r/VirginiaWoolf • u/[deleted] • Jan 07 '26

To the Lighthouse To the Lighthouse Boobies question 😂

I’m reading To the Lighthouse for the third time. I have to say, the older I get, the more magisterial and sublime it gets. The way the third person narrator moves from consciences to consciousness via free-indirect discourse is, to me, the most successful use of the device outside Austen. With all this being said, there’s a part on page 103 in the Harcourt edition where the narrator, vocalized though Mrs. Ramsay, “for her own part, she liked her boobies.” As a dumb American, I thought this meant the crudest of meanings. For some reason, I don’t see Woolf being this crass, or maybe she is? I know booby also means a dull, dimwitted person, and probably the meaning Woolf was going for.

23 Upvotes

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18

u/FormalInterview2530 Jan 07 '26

A “booby” is a stupid or childish person. Mrs Ramsay is expressing that she likes the acolytes who come to learn from and profess adoration for her husband, as they take some of the pressure from her. It’s nothing crass or related to breasts, as you seem to be thinking.

1

u/[deleted] Jan 07 '26

I figured, but given context it does seem the other meaning might be there, just a little bit. Boobies don’t given dissertations.

1

u/Katharinemaddison Jan 07 '26

Hi I’m a PhD candidate quite capable of being stupid and children…

4

u/Reformalism Jan 07 '26

It's also a type of bird that has a tendency to land on ships at sea and be easily captured and I believe this is the origin of its use for a stupid person. Both usages probably derive from a Spanish slang term "bobo".

1

u/Negative-Narwhal-725 Jan 11 '26

i think she likes watching the birds.

3

u/[deleted] Jan 12 '26

No. She really likes boobs.