Here is information I gathered from various places around the Internet.
To the Lighthouse (1924) is one of the most complex and accomplished novels to come out of the Modernist movement. Only Ulysses is more profound in its disregard for the rules of the novel, and its enjoyment for breaking the seemingly unbreakable rules of literature set in place during the Victorian era. Virginia Woolf was experimenting with a new way of writing the novel: she considered whether 'elegy' might be a more apt word to describe To the Lighthouse . What is certain is that the traditional modes of reference for describing the novel - in terms of storyline and plot analysis - are rendered impossible by the fluidity of Woolf's stream-of-consciousness style.
Modernism represents the elemental shift in artistic and cultural emotional responses evident in the art and literature of the post-World War One era. The structured world of the Victorians could not, in the words of T.S. Eliot, accord with "the immense panorama of futility and anarchy which is contemporary history." Modernism, therefore, marks a distinctive break with Victorian morality, discarding nineteenth- century hopefulness and instead presenting a deeply pessimistic vision of a world in turmoil. The movement is most often associated with the work of T.S. Eliot, James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, W.B. Yeats, Ezra Pound, and Gertrude Stein.
Modernism is often attacked for discarding the social world in favor of its obsession with language and the act of writing. Acknowledging the language's inability to ever say what it really wants to say, the Modernists generally relegated content in favor of a concentration upon form. The fragmented, non- chronological, poetic forms utilized by Eliot and Pound revolutionized poetic language. An understanding of Modernism's goals and beliefs, and of the traditions against which it was fighting, is central to an understanding of the visionary experiment that is To the Lighthouse .
Themes
Time
Mrs. Dalloway , alongside Ulysses , was one of the two greatest Modernist commentaries upon the nature of time (though it is worth noting that Woolf was occasionally critical of Joyce's conceptually and stylistically similar modern epic). Woolf's very personal prose style leant itself perfectly to an exploration of the subjective nature of the passing of time. Woolf believed quite rightly that time was not a definable constant, but a fluid series of experiences which give the impression of coherency. To the Lighthouse is a commentary upon the nature of the 'now'. It deals with the instability of the moment and the uncertainty of everything but death. The flow of the novel through its three sections represents the flow of time from one day to the next, from day to night to day again. 'Time Passes' covers ten years in the space of a few pages. However, the experiences of these years are compressed into the fragmented images of the chapter. The "shrouded jugs and sheeted chairs" in the holiday home remind us of the stability of objects in the constantly fluctuating world. The deaths of Mrs. Ramsay, Andrew and Prue are referred to in passing. Woolf's mother's death was perhaps the most devastating incident in her life, but here it is parenthesized, showing the lack of impact that individual lives have in the larger scheme of things.
The Individual
To the Lighthouse is presented from the individual viewpoints of the characters involved. The characters can explore their own minds in the past, present and future and Woolf focuses upon the relationship between the individual and their surroundings. The focus upon the individual centers upon their mind. Woolf is fascinated by the randomness of the thought process and the relationship between seemingly unrelated objects. The individuals in Woolf struggle to find a sense of direction and purpose in a world whose basic values and structures have been destabilized by the war and the shift in morality which preceded and followed it. The individual in Woolf is lonely. Even in her joy at the union with Paul, Minta is despairing at the loss of her brooch. The brooch represents, amongst many other things, the realization that man is alone, no matter how close he is to someone. Woolf's stream-of-consciousness style raises questions about the function of the mind. Mrs. Ramsay best exemplifies the mysteries of the working of the mind when she enters into her trance-like contemplations of those around her. She becomes: "a wedge-shaped core of darkness, something invisible to others". Mr. Ramsay, similarly, feels the weight of the solitude of the individual consciousness weighing down upon him: "to come out thus on a spit of land which the sea is slowly eating away, and there to stand like a desolate sea-bird, alone".
Symbols
The Lighthouse
The Lighthouse represents the duality of imagery that Woolf sees in all her symbols. It can be seen to stand for the duality we find in the relationship of Mr. and Mrs. Ramsay. Mrs. Ramsay signifies femininity, intuition and the enveloping love of motherhood; Mr. Ramsay represents cold, hard, masculine intellect. The Lighthouse is circular, and therefore a female image, however it is also a phallic symbol which represents Mr. Ramsay. It endures unchanged whilst the turmoil of the 'Time Passes' chapter occurs. It is therefore pitiless, even though we have earlier identified it with the warm and forgiving Mrs. Ramsay.
The Sea
Later to be used to great effect in The Waves , the image of the sea as a living, protective backdrop is one of Woolf's enduring images. The symbolism of the sea is linked to the imagery of time: the relentless crashing of the waves represents eternity. The eating away of the spit of land represents the eating away of the characters in the novel by the ravages of time. The waves also represent the characters in the book. Although each is distinct and has its own individual shape and form, they make up part of a whole which ebbs and flows in unity.
The Painting
Lily's painting shows us the way in which art is a continuous process that attempts to capture the essence of that which it is representing but, more often than not, fails. Lily only manages to truly capture what she feels about Mrs. Ramsay at the end of the novel, when she has lived and experienced many of the same things as Mrs. Ramsay. The painting symbolizes bonds between women and the communal experience that is being female.