Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own is a significant book which deals with women’s literature and how women were denied the opportunity to produce noteworthy works due to their lack of money and their secrecy. The book revolves around this idea and in it, there are references to literature and how it differs when produced by a woman or a man. Sex is a very important focus according to Woolf and the text is proof of her concern for women and the way their literature relates to male literature. Woolf’s theory of sexual difference in writing is that no writer should let their gender affect their ideas and their principles.
Simply put, Woolf is extremely succinct in clarifying her point about sexual difference. However, to her sexual difference is more than just gender. Woolf is quick in associating fatal results with this idea of sexual difference in writing. “It is fatal to any one who writes to think about their sex. It is fatal to be a man or woman pure and simple” (104). These are very potent words used by Virginia Woolf. Woolf is very careful not to instruct but rather to advise. Woolf associates writing not to sexual difference but to a state of mind where the writer can truthfully express himself in a phenomena
It is interesting to see how she works very hard in assuming the role of a typical Englishwoman who will most definitely doubt her ideas are credible. “Why do you attach so much importance to this writing of books by women when according to you it requires so much effort, leads perhaps to the murder of one’s aunts and will make one almost certainly late for luncheon”(108). This is one of her defenses to those who doubt her theory on sexual difference and how it is applied to literature for these words will impact even the most stubborn of women. Although she attempts to disguise her blame for man as being the primary reason for the hardships suffered by women in literature, Woolf cannot be blamed for her criticism. She experienced the shame of being an uneducated woman whose desire and passion for literature and success could not be contained. “It is fatal for a woman to lay stress on any grievance” (104). She urges women to be aware of their situation and to not let their gender allow them to feel inferior or even worse, portray the image of an inferior individual. This is why, Woolf claims, is the reason for male pride and their ridiculous supremacy over women. Desperate as her book may sound, I applaud Woolf for her outstanding attempt at reaching out to an audience who desperately need advice. Woolf provides them with the facts she has
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