A Room of One's Own

The main criticisms of A Room of One’s Own highlight Woolf’s limited point of view, especially her presumptions that exclude women of color, LGBTQ+ women, women in lower social classes, etc. Consider modern feminist ideas to explain how Woolf’s main arguments could be made more inclusive.

Woolf uses many metaphors in this work to make her arguments through symbolic representation. Select one metaphor and describe its significance, especially as it relates to the main topic or argument(s) of this work.

The main topic of this extended essay is “women in fiction.” What are the various readings of this phrase, and what do these different conceptualizations of “women in fiction” tell readers about sexism in the English literary canon?

How does Woolf define reality, and why is this definition important to her main arguments? Consider how her definition of realism engages with practices associated with literary modernism.

Woolf presents the fictitious universities Oxbridge and Fernham as dichotomous opposites. How do these representations of universities relate to the topic of women and fiction?

Consider the Judith Shakespeare thought experiment in Chapter 3. Why does Woolf go to such lengths to guide readers through the life of an imaginary woman? What purpose does the thought experiment serve in the context of the work as a whole?

What elements of queerness are evident in Woolf’s discussion of Chloe and Olivia in Chapter 5? Compare the platonic reading of this section with a queer reading.

Woolf discusses authors and texts exclusively from England’s literary canon. Select several authors or works from outside of this scope and use them to discuss how Woolf’s limited framing also limits the application of her arguments.