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A Room Of One's Own By Virginia Woolf

1911 Words8 Pages

Written by Virginia Woolf, A Room of One’s Own is one of the first feminist writings that was ever written. While this essay follows a fictional narrator, it was based on lectures she spoke at women’s colleges making the essay nonfiction. In this essay, Woolf attempts to reason how an author’s place in society is seen in his or her work. One of the major issues she addresses is the reason why there had never been a “female Shakespeare.” Woolf came to the conclusion that women did not have access to the essential tools to write Shakespeare quality writing as men did. For women to be able to write, she argued, they must have money and a room of their own. Woolf went on to explain that women were deprived of privacy, independence, education, and …show more content…

In the first pages of the book, Woolf is speaking as herself as she presents her thesis that she proves in the essay. However, Woolf the goes on to change her persona. “Call me Mary Beton, Mary Seton, Mary Carmichael or by any name you please--it is not a matter of any importance” (Woolf 5). This was done in order to make the experiences the fictional character faces in the book more universal so that the ideas in the essay apply to all women. If Woolf made the character herself, readers may have thought that the experiences she faced were only specific her. Throughout the essay “Mary Beton” is constantly being rejected because of her sex such as when she is not allowed to use the library. This use of persona makes the reader feel that women are truly oppressed since “Mary Beton” is oppressed and she is symbolic of all women. Along with persona, Woolf’s syntax and diction is used throughout the essay which relates to …show more content…

Additionally, words like “assembled” made the dinner seem like it was forced and it did not just flow like lunch at the men’s college. While the meal at the men’s college is luxurious and plentiful, the meal at the women’s college is only “sufficient.” Despite the meal being sufficient, Woolf continues to depict the food as uncharitable, plain and transparent, and dry which makes the meal seem plain and undesirable. The drastic differences between the meals as demonstrated through syntax and diction relates to purpose as this contrast exhibits how women are oppressed in society. The entire meals themselves can be seen as an allegory for men’s and women’s opportunities. The men’s meal is spectacular and endless which represents the great and ceaseless opportunities men receive in life while the woman's meal is only sufficient and has a lack of choices just as women can only hope at best to have a few sufficient opportunities. In addition to syntax and diction, throughout the essay tone is

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