A Room of One's Own

540 Words3 Pages
A Room of One’s Own In A Room of One’s Own, Virginia Woolf describes the position of women in literature, specifically in fiction, and relates it to men’s influence over the years. Early in the book, she debates back and forth as to whether women’s suppression in writing if men’s fault, or if it was just social structure. However, in chapter 2 she says, “Great bodies of people are never responsible for what they do.” Although several aspects of this statement are true, others make a very broad generalization. To begin with, the broad idea this statement is trying to put across is correct. Often, in a large group, it is a single person or several individuals with a large influence who characterizes the image of the group. Other times, a group establishes a tradition and is very hard to change. In this case, the second option is more likely. Since civilizations have been essentially patriarchal since as far as we know (due to factors not related to literature), men have dominated every field of study for millennia. This however, does not mean men are at fault for women’s status, denoting that Woolf’s statement is correct in this aspect. On the other hand, for one group to be superior to another, one of two factors has to be present: either neglect of the part of the inferior group, or assertion of power by the superior, both of these being groups acting as a whole. It may be true that men have accepted their role in the original patriarchal society, but they also did not accept that times have changed, and women should now be equally capable of doing anything the men can. They still push women to continue to do the same maternal duties that used to be required of them, and even though no set laws exist to enforce this, society dictates otherwise. Although it is true that women are somewhat content with staying at home and accepting their role in society, the few
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