Book Review on A Room of One’s Own

A Room of One’s Own is a highly-acclaimed essay written by British writer Virginia Woolf. Woolf was a celebrated British novelist, essayist, critic, and one of the foremost modernists of the twentieth century. In A Room of One’s Own, Woolf concisely concluded her opinions by putting forward the famous dictum, “A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction.” In this book-length essay, Woolf showed how she arrived at this opinion by discussing the reason why only a very minority of women were able to play their roles in the realm of literature and she put forward the opinion that women had the capability to produce great literary works and that they should be encouraged to write. Woolf’s feminist consciousness was manifested in this essay and has had a profound influence on later feminist thought. Firstly, Woolf argued that a woman should be economically independent if she was to write. Only with money was a woman able to have a separate room to think and write. Only with money could a woman get the opportunity to receive education. Intelligence cannot grow and thrive without material bases. However, in a very long period of time, it was almost impossible for women to earn their own money. And they couldn’t have the right to possess their own money. Secondly, it was difficult for women to write then because of the lack of time. Women had to spend their whole life bearing and bringing up children, cooking dinners, washing plates and cups, doing embroideries, in a word, doing all such chores. What’s more, Woolf claimed that it was necessary to have a room with a lock on the door if women were to write fiction or poetry. With a room of one’s own, noises and all those interruptions were blocked to create a necessary quiet environment for writing. With a room of her own, a woman was able to get privacy and security without which she couldn’t write. For many centuries, it had been considered totally ridiculous for women to write. A woman longing for writing must write secretly. Women were forced to believe the misconception that they were mentally, morally and physically inferior to men. Woolf straightforwardly revealed that by misleading women that they were born to be inferior to men, men managed to quickly generate their superiority and therefore the invaluable quality self-confidence. Writing, the activity that required much brain power, was only reserved for men. At that time only very few women were admitted into universities. Women weren’t given the opportunities to get their mind well-nourished and well-educated enough to achieve their full potential in writing. Women lacked the chance to step out of their common sitting room, to travel, and to explore the true nature of reality, of the human society and of the whole world humans were living in. Their horizons were quite limited to their family life that they couldn’t stretch their great innate sensitivity to literature. Women lacked freedom of mind which was essential for producing great works. They were banned from doing this or that. Overall, there were lots of fences stopping women from writing. But there were women who did succeed in writing despite all those barriers. Jane Austen, Emily Bronte, Sappho, and the Lady Murasaki… Woolf implored women to believe that they have the ability to write, to believe that they exactly can exert great influence upon the future. She encouraged women to take the great step, to think and write. To conclude, at that time, if a woman was to write fiction or poetry, she must have money, time and a room of her own. This room of her own not only refers to a room in reality, but also symbolizes a women’s liberty in person, her self-consciousness as a woman, her belief that as a woman she is endowed with the talent to think and write and she isn’t inferior to men at all. As a university student, I was encouraged to reflect independently and to see through the misconceptions that people lay on anything from reading this great essay. And as a female in twenty-first centuries, when the women’s position has been greatly improved but there are still many prejudices existing, I was indeed inspired and encourage by this essay. We all should soar and strive with confidence and courage. We all should believe that strength does lie in us and every small step of individual is bound to exert an influence upon a better future.