A Room Of One's Own Analysis

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A Room of One’s Own is an essay written by Virginia Woolf exploring women’s roles as writers as well as characters in stories. The essay is based on her lectures given at at Newnham College and Girton College. The main theme concerning A Room of One’s Own is that of analyzing women’s role in society such as their accessibility to education or labor and how women are portrayed in fiction. She makes the point that "a woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction" which is emphasized when she introduces herself as the narrator and states that the reader can "call [her] Mary Beton, Mary Seton, Mary Carmichael or by any name you please—it is not a matter of any importance". This thesis of hers is what propels her to investigate the situation as well as derive the title.
The story opens with the narrator hanging around a fictional all-men’s …show more content…
It is written in a sem-chronological style following Woolf as the narrator, “Mary Beton, Mary Seton, Mary Carmichael or by any name you please—it is not a matter of any importance", in a fictional setting from going to the library for research or coming up with the Judith Shakespeare story. The focus is on the fictional narrator until towards the very end of the books where Woolf herself addresses the reader. Through the fictional story, Woolf reviews the societal and historical view education and writing concerning women. The essay is written in self-conscious style in that Woolf does not hesitate to remind readers that the narrator and setting are completely fictional. One instance of this is when she pauses to tell the reader "I dare not forfeit your respect and imperil the fair name of fiction by changing the season" when arriving at the fictional Fernham

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