Teaching To the Lighthouse

Instructions for You

Objective: How is it that women always seem to get what they want from men? Wait. Don't answer that. This is a judgment-free zone… sort of.

In To the Lighthouse, Mrs. Ramsay's success in life is based largely on her ability to manipulate the people around her—especially men—along with her ability to give people what they need. This is a quality perceived by Lily and that frustrates James, though only out of contempt for his father, it seems. Which begs the question, how important is manipulation to success?

Well, how important is peanut butter to jelly? Pineapple to pizza? We see the correlation pretty simply, but students will enter into some social science discussion and manipulation-in-practice in order to arrive at an answer of their own during this activity.

You can expect to spend about one to two hours of in-class time on this one, depending upon whether or not writing is assigned as homework.

Materials Needed: Access to NPR's "How To Manipulate People Into Saying 'Yes'" and "Lab Rats, One And All: That Unsettling Facebook Experiment;" copies of To the Lighthouse

Step 1: Talk with your students about the power of manipulation in everyday life—think: advertising, media, and relationships. In advertising, for instance, we are manipulated into making purchases by promises of an easier life/girls flocking to our scent/hair that makes us irresistible to every man we pass.

Once you have a good brainstorm going with your students, pose the following questions:

• Who are the best manipulators?
• Does the gender of the manipulator change depending on the scenario? For instance, do men manipulate certain arenas while women manipulate others?
• Are all people manipulated equally? Are some people more susceptible to manipulation? If so, who and why?

Step 2: Now bring manipulation back to the novel. Break students into small groups and have them track Mrs. Ramsay's manipulation of Mr. Ramsay, and then her manipulation of other characters in the novel, throughout Part 1. Students should cite page and chapter numbers.

If needed, share the following with your class to help them get started:

• Mrs. Ramsay doesn't tell her husband that she loves him. What impact might this have on him?
• She prefers "boobies" to intelligent young men. Why? (Mention that word at your own risk.)
• She promises that the children will go to the lighthouse. Why?

Step 3: Readers are likely to assume that Mrs. Ramsay is the privileged character, the big cheese with whom Virginia Woolf herself most identifies. She's so cool that everyone likes her, especially Lily, who's her freaking antithesis.

Ask students to take a position about Mrs. Ramsay's appeal. Is she a favorable character, or isn't she? If students continue to work in groups, ask the group to arrive at a consensus. If they're working on their own, give them a few minutes to collect their thoughts in their notebooks.

Step 4: Share these two NPR links—"How To Manipulate People Into Saying 'Yes'" and "Lab Rats, One And All: That Unsettling Facebook Experiment"—with your students. Once finished, as a class or in small groups, answer the following question:

Is manipulation admirable or despicable?

Students should defend their positions based on Mrs. Ramsay's actions in the book. If you want, you can let small groups debate between themselves.

Step 5: It's time for your students to take what they've learned and write position papers (in class or for homework) that address the ethics of manipulation. They should take a position and support it with evidence from the text—if anyone needs a little boost, hook them up with our essay lab.

Step 6: Collect those bad boys and, time permitting, let kids who've taken opposing sides share their papers. We do love a healthy debate.

Instructions for Your Students

Objective: How is it that women always seem to get what they want from men? Wait. Don't answer that. This is a judgment-free zone… sort of.

In To the Lighthouse, Mrs. Ramsay's success in life is based largely on her ability to manipulate the people around her—especially men—along with her ability to give people what they need. This is a quality perceived by Lily and that frustrates James, though only out of contempt for his father, it seems. Which begs the question, how important is manipulation to success?

Well, how important is peanut butter to jelly? Pineapple to pizza? For this activity, you will enter into some social science discussion and manipulation-in-practice in order to arrive at an answer of you own.

Step 1: Guess what? We're constantly being manipulated in everyday life—look no further than advertising for proof. Through commercials and such we're manipulated into making purchases by promises of an easier life/girls flocking to our scent/hair that makes us irresistible to every guy we pass. Join in the class conversation about this reality, and do your darndest to answer the following questions:

• Who are the best manipulators? 
• Does the gender of the manipulator change depending on the scenario? For instance, do men manipulate certain arenas while women manipulate others? 
• Are all people manipulated equally? Are some people more susceptible to manipulation? If so, who and why?

Step 2: Now it's time to bring manipulation back to the novel. Along with your group mates, track Mrs. Ramsay's manipulation of Mr. Ramsay, and then her manipulation of other characters in the novel, throughout Part 1. You should cite page and chapter numbers, and pay attention to who benefits from each manipulation.

Step 3: Is Mrs. Ramsay the wife of the year or the devil in disguise? Review your notes from your group brainstorm and take a stand, either by coming to an agreement with your group mates or collecting your thoughts in your notebook.

Step 4: Check out these two links—"How To Manipulate People Into Saying 'Yes'" and "Lab Rats, One And All: That Unsettling Facebook Experiment"—with your teacher. Once finished, as a class or in small groups, answer the following question:

Is manipulation admirable or despicable?

You should defend your position based on Mrs. Ramsay's actions in the book. If you're in small groups, you might even get to debate between yourselves for a bit.

Step 5: It's time to take a stand all by your lonesome, using what you've learned to write a position paper that address the ethics of manipulation. You should take a position and support it with evidence from the text—if you need a little boost, check out Shmoop's essay lab.

Step 6: Hand that bad boy in and, time permitting, get ready to face-off with a classmate who took an opposing position to yours by reading your paper.