I like him, too, in a way, though I think the whole 'A-Q' passage is intended as fairly brutal satire; it can be read as Woolf's parody of what she understood as stultifying male logical-sequential thinking: certainly in contrast with her much more abstract, rhythmic, lyrical, 'feminine' methods--he style and structure of 'To the Lighthouse' are anything but 'A-Q'...
We are given a lot of reasons to despise Mr Ramsay--at least at the beginning, anyway. But the beginning is deceptive, because it's focalized through one of the children (James), and it's a while, if I recall, before we get a passage focalized through Mr Ramsay. It seems we get the other characters' perspectives (generally unkind) on him before we get to glance over *his* shoulder, so to speak. Still, I think Woolf sympathizes with Mr. Ramsay at times. I think of the closing scenes of part one, with Mr. and Mrs. Ramsay reading separately but together, aware of each other, but silent--damn, that's a moving passage! One of my absolute favorites in Woolf. The Ramsays are also, sort of, portraits of her parents. And you can feel that personal resonance, I think--the Ramsays just seem to resonate for me much more than the Dalloways do. Damn, that's a wonderful book. I wrote my thesis on 'The Waves,' which I love dearly, but 'To the Lighthouse' is her best.
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timeasmymeasure
Mr. Ramsay
Date: 2003-04-21 01:16 pm (UTC)We are given a lot of reasons to despise Mr Ramsay--at least at the beginning, anyway. But the beginning is deceptive, because it's focalized through one of the children (James), and it's a while, if I recall, before we get a passage focalized through Mr Ramsay. It seems we get the other characters' perspectives (generally unkind) on him before we get to glance over *his* shoulder, so to speak. Still, I think Woolf sympathizes with Mr. Ramsay at times. I think of the closing scenes of part one, with Mr. and Mrs. Ramsay reading separately but together, aware of each other, but silent--damn, that's a moving passage! One of my absolute favorites in Woolf. The Ramsays are also, sort of, portraits of her parents. And you can feel that personal resonance, I think--the Ramsays just seem to resonate for me much more than the Dalloways do. Damn, that's a wonderful book. I wrote my thesis on 'The Waves,' which I love dearly, but 'To the Lighthouse' is her best.