Woolf's Writing example essay topic

In Virginia Woolf's passage "A Room of One's Own" Woolf presents her own views on the topic of Women and Fiction. The underlying theme behind Woolf's story is that a woman needs a room of her own and wealth to be able to create art. Woolf uses a style of writing called stream of consciousness, which leads to a certain degree of ambiguity in her writing. However in one paragraph Woolf writes about a simple luncheon, yet in doing so, Virginia Woolf defies the convention of all authors preceding her. Woolf defies the precedent set by previous authors by incorporating into her writing a lengthy description of what was eaten for lunch one day. ."..

Lunch on this occasion began with soles, sunk in a deep dish, ... their sprouts, foliated as rosebuds but more succulent". By doing this Woolf is diverging somewhat from the original meaning of her paper to talk about something else entirely, that she feels is related to her topic of women and fiction. She explains how this topic of a luncheon can be interpreted in terms of women and fiction by stating that most novelists don't incorporate what was eaten into their writing. The fact that other novelists don't include what was eaten in their writing is important to Woolf's definition of Women and Fiction because most authors in her timeframe were male. Naturally, if all males wrote in generally the same style then anything Woolf did in her writing that was outside of the norm would be considered unique in it's own right. And anything that Woolf was able to present that was unique in her own writing could be used in demonstrating the differences between fiction writing of men and women.

Since Woolf's primary goal is to write about women and fiction any and all styles of writing she uses can be examples themselves of ways in which women write fiction. Woolf is trying to define her own writing by including what was eaten at the luncheon. In defining her own writing Woolf feels it is necessary for her audience to know what was eaten. This not only demonstrates originality in Woolf's work but it also proves that women don't have write in the same way men write.

Much of Woolf's writing was in comparing how the fictional writing of men and women differ, in an attempt to define women's fiction. Because nearly all novelists are males, rebelling against them would mean writing in a way in which the men have not yet. In this next quote Woolf is defying the conventional way of writing simply to pursue her own interests of being unique. In fact Woolf has a theory that luncheon parties, though mentioned by other novelists, are simply alluding to some sort of adroit or intelligent remark made by one of the occupants. "It is a curious fact that novelists have a way of making us believe that luncheon parties are invariably memorable for something very witty that was said, or for something very wise that was done.

But they seldom spare a word for what was eaten". To Woolf what was eaten is important to her. The actual food that was eaten whatever it may be is of no real interest to her, however it is the act of writing about the food appeals to Woolf. This idea appeals to Woolf in part because she wants to be authentic in her writing and also in part because she wants to show her audience that women can create new and intelligent styles all their own. Thus disrupting the Male form of writing.

Woolf, raise fairly well off, believes that in order to be creative and intelligent in writing that a woman must be wealthy herself and have space of her own to write. When Woolf says in the last quote "they" she is talking in particular of male authors that seldom write about what was eaten. Woolf explains that males / other novelists generally do not refer to what was eaten because what is more important to them is that the good food and relaxing atmosphere inspire "rational intercourse" in the conversation. Woolf challenges this by stating what was eaten at her luncheon with the intention that every morsel has some importance in the proceeding events. And by specifically pointing out the food that was consumed Woolf is demonstrating that the food is what is leading the conversation in a rational direction. Thus, food and ambiance seem to be the main reason for both Woolf and her Male counterpart, as to why a conversation would occur.

Yet, Woolf chose to make her example stand out more on purpose. The purpose of her doing so is to give women a voice in a profession dominated by males. Because she thinks women should be awarded a fair chance Woolf defies the original way of writing. Women obviously did not have a large impact on the writing of Woolf's time. Otherwise Woolf would not have such strong feelings of resentment towards the males that were trying to impede the progress of upcoming female writers / novelists. "A Room of One's Own" is an attempt for Virginia Woolf to strive for equality for women writers by showing her own genius on the subject of writing.

Woolf writes this passage in order to show that writing as of her time was based almost entirely on the way males thought to write. Woolf was able to disrupt the common style of writing by using the rare form of stream of consciousness and incorporating her own thoughts into her paper in an ambiguous way so as to seem less harsh. Almost mockingly Woolf decides to write about a simple luncheon to show her unique style as a female writer and to prove that she does not need to follow the conventional form of writing used by most novelists during her time. Woolf is setting a precedent or perhaps even a challenge to future women writers to break free of the natural flow writing used to take and to create work that is unique and reflects oneself..