Reading Notes W:12 "A room of One’s Own"

The author is offering insight to what it meant to be a female writer by taking the reader on a journey through fiction so that the reader can come to their own, yet obvious, conclusion on the matter.

The author describes a fictional place: Oxbridge which is represents the two universities- Oxford and Cambridge where the privileges for men where not extended to the women, such as being able to freely utilize the library. Shutting the door to women’s right to intellectual advancement (340). 

She describes the university as a sanctuary in which are preserved ... in a way her description of the university is to say that men have place to advance, study, and create but women are excluded. They are on the outside denied a place (a room) to do the same. As she is deep in thought, looking for a place to sort out her thoughts of the beauty that surrounded her, she is was constantly interrupted by everything outside of the library. 

She comes to a place where she asks the reader to shift scenery, reflecting on her visit to Oxbridge. Whey did men drink wine and women water? Why was one sex so prosperous and the other so poor? What effect has poverty on fiction? What conditions are necessary for the creation of works of art? (351-352) She realizes that truth could not be found in the books written by the same men who benefited from a male dominate society. She tries not to pass judgement while searching out the truth. However, she suggests a fictional tale of a young gifted girl by the name of Judith, who also happened to be Shakespeare’s younger sister. The author reveals that they both were equally gifted, but he was given the opportunity to hone in on that gift, while she was forced to be married at a young age. Yet, she like her brother, longed to be in theater, but at her attempt was laughed at. She was told that no woman would possible be an actress. She would get no training for theater but was a natural genius when it came to fiction. To have the opportunity to gain experience she basically slept with the manager, got pregnant, and in the end would kill herself. This is basically how the author describes what it might have been like for a woman during that error. She suggests whether the story itself is true is not the point, but the reality of how women where viewed, treated, mocked, and secluded in those days was truth.

The author fulfills her obligation of being asked to write about women and fiction through a serious of fictional tales that leaves the reader with a clear illustration of what it was like for women and why fiction was an important outlet for them during that era.