dead husband even though she is lonely.  The act of reprimanding John, Jacob's younger brother, for chasing the geese is her frustration coming out. 
Virginia Woolf's use of irony comes out with the exploration of God.  The controlling parent of a child's early life is often his/her model for the Supreme Being.  Woolf is taunting the Christian father/God by putting Betty Flanders in that role.  The mother becomes God and as Jacob grows older we are given a chance to see what a difference this makes.  But still Mrs. Flanders is seen as a controlling figure.  She tries to keep her boys within her sight and pulls Jacob away from the sheep's skull and the symbolism of death it represents for her.  She controls their dreams telling Archer, Jacob's older brother, to think of fairies.  For as much as Woolf contemplates the idea of a mother/Goddess, Betty Flanders is still a strong father/God.
Jacob's model for love is again his mother and he is set up to fall.  Betty Flanders loves her husband very much and his absence makes this love stronger.  He is not around to fight with her, to argue, or be controlling.  The fact that Jacob can only study one side of the love makes it easy for him to construct a belief in True Love.

All these ideas are expanded and acted upon as the novel progresses.  The gender roles are played out in parties that Jacob is forced to sit through.  His only male role model is Mr. Floyd who becomes as ideal as Jacob's father when Mr. Floyd moves away.  Without a paternal figure to emulate, Jacob comes across brash and unaware of his surroundings.  He takes more mutton without thinking of the hostess and eats like a pig.  Already he is starting to see faults in the patterns.  He dislikes the formality of the parties and his own uneasiness makes it all seem contrived.

As he explores his feeling for women, the moral guilt for his carnal pleasures is only hinted at.  His mother is a ghost outside the door of his room as he sleeps with Florinda.  This is in part due to the fact that the true God of his childhood, his father, was missing and there was no real punishment for wrongdoing.  He was without a controlling God as a child so it is hard for him to feel the control as an adult.

His ideas of True Love last longer than either of the other two ideals.  When