To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf takes place in the Isle of Skye in Scotland. The story unravels in chronological order with chapters that follow the third person all-knowing narrative, capturing the individual thought processes of the Ramsay family, their friends, and the guests in their house.

The plot begins with James Ramsay, the youngest son, feeling overjoyed after his mother promises him that they can go to the lighthouse. However, the request gets immediately shut down by Mr. Ramsay, saying that it will rain tomorrow. Following a period of discontent, Mr. Ramsay decides to host a dinner with his visitors and students, Charles Tansley, Lily Briscoe, William Bankes, Paul Rayley, Minta Doyle, and Augustus Carmichael. The party stirs up a cacophony of emotions and ends on a melancholy note. In the second half of the book, the abrupt deaths of Mrs. Ramsay, Andrew Ramsay, and Prue Ramsay are announced. In response to the tragedy, the vacation home in Scotland becomes deserted and is put up for sale. The novel ends when Mr. Ramsay finally takes James and Cam to the lighthouse, only to discover that its worn-down appearance differs greatly from the childrens’ idealistic imaginations of the structure by looking at it from afar.

The complex interactions between Mr. and Mrs. Ramsay stood out to me. As a former philosophy professor and publisher, Mr. Ramsay’s ephemeral success leaves him self-conscious about his achievements and constantly reminding himself that “he would never reach R” (36). Therefore, he looks to his wife for reassurance, “His immense self-pity, his demand for sympathy, poured and spread itself in pools at her feet” (166). In the opening chapters, the theme of sex roles in marital relationships emerges. With men being the working figures in a family, women like Mrs. Ramsay become resources for their husbands to go to for validation. Mrs. Ramsay submits to the social expectations of femininity yet never loses her flair, causing most of the men that she encounters to find her peculiarity attractive. She comments that Lily Briscoe, a painter, “With her little Chinese eyes and her puckered-up face… would never marry” (16). The rigid and unrealistic beauty standards for women set by men cause detrimental harm to their sense of self-worth. Furthermore, Lily’s experience with Mr. Tansley, an offensive and oblivious scholar, telling her that women can’t read or write contributes to her lack of confidence in her artworks. However, exemplifying both rationalistic and sympathetic characteristics, Lily realizes that getting out of marriage was a relief, and she “[thanked the] Heavens [for] she need not undergo that degradation” (108).

The second half of the book utilizes rhetorical devices involving nature to emphasize the inevitability of death. Woolf reveals crucial information matter-of-factly and quickly, showing that time goes on without consideration of human behavior.  James Ramsay holds a fresh perspective on life, as his innocence allows him to see the tendencies and dangers of a male-dominated society. He makes an analogy of a wheel rolling over a toddler’s foot to imply that the patriarchy sees itself as faultless. However, the real person to blame, the driver of the wheel, does not appear in the physical realm and instead is deeply rooted in society, presenting itself as the prejudiced views and stigma around being a woman. Furthermore, Lily Briscoe's heartbreaking reaction to Mrs. Ramsay's death, screaming and crying when trying to finish her portrait, shows how the women depended on each other despite being different. The two navigate the scope of the world using an approach that is empathy and "Intimacy itself, which is knowledge" (53).

I found this book challenging to read, as Woolf’s use of subject and object pronouns was ambiguous. This deliberate literary choice causes the reader to pay closer attention to the character’s genders than usual. I enjoyed Woolf’s direct and concise use of language, like when she depicts the Ramsays’ home as “a house of unrelated passions” (161), fully capturing the tension that frequently arises beneath a loving and harmonious exterior. At times, I was moved by the inner dialogues of Mrs. Ramsay, such as her disbelief in her aged appearance and her questioning of her life's purpose. I would recommend this book to higher-level readers because I found myself sometimes getting lost in her lengthy and poetic descriptions.