A Room of One’s Own, by Virginia Woolf was written in a pivitol point in women’s history. Shortly after the First World War, the women’s movement saw renued energy. In the US, suffrage began and the right to vote was achieved. This work of Virginia Wolf is a manifesto of the feeling of the time for the women’s movement. The book is an argument as well as an exposition. One point sums up the argument of the book.
“One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.” (P. 18).
This comes out of the first chapter of A room of One’s Own. Here the author is making a point about the differences between the men’s colleges and the women’s colleges. She first describes the lavish meal at the men’s college.
The partridges, many and various, came with all their retinue
of sauce and salads, the sharp and the sweet, each in its order,
their potatoes, thin as coins but not so hard; their sprouts, foliated
as rosebuds but more succulent. (P 10- 11)
She goes on to describe the merriment of the men as they eat end how the food and drink bring on the “rich yellow flame of rational intercourse.” (P. 11).
She observes the overall contention of the crowd and how the conversation “went on swimmingly, it went on agreeably, freely, amusingly.” (P.12).
She leaves the luncheon light on her feet, reciting poetry to herself.
Virginia then describes the meal at the women’s college. The drab meal is a stark contrast to the lavish luncheon at the men’s college. The meal is plain, served in plain dishes. In disdain, she describes the prunes served for desert as “stringy as a miser’s heart and exuding a liquid such that might run in a miser’s veins,” (P. 17- 18).
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There was no wine served with their dinner, only water to quell the dryness of the biscuits. She leaves this meal in a considerably worse mood than the previous meal. She finds her solace in sharing a drink with a friend and lamenting to her. She comes to the conclusion that “One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well,” meaning that the lavish meal of the men’s colleges leaves them in the frame of mind to think, philosophize, and recite poetry, whereas at the women’s college, the bland unsatisfactory meal does not leave them in the mood to think, philosophize and recite poetry. Her point being that the men have an advantage. They are satisfied by their meal. They are in the mindset to be scholars. Whereas the women’s low class meal does not inspire them to think well, love well or sleep well.
This contributes greatly to the overall argument of A Room of One’s Own. A Room of One’s Own is exposition of the mistreatment and oppression of women as well as an argument. The basis of the argument (at least as best as this author can interpret) is that in order for women to be equal citizens, the must be equally funded. They need money to properly think, love, and sleep, as well as live. They need a room of their own and an income to be equal to me. They need not be burdened with child rearing or house keeping or other traditional female roles. This all takes money. The meal at each college is an example of unfair treatment. It is good evidence for her argument. She gives us a concrete example of the difference in a woman’s and man’s life in early 20th century England. Her statement that “One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well,” is the argument for why it is unfair. She claims that men do better in school because they are fueled by such good food. The poor food at the women’s school puts them in a disadvantage. She says, “a good dinner is of great importance to good talk.”(P.18) She mentions nothing of any conversation at the women’s table, only alludes to the foul mood everyone is in.
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This theme of discrimination through the denial of wealth to women is reinforced throughout the book. Shortly after she exposes the difference in the men’s and women’s colleges meals, she goes on to describe the larger difference in funding of both schools. She describes the men’s college as having a “foundation of gold and silver” and the long history of one college in particular. She tells of all the gold and silver that flowed into the college from royalty and rich merchants not only to make it run, but to make it beautiful. She then contrasts the women’s college. She describes the decades hard work that went into funding the women’s college. They had to hold fund raisers and beg for support. Compared to the men’s college, the women’s college is poor. “The amenities will have to wait.”(P. 20).
This leads her to “scorn the reprehensible poverty of our sex.”(P.21).
This Parallels her argument that “One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.” Much like good food fuels the mind a well endowed college fuels the mind. She reasons that if women had the same schools available to them they would not be second class citizens. There would be many more female writers and scholars.
To further her argument she describes the day she received her inheritance and how it changed her life. Instead of a life of the few odd jobs that were available to women at the time or being a housewife, she is free to pursue the life she wants. This separates her from most women who at that time, were busy with either a low paying job or a family. She now has time to think. One cannot think well or dine well without money. The money also changes her view on life. “ I need not hate any man; he cannot hurt me. I need not flatter any man; he has nothing to give me.” (P. 38).
Here we see she has achieved an independence not common to women of the time. She achieved it through money.
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The title of the book “A Room of One’s Own” is the crux of her argument. In order for women to be first class citizens they must have a room of their own. This symbolizes independence as well as freedom to think. In order to have a room of one’s own, one must have money, which is the main point to her argument. She sees financial equality as the road to social equality.
