In Praise of Fake News and Alternative Facts!
Virginia Woolf is a liar. The whole truth and nothing but the truth is rarely written or spoken because truth is universally seen through the prism of our own making. It is human nature to see what we see what we want to see. Sometimes, as in Woolf’s case, the prism glass is purposely tilted to reveal a different picture of the truth. The use of satire in literature is often used to mock our long-held beliefs, beliefs that we often only trust because of repetition. In Virginia Woolf’s 1928 book Orlando, Woolf subtitles her work, A Biography. It is not a biography. However, Woolf is not trying to scam us or pull the wool over our eyes. In fact, she comes clean right from the start by letting …show more content…
Orlando is not shocked or surprised by her sex change, in fact, Woolf tells us Orlando feels great joy and exclaims: “Praise God I’m a woman!” (Chap.4). However, she does, at times feels the limitations of being female and is vexed about female burdensome and unwieldly dress. Woolf relates Orlando’s newfound predicament thus: “…this is a pleasant, lazy way of life, to be sure. But,’ she thought, giving her legs a kick, ‘these skirts are plaguey things to have about one’s heels” (Chap.4). Even though Orlando is not perturbed by his change of sex, she realizes that to express her desires she must cross-dress. She comes to the conclusion that our sexuality is fluid even if our dress defines us to others. Orlando concludes: “In every human being a vacillation from one sex to the other takes place, and often it is only the clothes that keep the male or female likeness…” (Chap.4). In Orlando, Woolf almost drains her inkwell describing in great detail the men and women’s clothing of their respective eras. Clothes, of course, help to define our gender identity, and she declares in Orlando: “Vain trifles as they seem, clothes have, they say, more important offices than merely to keep us warm. They change our view of the world and the world’s view of us.” (Chap. …show more content…
Orlando’s desire for Sasha and Shel is not temperate but untamed. Traditionally, where men are concerned, most men have few qualms about voicing their sexuality. The feminist Woolf’s is telling women to do the same, without shame, and always with gusto. Orlando’s love for words and nature also has an intense and vibrant sexuality. One day alone and lonely Orlando seeks and receives succor from his only real companion, the Earth. Woolf reveals this intimacy and tells us: “He sighed profoundly and flung himself — there was a passion in his movements which deserves the word — on the earth at the foot of the oak tree. He loved, beneath all this summer transiency, to feel the earth’s spine beneath him…” (Chap.1). Woolf also discusses Orlando’s continued obsession with nature when she changes into a woman: “The English disease, a love of Nature, was inborn in her, and here, where Nature was so much larger and more powerful than in England, she fell into its hands as she had never done before” (Chap.2). It is interesting to note that Sackville-West was a renowned and avid gardener and wrote a weekly newspaper column on
Virginia Woolf is a liar. The whole truth and nothing but the truth is rarely written or spoken because truth is universally seen through the prism of our own making. It is human nature to see what we see what we want to see. Sometimes, as in Woolf’s case, the prism glass is purposely tilted to reveal a different picture of the truth. The use of satire in literature is often used to mock our long-held beliefs, beliefs that we often only trust because of repetition. In Virginia Woolf’s 1928 book Orlando, Woolf subtitles her work, A Biography. It is not a biography. However, Woolf is not trying to scam us or pull the wool over our eyes. In fact, she comes clean right from the start by letting …show more content…
Orlando is not shocked or surprised by her sex change, in fact, Woolf tells us Orlando feels great joy and exclaims: “Praise God I’m a woman!” (Chap.4). However, she does, at times feels the limitations of being female and is vexed about female burdensome and unwieldly dress. Woolf relates Orlando’s newfound predicament thus: “…this is a pleasant, lazy way of life, to be sure. But,’ she thought, giving her legs a kick, ‘these skirts are plaguey things to have about one’s heels” (Chap.4). Even though Orlando is not perturbed by his change of sex, she realizes that to express her desires she must cross-dress. She comes to the conclusion that our sexuality is fluid even if our dress defines us to others. Orlando concludes: “In every human being a vacillation from one sex to the other takes place, and often it is only the clothes that keep the male or female likeness…” (Chap.4). In Orlando, Woolf almost drains her inkwell describing in great detail the men and women’s clothing of their respective eras. Clothes, of course, help to define our gender identity, and she declares in Orlando: “Vain trifles as they seem, clothes have, they say, more important offices than merely to keep us warm. They change our view of the world and the world’s view of us.” (Chap. …show more content…
Orlando’s desire for Sasha and Shel is not temperate but untamed. Traditionally, where men are concerned, most men have few qualms about voicing their sexuality. The feminist Woolf’s is telling women to do the same, without shame, and always with gusto. Orlando’s love for words and nature also has an intense and vibrant sexuality. One day alone and lonely Orlando seeks and receives succor from his only real companion, the Earth. Woolf reveals this intimacy and tells us: “He sighed profoundly and flung himself — there was a passion in his movements which deserves the word — on the earth at the foot of the oak tree. He loved, beneath all this summer transiency, to feel the earth’s spine beneath him…” (Chap.1). Woolf also discusses Orlando’s continued obsession with nature when she changes into a woman: “The English disease, a love of Nature, was inborn in her, and here, where Nature was so much larger and more powerful than in England, she fell into its hands as she had never done before” (Chap.2). It is interesting to note that Sackville-West was a renowned and avid gardener and wrote a weekly newspaper column on