Woolf Woolf Meow

To the Lighthouse
By Virginia Woolf

I’m sitting in my English 376 class, We’re studying British Lit from 1890-present. We’re focusing on Gender, Nationalism, Colonialism, and The Modern Self…yeah, I still don’t know what “the modern self” is. But we’re figuring it out. “Ideology represents the imaginary relationships of individuals to their real conditions of existence.” (Karl Marx)…do you know what that means?? My teacher explained it through money. I understand the concept…kind of. Am I smart enough for this stuff?? I should be. I think I am. Sometimes it just goes way over my head…

Group time.

Here’s our section:
“James looked at the Lighthouse. He could see the white-washed rocks; the tower, stark, and straight; he could see that is was barred with black and white; he could see the windows in it; he could even see washing spread on the rocks to dry. So that was the Lighthouse, was it?
“No, the other was also the Lighthouse. For nothing was simply one thing.” (186)

Nothing was simply one thing.

Nothing was simply one thing.

Everything was/is/will be more than one thing, always. Our questions were: 1>Can you see an object from all sides at once? 2>If everything is at least 2 things, is it ever anything?

Yes. If something is two things it is still something. If a cat is a mammal and a female, it is still an animal. Does that make sense? Does any of this make sense?
I feel like I SHOULD be whinning…. Saying “When am I ever going to use this in real life?” but I’m not. I enjoy class. I love the ambiguity regarding these questions. I loved math for it’s reassurance that 2+2 will ALWAYS =4 (disregarding relativity). However, English is my passion because of the simple factor that you CAN NOT see an object from all sides at once.

You can’t look at one object at all sides at once without disrupting the structure. To maintain the object’s integrity you cannot take it apart, but taking it apart is the only way to see it from all angles at once…even so..you cannot see a sheet of paper all at once. You say “yes you can” but I argue, NO.
You see the sheet of paper. But to see the other side you must flip it over, thus you cannot see it all at once.

Am I making sense?


Probably not. Anyway, it’s just what I was thinking about…