ABSTRACT
The critique of separateness will focus on a particular embodiment of separateness, namely, in autonomy. Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse is a sustained critique of the prevailing ideal of autonomy and the separateness it presupposes. To the Lighthouse opens with Mrs. Ramsay answering James's question whether they would go to the lighthouse tomorrow. Woolf's criticisms of autonomy, and separateness, begin with the observation that men are not always as autonomous as they believe themselves to be. Rather, their much-vaunted autonomy rests on support by women. Mr. Ramsay was dependent on Mrs. Ramsay, or on the support of other women if his wife was not available at the moment. Mr. Ramsay can be childishly dependent on his wife while basking in the illusion of being an autonomous man. Mrs. Ramsay lacks crucial elements of autonomy. Her social role of nurturer to any male who needs it was not chosen by her.
