Let's see what comments people have about Lily Briscoe's role in the novel. She is an orphan, and she takes on something like the role of the daughter to Mrs. Ramsay. She is able to see Mrs. Ramsay's flaws as well as her beauty. She also can almost read Mrs. Ramsay's mind. Jane Lilienfeld discusses Lily's relationship with Mrs. Ramsay as something like the relationship with the Great and Terrible Mother (perhaps a parallel to James and his Oedipal conflict with Mr. Ramsay?). Lily sees Mrs. Ramsay's domination of others, her modeling of her own marriage as an example to Minta Doyle and her pushing Paul Rayley toward Minta as a kind of "sacrifice" of the couple on the altar of marraige. Lily resists Mrs. Ramsay's desire to see Lily marry William Bankes, even though in the "Lighthouse" section of the novel Lily says she loves William Bankes. They have become great friends, but they have not married. Lily is an artist, yet her painting might simply wind up in an attic somewhere. At several points in the novel, we read about Lily's theory of art. What would you say is her theory of art? What are your reactions to Lily, and what do you think is her importance to the novel?