Open Topic- I Like This Book!

Although there are some dense sections of Virginia Woolf's book A Room of One’s Own, I have found myself really enjoying her words. Specifically, I like how she addresses the issues relating to gender. Growing up during a time where females have a wide range of social, economic and personal opportunities, I feel captivated by how eloquently Virginia Woolf describes the inequalities that have plagued women because they are inequalities I have not been forced to endure. And because I have not been subject to these inequalities and attitudes to an extreme level, I find it so interesting to tap into the minds of those unfortunate women who have. For example, Woolf expresses some of the opinions that the world (men) have formed about the female identity, "that when children cease to be altogether desirable, women cease to be altogether necessary” (112). Not only is it insulting to make such implications that a women’s identity is wrapped up in her ability to procreate, but it must have been exceptionally difficult to sit back and have to put up with such talk. I truly am amazed that the women of previous times did not go on some crazy, murderous rampage that aimed to wipe out the male race and assert themselves as more than property.

Nonetheless, Woolf continuously refers to the anger that permeates throughout works (though few and far between) that were written by women of these times. And she channels this indignation so that it serves as a constant undertone to why writing and women have had such a hard time connecting. While some may argue that she bludgeons this point to death with her numerous references to female oppression over the years, I think it does wonders for the picture she paints. More so, in her closing, it seems as though things come full circle in a way. This is because she faces the female reader with the reality that, “the excuse of lack of opportunity, training, encouragement, leisure and money no longer holds good” (113). What we make of the future is in our hands and there is nowhere to turn the blame if we fail to rise to the occasion.