To the Lighthouse: The Lighthouse, 2 Summary & Analysis

Looking at Lily, Mr. Ramsay thinks she looks a bit shriveled, but “not unattractive.” He likes her. He asks if she has everything she needs and Lily responds that she does. An awkward silence ensues which Lily tries to rescue them from with talk of the Lighthouse. Mr. Ramsay groans and sighs, and Lily inwardly feels that she is a failure as a woman not to be able to respond to Mr. Ramsay’s obvious distress. Mr. Ramsay tells Lily the expedition will be “very painful,” inwardly thinking her “a stone.” The awkward silence continues. Lily thinks desperately that “a man, any man” would stop Mr. Ramsay from emoting so. But she has no idea what to say, as a woman, and can’t bring herself to sate his obvious thirst for sympathy.

Finally, Lily thinks to praise Mr. Ramsay’s boots, which gives him the chance to talk at length about them. He bends to tie Lily’s shoe to demonstrate a knot and, as he stoops, Lily is suddenly overcome with sympathy and grows teary-eyed. Stooping tying her boot, “he seemed to her a figure of infinite pathos.” When Cam and James finally appear looking unenthusiastic, Lily feels annoyed with them for not showing their father more sympathy. Mr. Ramsay and his children depart for the Lighthouse.

Lily is moved by considering Mr. Ramsay’s face and the way it shows his devotion to his work, his suffering, his desperation for sympathy, his quick-changing moods, his inability ever to hide his feelings. She thinks he has “an extraordinary face.”