KEY LITERARY ELEMENTS

SETTING

The novel is set on an island in the Hebrides (a group of islands off the West Coast of and belonging to Scotland) at the Ramseys's vacation house. The novel is set in a ten year period, with the first section (and the bulk of the action) taking place in one day before the war, a middle period in which all action takes place "off stage" during the war, and a last section taking place in one day after the war.

LIST OF CHARACTERS

Major Characters

Mrs. Ramsey

A fifty year old mother of eight children and wife of a philosopher.

Lily Briscoe

A guest to Mrs. Ramsey. A thirty-three year old single woman in the first section, she is a painter. She is forty-four years old in the last section.

Mr. Ramsey

A philosopher who studies the relation of the subject and object and the nature of reality; over sixty in the first section; almost seventy-five in the last section.

Minor Characters

Cam Ramsey

The youngest daughter of the Ramseys.

James Ramsey

The youngest son of the Ramseys.

Charles Tansley

An admirer of Mr. Ramsey, writing a dissertation on "the influence of something upon somebody"; from a working class background and therefore socially awkward with the Ramseys; the Ramsey children dislike him and call him "the atheist."

Minta Doyle

A young woman who is the daughter of friends of the Ramseys. Mrs. Ramsey sets her up to marry Paul Rayley.

Paul Rayley

A young man who proposes to Minta Doyle at Mrs. Ramsey's instigation.

Andrew Ramsey

The oldest son of the Ramseys, intending to be a mathematician. He dies in the war.

Rose Ramsey

A daughter of the Ramseys, known especially for her skill at arranging things.

Prue Ramsey

A daughter of the Ramseys, knows especially for her beauty. She dies in childbirth during the war.

Jasper Ramsey

A son of the Ramseys, who shoots birds in the first section.

Roger Ramsey

A son of the Ramseys.

Nancy Ramsey

A daughter of the Ramseys, who goes on the beach hike with Paul and Minta.

Augustus Carmichael

A poet, who uses opium, who stays with the Ramseys in the summer, who unaccountably does not like Mrs. Ramsey, and thereby prompts her solicitations even more.

William Banks

A philosopher of Mr. Ramsey's age--just turning sixty in section I--who is unmarried and likes, to Mrs. Ramsey's consternation, to dine alone at his room. Lifelong friend of Lily Briscoe's.

Mrs. McNab

The caretaker for the Ramsey's vacation house. She is seventy years old in section two.

Mrs. Bast

A woman who helps Mrs. McNab ready the Ramsey house for their return.

Macalister

He sails the Ramseys out to the lighthouse.

Macalister's boy

He sails the Ramseys out to the lighthouse.

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