Room of One\'s Own: Virginia

ROOM OF ONE'S OWN: VIRGINIA WOOLF room of ones own," is a narrative account addressing the inadequacy of women's contribution in fiction writing. Virginia sets off with her well placed and very peculiar facility of words declaring "a woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction." A vivid and playful sarcasm, interwoven into a drama surrounding imaginary characters then comes into play; and grasps the readers' attention right from the beginning.

The narrator sits on the bridge of the river at "Oxbridge" (a fictional University meant to suggest Oxford and Cambridge) and ponders over the subject she had been asked to speak on, that is, women and fiction. Using perks of little metaphors: "thought... had let its line down into the stream" she explains how in the middle of her musings, she is interrupted by "The Beadle," a University Security Guard, who informs her of the rules forbidding women from walking on to the grass. By putting up this imagery she brings out the inhibitors that keep women off of an unabated chain of thought; she uses the tool of sarcasm over which she commands, to hint on the lack of independence, leisure time and the cords that tie her up into someone subjugated, rendering her unable to think and create independently.

She mulls over her loss of "little fish" (some ideas that came to her mind before being disturbed) remarking that "no very great harm" had been done; in such a finely chosen prose she skillfully creates the element of playfulness and humor masking the sarcasm upon the frailty of a woman's creative impression in but a simple process of thought.

What follows is a highly provocative scrutiny of social and material conditions that have kept women behind, in the realm fiction writing. Listing the prerequisites of creative productivity women are denied of namely leisure time, privacy and financial independence, Woolf makes use of her plottings and transitional variations giving an almost judgmental feel to them. "Ladies are only admitted to the library if accompanied by a Fellow of the College or furnished with a letter of introduction." This phrase denotes the deprivation of independence and the dependability of women on men even to access libraries, Woolf's storyline and situational statements are loaded with mocking and somewhat ironic element that leave a profound affect on the reader, inviting them to ponder over the crippled stature of women and how they react to such a conduct: "Never will I ask for that hospitality again," she vows in anger.

Woolf has created a transition of sequence from a luncheon at Oxbridge to a dinner at an ordinary Women's university, highlighting both stark and grim contrasts between male and female congregations, with wine and water, from bright lights to low flames and enchanting to a downright gossipy conversation. "Everything looks slightly less hopeful from this perspective, and we see that with reduced privilege comes a corresponding atrophy of one's sense of power and possibility -- " By this she holds "reduced privileges" accountable for the flaws in female persona and their sense of power and will to consider possibilities of thinking about something creative and interesting.

She gives an open invitation to ponder, a food for thought to her readers by questioning them: "Why did men drink wine and women water? Why was one sex so prosperous and the other so poor? What effect has poverty on fiction? What conditions are necessary for the creation of works of art?" These lines could be termed as the jist of her essay, plainly put, they cover her scrutiny, as she uses various styles and approaches to explain and weigh the reasons of women's creative inabilities.

Woolf's style however, switching-in and switching-out in her own playful way creates suavity and humor entwined together but not overlooking the pleasure of reading a fluid prose. Also added to the package is loaded sarcasm letting her readers plunge into deeper waters for better understanding of the implications impressed upon women, keeping them from impressing their mark in creative writing show ground. "if only Mrs. Seton and her mother before her had learnt the great art of making money and had left their money" for the education of their daughters. She is forced to concede, however, that a great sacrifice would have been required"

By choosing fiction as a medium of her argument, Woolf slips into themes in order to cautiously and vigilantly study the inhibitors of women's recorded creative growth. "the urbanity, the geniality, and the dignity which are the offspring of luxury and privacy and space," also the effect of poverty on the mind, and also importantly "the effect of tradition and of the lack of tradition upon the mind of a writer.," Stress upon the bare requirements of art and dignity, pf luxury privacy and space, thus refurbishing her earlier hypothesis.