Moments of Being

393 Words2 Pages
Sarah Evans AP Language Moments of Being, Virginia Woolf In the text “Moments of Being”, by Virginia Woolf, the author explains the daily happening of fishing with her father and brother, and the impact it has had on her adult life. She compares the fishing trips to the occasional nightly walks in the streets of London, England, as being far better. The text is set in the time of Woolf’s life, 1882 to 1941. The strategies that she uses in the text to convey the significance of these childhood memories are well thought out and well worded. In the first section of the text, she explains a story in which her brother had the chance of bringing the boat back to shore, and his father’s approval of the job. Woolf goes on to tell the event of when she caught a fish, and heading back to shore. While lugging the fish off the boat after their return, her father says to her, “Next time if you are going to fish I shan’t come, I don’t like to see fish caught but can go if you like.” This explains that her father is giving her a choice, letting her decide for herself, but also expressing his emotions towards the trade. As the story progresses, the author explains that she took her father’s words to heart, the words slowly decreasing the passion and the longing to fish. The memory of her own passion allows her to form an idea of others’ passion towards it. Woolf explains that even if you haven’t had all of the experiences you want to have, and it is nearly impossible to have all of them, you can still grow a passion inside of you by feeding off of other’s passions. Virginia Woolf uses her language and anecdotes to convey a certain message, that although you lack some experiences, other people’s experiences can create memory-like beings inside of you, as though they were your memories. I think that the author did a spectacular job at providing such an interesting

More about Moments of Being

Open Document