A Room of One's Own Short Essay

In short, Wolf builds the image of 'a mom of one's own' as a necessity for women in order to develop their lives, in general, and their literary creativity, in particular. She focuses on a series of conditions that had always been neglected to women: leisure time, privacy, and financial independence ('A woman must have money and a room of her own is she is to write fiction'). She uses plenty of visual metaphors and symbolism to support her main thesis.

For instance, the fact that women are deprived of their own room is finely represented in chapter 1 when the narrator tells us : 'ladies re only admitted to the library if accompanied by a Fellow of the College or furnished with a letter of introduction'; also when she describes situations that cause distraction to the narrator, not allowing her thinking. This way, from the very beginning of the book, she is introducing gender roles and discrimination. Nevertheless, Wolfs ideas seem to be ahead of her time.

Undoubtedly, she goes through history by means of fictional characters (perhaps the most moving of them is Shakespearean twin sister), but rather than framing her efforts in the ginning of Feminism, she perfectly fits in the more evolved theories. She does not look for an emancipators / liberationists feminism (or not only), nor even for singular difference (one of the motifs is: 'Call me Mary Betony, Mary Sexton, Mary Carmichael or any other name you please-?it is not a matter of importance'; in fact, some features of later approaches are pointed out.

Wolf claims that women writer's condition (and women, in general terms) is not the result of men attitudes. Instead, her afterthought is much broader. It is clearly showed n the fragment, which is the conclusion of the book: she uses the term 'human being' several times (and not 'men' or 'women'), for instance 'if we escape a little from the common sitting-room and see human beings... ' And 'for no human being should shut out the view'. This indicates that Wolfs debate goes further and sets out not only a question of gender, but a matter of multiple differences (discrimination) brought by the structure of society, the imperialism, etc.

It links with the primary idea of the essay: 'A woman must have money... Other proofs of Wolfs advanced theories can be seen in her way of understanding life, that is to say, with greatness: 'if we live another Century or so', 'if we have the habit of freedom and the courage to write exactly what we think', 'that our relation is to the world of reality and not only to the world of men and women'. Despite, Wolf comes to an optimistic end: if we face the things she explains (ourselves, life itself), 'then the opportunity will come'.

She claims it is not an easy task, and will aka long time to get by: 'As for her coming without that preparation, without that effort on our part, without that determination that when she is born again she shall find it possible to live and write her poetry'. In conclusion, A Room of One's Own is a visionary landmark not only of Feminism criticism because of many reasons (its beauty, its symbolism and innovative style, its drawing to future theories... ) but of Literature itself, and its message fulfils the expectations of the globalizes XIX century human being: self-sufficiency.



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