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Discrimination of Women in Virginia Woolf’s 'A Room for One’s Own'

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Words: 824 |

Pages: 2|

5 min read

Published: Feb 8, 2022

Words: 824|Pages: 2|5 min read

Published: Feb 8, 2022

Since medieval times to the present day of the twenty-first century, women have been considered to be inferior to men. Virginia Woolf uses her essay to demonstrate the social acceptance of male dominance. Inside the two diverse account entries of the two suppers, one at a Men's College and the other at a Women's College, shows the vast difference of the treatment, etiquette, and dinner of both colleges.

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Virginia Woolf utilizes various structures in every entry to depict the segregation inside the instructive framework so as to uncover this piece of society. Woolf uses less adjectives and there’s an obvious difference of details between the two passages. Passage 1 was more descriptive and story like whereas passage 2 was a basic description. The luncheon is described as being “invariably memorable” and was recounted using a series of compound complex sentences. Using these longer sentences, Woolf attempts to show the sense of superiority that has been given to the men. They were treated with the utmost respect and so was their dinner. In the second passage, there are more monosyllabic words and much shorter and simpler sentences. Woolf opens this excerpt with “Here was my soup”, reinforcing her plain and disappointed tone. The simplicity of this sentence essentially represents women’s role in society. The women were treated as if they were of no importance. The meal that was served to the women was essentially a reflection of the way they were seen in society. Woolf's use of simple sentences works to depict the discrimination against women and how women were not treated with the respect that they deserved. Moreover, the women’s college meal is inert and unexciting. Virginia Woolf uses narrative structure, manipulation of language, selection of detail and tone to capture the atmosphere of the meals. Woolf creates a significant message in the passages through the use of stylistic elements. Structures from both passages differ. At the men’s college, the meal is lavish and opulent. Woolf uses a parallel sentence structure to illustrate the better dishes prepared at the men’s college.

Woolf utilizes descriptive imagery when she refers to the potatoes served at the Men’s luncheon as being “thin as coins” and the sprouts being “foliated as rosebuds but more succulent”. The Men’s food was depicted as being immaculate in appearance. This imagery makes the men appear as though they are being served like kings. Even the men’s meals were presented more respectfully than those that were at the Women’s College. The women’s meals were plain and bland. When Woolf states that “it is the nature of biscuits to be dry, and these were biscuits to the core,” she insinuates that their dinner was not made with care. The women were not served respectfully as queens. The meal served at the Men’s luncheon was immaculate while the Women’s College had provided a meal that might as well have been equivalent to hospital food. Through her use of imagery throughout the two passages, Woolf highlights this subtle discrimination, not only within the educational system but within society as a whole.

The use of tone in these two passages demonstrate the fact that women are continuing to persevere. Woolf expresses the fact that women are silently fighting back. She writes that 'there was no reason to complain of human nature's daily food, seeing that the supply was sufficient.' This shows that the food the men ate means that they receive high status, more power and more opportunities. On the other hand, the food that women ate shows that they have limited opportunities in life. However, women still struggle to get what they want in order to be treated as equally as men. To further illustrate the Authors discontent, she employs hyperbolas to express her thoughts that the men’s dining is bombarded with a vast amount of selections while women have to deal with the simple and basic servings. For example she comes to say “To call it pudding and so relate it to rice and tapioca would be an insult.” in describing the pudding served in the men’s college. This sentence making an exaggeration of how fancy and precise the dish was made that it does not compare with a dish of peasants. Yet women don’t even get close to that, they get just prunes and custard. The author points out the immoral necessities that women get. She questions why the men's dish has much more effort put in it while women's dish doesn’t. She then signifies that the role that women get is as perplexing as a paradox. It simply does not make sense why the dish served in men's college needs to be exaggerated while women's dish is much less.

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If people like Virginia Woolf did not speak of the discriminatory treatment of women in society, there would be no possibility of change in our society. People all over the world must take a stand against this unjust treatment in order to make the world a better place. 

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This essay was reviewed by
Dr. Charlotte Jacobson

Cite this Essay

Discrimination Of Women In Virginia Woolf’s ‘A Room For One’s Own’. (2022, February 10). GradesFixer. Retrieved March 29, 2024, from https://gradesfixer.com/free-essay-examples/discrimination-of-women-in-virginia-woolfs-a-room-for-ones-own/
“Discrimination Of Women In Virginia Woolf’s ‘A Room For One’s Own’.” GradesFixer, 10 Feb. 2022, gradesfixer.com/free-essay-examples/discrimination-of-women-in-virginia-woolfs-a-room-for-ones-own/
Discrimination Of Women In Virginia Woolf’s ‘A Room For One’s Own’. [online]. Available at: <https://gradesfixer.com/free-essay-examples/discrimination-of-women-in-virginia-woolfs-a-room-for-ones-own/> [Accessed 29 Mar. 2024].
Discrimination Of Women In Virginia Woolf’s ‘A Room For One’s Own’ [Internet]. GradesFixer. 2022 Feb 10 [cited 2024 Mar 29]. Available from: https://gradesfixer.com/free-essay-examples/discrimination-of-women-in-virginia-woolfs-a-room-for-ones-own/
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