“A Room of One`s Own” by Virginia Woolf

“A Room of One`s Own” by Virginia Woolf is about the reasons why

women struggled to write and create art throughout history. The author tries
to explain women need money and a private space to think and work freely.
And in this essay I will explore the main ideas, relativism, subjectivism,
symbolism, time shift and critiques of gender norms in this book.
The major themes on this work are financial independence, intellectual
freedom and space and autonomy of women for creativity to write their own
books. Let’s continue with relativism in modernism which is the truth,
meaning, reality of the idea is not absolute, but depend on individual`s
perspective. Woolf shows this by exploring how women`s creativity was
affected by social structure. She writes:” A woman must have money and a
room of her own if she is to write a fiction”. This statement is not presented
as an absolute truth, but as a relative observation based on the historical
context of women`s exclusion from education and financial independence.
She uses the fictional Judith Shakespeare to demonstrate her opportunity and
education from William Shakespeare. Although they are equally talented, but
because of societal constraints, his talented sister is denied her equal
opportunities. Furthermore, she critically examines the canon and the
absence of women`s voices and asking why there were so few female
writers. She thinks that women are often the subject of the men`s writers but
not authors themselves.
Subjectivism plays crucial role in Woolf`s narrative. One clear example
of subjectivism is Woolf`s work is the decription of not inputting to the
library at Oxbridge because of being a woman. She recalls how “beadle”
stopped her and reflects “Lock up your library if you like, but there is no
gate, no lock, no bolt that you can set upon the freedom of my mind”.
Another example can be seen in this example: “Call me Mary Beton, Mary
Seton, Mary Carmichael or by any name please – it is not a matter of any
importance” that here she admits the subjectivism in her interpretation rather
than objectivism. Moreover, Woolf discusses women`s psychological and
emotionally experiences. She states that in previous centuries women`s
writing was shaped by feeling of anger, frustration because of limitations
placed by society. Her clear analysis is on Charlotte Bronte`s work “Jane
Eyre”. Here Bronte`s anger felt in “Jane Eyre” affected the quality of novel.
She contrasts it with Jane Austen who maintained emotional detachment in
her writings, even though she had limited freedom. One of Woolf`s famous
idea is the concept of the androgynous mind regarded as ideal state for a
writer. This idea is subjective and cannot be measured through objective
standards. She believes that the author creates the great literature, when he or
she transcends gender identity, mixing both masculine and feminine qualities
in their thinking. She exemplifies the Shakespeare who has works free from
gendered biases that often limit other writers. Woolf also describes her
subjective journey with searching for the truth. It can be seen that she mostly
refuses the give definite answers. By this she questions her own observations
and admitting each woman has different experiences, challenges. Virginia
believes that this style invites readers to make their own reflections on
gender and literature.
Virginia Woolf uses rich symbolism in her work. For example, the
central symbol is “room” itself which represents literal and metaphorical
space for women to write and create. Without space women are constantly
distracted by family responsibilities (as Miss Nightingale was so vehemently
to complain, - ‘women never have an half hour ... that they can call their
own’ - she was always interrupted) and social expectations preventing them
to pay fully attention to writing. Also, Woolf connects room with money
which is the foundation of artistic, intellectual freedom. Financial freedom
allows women to think for themselves rather than depend on men for
survival. She recalls the small inheritance helped her to read, write, think
freely. Here money is not only wealth, but opportunity and ability to shape
own destiny. One of the striking examples is Judith Shakespeare who is the
fictional sister of William Shakespeare. She imagines her equally talented as
her brother but was denied and education, forced into a marriage and at the
end driven to despair and suicide. Woolf gives this example to show how
countless capable women lost their opportunities throughout the history due
to patriarchal hardship. Judith is silenced by social expectation as many
talented women were been stifled(‘Women live like Bats or Owls, labour like
Beasts, and die like Worms’), while her brother is free to accomplish his art.
Another powerful example is the mirror, which is used to encourage women
to pursue their own identities rather than amplify men`s strength and support
in their success. She states: "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."
This novel is also notable for its nonlinear treatment of time. Instead of
presenting exact chronological time, the writer prefers to shift past, present,
future. Time shifting helps her to highlight the continual struggles of women.
It is clearly seen the past-present time shift in educational privileges of men
at Oxbridge with poverty of women`s college, contrasting 16 th century
women`s lack of access to the education. By shifting between different time
periods she illustrates the fight for gender equality is ongoing.
“A Room of One`s Own ” is a feminist text that Woolf critiques the
patriarchal structure, economic dependence, social expectations shaped
women`s lives and prevent them from reaching their full potential to be a
writer or artist. She says that the economic barrier is the main thing
preventing women from achieving intellectually and artistic success. She
famously states: “A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is
to write fiction.” But, she believes in literature gender should not define a
writer. Woolf states: "It is fatal for anyone who writes to think of their sex."
This means writer should embrace a balance both masculine and feminine
qualities ih their writings. Also Woolf introduce the concept of androgynous
mind which is a writer could create stronger, more universal works ("One
must be woman-manly or man-womanly.")
In conclusion, in “A Room of One`s Own” Virginia Woolf shows the
historical barriers preventing women from writing, financial independence
that women of that period were deprived and the lack of female voices in
literature. She also use relativism, subjectivism and symbolism to critique
gender norms.