Woolf- Time

In chapter VI of Part 2 of To The Lighthouse, Woolfe uses seasons and brackets as an indicator of a passage of time. The chapter starts off with a detailed paragraph on the ending of spring which is directly followed by a bracketed passage about Prue being married off. This bracketed section is then followed by a new paragraph, opening with sentence pertaining to the seasons. On page 131, after it is revealed the Prue is to be married, the next paragraph starts with "As summer neared." The paragraph following this is also bracketed, and an unbiased third party narrates her death via childbirth. This follows the stated pattern as the paragraph following this starts "And now in the heat of summer" (132). Although this is not the same wording, it is understood that time is passing. This same format appears on the next page, but what is interesting is that the brackets are unrelated to the rest of the chapter.

The fact that these events, which are usually considered important to a story, are bracketed and unrelated shows that Woolf is focusing highly on time. All of the paragraphs in this first half of the chapter (aside from the bracketed) focus on the nature, the seasons and their aspects. Aside from the bracketed chapters, it is as if Woolfe forgets that humans exist. No speaker is identified, but the change in tone from the unbracketed to bracketed shows a disinterest. While all of the passages focusing on the nature are incredibly detailed and vivid, the brackets proclaiming the events of Prue and Andrew Ramsey are short, apathetic, and only voice opinions of others. Not only does this technique reveal her ability in moving through time, but also how insignificant life is. Though monumental events are occurring in the lives of humans, regardless of humanity, nature and time progress as if nothing but a blip on a screen has occurred.