Virginia Woolf's In An Air Raid

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in an Air Raid” Woolf writes, “Even in the darkness we can see that made visible. We can see shop windows blazing; and women gazing; painted women; dressed-up women; women with crimson lips and crimson fingernails. They are slaves who are trying to enslave. If we could free ourselves from slavery we should free man from tyranny. Hitlers are bred by slaves” (Woolf). Woolf is mocking pretty women, made-up women, prostitutes and housewives. She is petty, in her tone, and exhausted as she pens her last assertion. Society has not been kind to Virginia Woolf - no - society has not been kind to women. Woolf blames the “ subconscious Hitlerism in the hearts of men” (Woolf) that keeps women down and assures their docility. Virginia Woolf accepts none …show more content…

Adrienne Rich was a feminist, a lesbian, a Jew and an American. In her piece, “Diving into the Wreck,” she explores gender identity and the experience of being silenced. The renowned author writes “I am she: I am he (...) We are, I am, you are / by cowardice or courage / the one / who find our way / back to this scene / carrying a knife, a camera / a book of myths / in which / our names do not appear” (Rich, 77-94). Rich is referring to the fact that too often, lesbian names and histories, as well as those of women, are left out of the history books and forgotten, because of their sex, gender, or sexual orientation. Here, she is in agreement with Virginia Woolf; both authors, both poets, lament the oppression under which they currently …show more content…

Because wars are so often, especially in this modern day and age, far removed from our shores, they may seem as if they do not affect us. Rich would say that this is, of course, a fallacy; she was vehemently opposed to war, and was 16 years old when World War II ended. World War II shaped many of her perceptions about conflict. Rich writes, “I put on the body-armor of black rubber / the absurd flippers / the grave and awkward mask” (Rich, 5-10). This is a reference to the gas masks that civilians and combatants alike had to wear during the war - this imagery is also utilized by