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Updated August 15, 1997
Created August 15, 1997
"
Nothing, it seemed, could survive the flood, the profusion of darkness
which, creeping in at keyholes and crevices, stole round window blinds,
came into bedrooms, swallowed up here a jug and basin, there a bowl of
red and yellow dahlias, there the sharp edges and firm bulk of a chest of
drawers" (125-126)
"When darkness fell, the stroke of the Lighthouse, which had laid itself
with such authority upon the carpet in the darkness, tracing its pattern,
came now in the softer light of spring mixed with moonlight gliding gently
as if it laid its caress and lingered stealthily and looked and came
lovingly again. But in the very lull of this loving caress, as the long
stroke leant upon the bed, the rock was rent asunder; another fold of the
shawl loosened; there it hung, and swayed" (132-133).
The first quotation concerning darkness occurs before Mrs. Ramsay’s death.
The second after it. Given that Mrs. Ramsay compared herself to the long
stroke of the Lighthouse, what conclusions do you draw about these two
passages?