Peace and the dilapidated house By Duong Trinh

In Section II, Chapter X, of To the Lighthouse, Woolf's first two sentences are as follow:

"Then indeed peace had come. Messages of peace breathed from the sea to the shore."

However, before this point, she describes how sea winds destroy the Ramsays' house, and people's lives are turned and twisted so hard over time. If the sea winds convey peace messages, then I deem it reasonable that the winds' destruction of the house symbolizes peace. But why is it so?

The first section commences with James' desire disapproved of by his father to go to the Lighthouse while ending up Mrs. Ramsay's silent communication with her husband when she resists telling him that she loves him. In other words, the beginning and end of the first section both induce within me the heavy feelings of emotional imprisonment. It is so hard to witness a son expressing his internal anger so much that he wants to kill his father because the father doesn't give him any reasons for why-not. Nor does he encourage James with a promise of going for another time when the weather is better. It is just basically no. There we see a child's dream being buried with evil thoughts, as contrasted to his eagerness to collect the pictures that sparked his sensations innocently. This scene does not show family peace. As a man of facts, mathematics, and philosophy, Mr. Ramsay demandingly pushes his son to animosity towards who is supposed to be his home, his father. 

Meanwhile, similar to her husband, Mrs. Ramsay acts according to her principles. The last scene accompanies a piece of information that she is jealous of Minta, to whom Paul, a man "with a wash-leather bag for his watch," proposes. Mrs. Ramsay idealizes a type of man who might look extremely gallant, confident, and polite like an alpha man from his excellent taste in fashion. Unfortunately, Mr. Ramsay is a grumpy old guy who always mentally "tortures" their mutual son with weather indicators. Her resistance to expressing her love for him results from her imagination of what a perfect man should be. Besides that, aspiring to be praised as a center of attention, Mrs. Ramsay suddenly feels angry at the beginning of the dinner party when her children's late return shows their lack of appreciation of her work. In hopes of taking control of everything, she makes promises of going to the Lighthouse to James, despite unpromising weather situations, as if her promises are only to contradict her husband's unreasonable denial. Mrs. Ramsay hates Charles Tansley because he acts like her husband as a mean guy. Nevertheless, she continues her hatred because he keeps being so harsh to James, although she already brings him out to let his soft aspect exude. She nurtures feelings of respect, admiration, and self-esteem in Tansley by letting him watch her communicate with others and hold her bag, which is what she always does on her own. 

There are so many other examples that characters live in others' shadows and what they think of as their life principles. To illustrate, in Mrs. Ramsay's eyes, her daughters mock Tansley since "there was in all their minds a mute questioning of deference and chivalry, of the Bank of England." Simply put, it is "the manliness in their girlish hearts" that inspires them to be that critical. Mrs. Ramsay deplores them to invent "differences, when people, heaven knows, were different enough without that." Lily Briscoe paints her painting with such materials as a mother, child, and purple shadow, taken from Mrs. Ramsay and James' conversation when she sits next to them. It is still Lily Briscoe who reveres Mrs. Ramsay so much that she wonders if loving could make her and Mrs. Ramsay one. She paints her life dependently on her role model, Mrs. Ramsay, which explains why she is always self-conscious and scared that others approach her to see her painting. It seems to her "the residue of her thirty-three years."

Moreover, Mr. Carmichael puts no trust in Mrs. Ramsay due to bad memories of his ex-wife, who kicked him out of their house. It is manifestly an unfair thought, the thought causing strife and division among people based on Mr. Carmichael's prejudice against kind-looking women. There is latently a belief that everyone buys, that is, men are superior to women. No one ever slaps into Tansley's face when he degrades Lily, saying that she can't paint. Mrs. Ramsay also unconsciously admits the role of her husband as a god in the family. To clarify, she thinks to herself this way, "If her husband required sacrifices (and indeed he did), she cheerfully offered up to him Charles Tansley, who had snubbed her little boy."

In summary, I have found numerous details that seem to give rise to toxic human relationships from a modern point of view. Therefore, the dilapidation, or later disappearance, of the house is likely to be a good sign that peace will come. It is peaceful that people won't make intense wars between men and women as in the dinner party. Lily will paint as she wills without others' judgments and the bravery she found to move a tree to the middle when seeing Tansley and Bankes being toyed. Mr. Carmichael will say farewell to his prejudiced life and shine bright with his potentials. Mr. Ramsay will belittle his ego and knowledge-based standard to become milder to James. If one wonders why one should expect peace, the second section's title answers it. Because time passes, things and people have to change.