HW 21: Dear Freddy

Dear Freddy,
In the first chapter of the Virginia Woolf book A Room of One’s Own, Woolf is trying to address women and fiction. She comes to the conclusion that in order for women to write fiction, they need money and a room of their own. Throughout the chapter Woolf describes the disadvantages that women have had over the course of history that has delayed the great writing styles of many women today. Some of the disadvantages that she addresses include: education, money, and how society treated women. Through many fictional stories that Woolf tells, it explains all of these disadvantages that women have faced over the decades. Education was something that was very rare for women to receive. When women’s colleges finally came about, they were nothing in comparison to colleges made for men. Woolf addresses this by explaining the different luncheons that occurred at both fictional colleges. Money was something that a woman rarely had and perhaps was one of the many reasons that women were not as educated. Women were never thought of as worthy or useful enough to have the type of jobs that men had. Often if a woman did have a job, all of the wages would not be hers but her husband's. Finally Woolf addresses how society treated women. She explains that when on the break of some idea that might be brilliant, she is thrown off her idea by some silly rule that women were made to follow. She uses the example that women were not allowed to walk on the grass, but rather on the gravel. English teachers would consider this book important, even though it can be at times a little overwhelming and confusing because it shows the growth of women over time especially in writing and education and the roles that women play and their importance in society. After I finished reading chapter one, I found myself a little in the dark. I had to think about what Woolf was trying to say in her reading, because she uses a variety of different examples to explain and prove the points that she is trying to get across.
-Lindsay