Critical Analysis Of Virginia Woolf

’s A Room Of On Essay, Research Paper

With a fair amount of confusion and lack of clarity, I was able to collect enough information from Virginia Woolf s book, A Room of One s Own, to end up with the overall theme and point to her work. Woolf s ideas were definitely revolutionary for the 1920 s and are rightfully revisited in our educational efforts in the 1990 s. Woolf saw our society differently than most women of her time. Women were mostly preoccupied with their current roles in the community and unable to pursue other areas of interest. The woman s responsibilities revolved around being a mother, a wife and a traditionally active part of their community. Their responsibilities to everyone around them prohibited them from having the ability to see themselves as individuals with distinct aspirations, goals and desires. Virginia Woolf s ideas focused on the woman s desire to create and how it conflicted with the traditional lifestyle that thwarted any potential for creative growth or development. It is apparent to Woolf that the woman s role has been subservient to man. She states that Women have served all these centuries as looking glasses possessing the magic and delicious power of reflecting the figure of man at twice its natural size (36). Woolf mocks the overall arrogance of man and their belief that our society has achieved its current status purely on its masculinity and male achievements. Up until the writings of this book, women were not given the opportunity to be creative and influence the culture they occupied. Most women were not even given the opportunity or freedom to work outside the home. This is where Woolf s room of one s own is defined. Woolf sees that women are as creative, imaginative, and inventive as men. What is stopping them from making an equal impact on society is the lack of opportunity to develop and present these creative skills. Woolf sees the opportunity to develop the creative energy of women is also linked to the ability to make money. She states that having an income of $500 per year, would provide the women with enough support to eliminate the worry about the day-to-day responsibilities that overwhelm a woman s life and ultimately suppress their creative potential. The removal of oneself from the daily responsibilities places a creatively aspiring woman in a room of her own. This is where a woman would be able to flourish and nurture their individual creative mind. Woolf probably intended this room to be seen both figuratively and literally. The individual income, she stresses to be an important part of obtaining One s own room, will financially enable an individual to have such a room. Further, the financial freedom of earning $500 per year creates the room for an individual s mind to explore creative thoughts rather than daily pressures and responsibilities of survival. An example of wealthy accomplished writers is given by Woolf to illustrate how financial freedom can foster creative writings (107). Woolf says, that five hundred (dollars) a year stands for the power to contemplate, that a lock on the door means the power to think for ones self (106).

This room gives them the privacy to think for extended periods of time without interruption. This room also walls off the outside influences that continually penetrate and influence the minds of society. In this privacy, a woman can think and write in her own way and form individual opinions that result in true products of creativity.Overall, Virginia Woolf s writing style was laborious to read. However, her creative illustrations of ideas were enjoyable to read and enabled the theme to ultimately be discovered. Woolf realized that the women of her time were too overwhelmed with their daily responsibilities, to the others around them, that they were unable to uncover their creative potential. She concluded that if a woman was given the opportunity to have her own room , that could be isolated from the obligations and influences of her life around her, then she would be able to think for herself, write freely, and tap into her creative energy. Woolf further explains that once they could acquire this room, and their own incomes, then they could become artists.