Critical Analysis of A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf
Critical Analysis of A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf
A Room of One’s Own, by Virginia Woolf was written in a pivitol point in women’s history. Shortly after the First World War, the women’s movement saw renued energy. In the US, suffrage began and the right to vote was achieved. This work of Virginia Wolf is a manifesto of the feeling of the time for the women’s movement. The book is an argument as well as an exposition. One point sums up the argument of the book.
“One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.” (P. 18). This comes out of the first chapter of A room of One’s Own. Here the author is making a point about the differences between the men’s colleges and the women’s colleges. She first describes the lavish meal at the men’s college.
The partridges, many and various, came with all their retinue
of sauce and salads, the sharp and the sweet, each in its order,
their potatoes, thin as coins but not so hard; their sprouts, foliated
as rosebuds but more succulent. (P 10- 11)
She goes on to describe the merriment of the men as they eat end how the food and drink bring on the “rich yellow flame of rational intercourse.” (P. 11). She observes the overall contention of the crowd and how the conversation “went on swimmingly, it went on agreeably, freely, amusingly.” (P.12). She leaves the luncheon light on her feet, reciting poetry to herself.
Virginia then describes the meal at the women’s college. The drab meal is a stark contrast to the lavish luncheon at the men’s college. The meal is plain, served in plain dishes. In disdain, she describes the prunes served for desert as “stringy as a miser’s heart and exuding a liquid such that might run in a miser’s veins,” (P. 17- 18). There was no wine served with their dinner, only water to quell the dryness of the biscuits. She leaves this meal in a considerably worse mood than the previous meal. She finds her solace in sharing a drink with a friend and lamenting to her. She comes to the conclusion that “One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well,” meaning that the lavish meal of the...