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  • Essay / Symbolism, anti-patriarchal chauvinism and...

    In the novel To the Lighthouse, Virginia Woolf successfully creates a unique form of writing thanks to her experimentation with language which allowed her to break with the style of conventional writing of his time to land in a modern and radical literary style. Her experimentation with writing came at a time when no women had a female voice in literature. Although its new form of writing veered into a dimension unknown to the conventional writing style, the novel was still able to capture the character's fleeting thoughts, reactions, and internal struggles. Thus, Woolf's use of techniques such as symbolism, structural organization, narrative voice, and unusual treatment of time allowed her novel to precisely express the condition of women and argue the feminist conundrum. Symbols are an important area of ​​To The Lighthouse that allowed Woolf to convey impressions and thoughts that language failed to express. Woolf uses private symbolism to convey the inner consciousness of her characters in order to reveal their emotional lives and immerse her readers into the character's mind. One of the most significant symbols in the novel is the lighthouse. This appears at first to be a dream getaway for James, however, his perspective changes towards the end of the novel when he realizes that the lighthouse was only a desirable object for him. It is no coincidence that Mrs. Ramsay's death and the end of her influence over James appear just before the conflict between him and his father is resolved and their relationship improves. Because, subtly throughout the novel, she yearns for her own country as a metaphor for her patriarchal freedom, “a lunar country, uninhabited by men”. (11). On the other hand, Ms. Ra... middle of paper ...... deals with external events and thus the passage of time becomes poignant since these events lack meaningful experiences. In her transformation of time, Woolf makes it clear that the perception of time depends on the experience itself rather than on any trivial external factor. To The Lighthouse is one of the masterpieces of the modern era produced by Virginia Woolf. The symbolism, fragmented organization, stream-of-consciousness narrative style, and unusual chronological treatment are all techniques Woolf used to allow her to explore the issue of feminism. She knew how to immerse the reader in the subjective reality of her emblematic characters of Lily's journey like the germ of a female voice. Thus, Woolf's efforts paved the way for the modern female writer and freed her from the masculine form, giving her the freedom to write as she wished..