolf writes exactly how thoughts come, sometimes clear, sometimes broken, sometimes jumping from one idea to another.

For example, when Mrs. Ramsay looks at her children or thinks about dinner, her mind moves from small daily worries to big questions about life and death. We enter her private world of emotions. Similarly, Mr. Ramsay thinks about his failure as a philosopher. Lily Briscoe wonders about her art and life. In a stream of consciousness, she thinks about the meaning of existence and the nature of relationships.

“What is the meaning of life? … there were little daily miracles, illuminations, matches struck unexpectedly in the dark.”

Through this method, Woolf makes the reader understand each person’s inner world deeply.

Multiple Points of View: Another important part of the narrative style is that the story is told from many points of view. There is no single narrator telling everything. Instead, Woolf moves gently from one person’s mind to another.

At one moment, we are inside Mrs. Ramsay’s thoughts; in the next, we hear what Lily or Mr. Ramsay is thinking. This gives us a round, complete picture of each event. For example, Lily Briscoe watches how much Mr. and Mrs. Ramsay love each other. We read from