A Sketch of the Past, Part 4 Summary and Analysis

Virginia reminisces in detail about her brother Thoby (the second of four children and the oldest boy). She describes him as clever but not intellectual, emotional in his youth and restrained as a young man, shyly thoughtful, determined, resolute and underneath it all both devoted to and proud of his siblings.

Woolf provides a lengthy, detailed recollection of summers the Stephen family spent at St. Ives. Leslie was initially reluctant to spend money for a second home — Talland House, with its acres of gardens and proximity to the sea. Virginia describes the history of the town, its habits as a fishing village, and the family's habits as summertime citizens. The light and life of St. Ives is as vivid in Woolf's present as it was in her past. Shortly after...