Book Review - A Room of One's Own

ESSAY, FEMINISM, FICTION

We All Need A Room of Our Own

Cover for the book from Amazon.

By Kacee Fay

April 11th, 2021

A ROOM OF ONE’S OWN

By Virginia Woolf

Virginia Woolf’s essay “A Room of One’s Own” may have been published in 1929, nearly one hundred years ago, but it might as well have been released last week for how relevant and important it still is. This piece is strongly feminist and influential as it tackles the inequality women face in a very eloquent, rational, and persuasive way. What marks this text as just as important now as it was upon its release is the fact that we are still in an ongoing battle for true equality. Feminism is much farther along than it was when this book was released, but so much inequality still exists, and thus this text is still immensely important and a very powerful read.

This piece utilizes many metaphors and general comparisons to back its ultimate message. It mostly centers around a woman named Mary Beton as she realizes in several situations the inequality of women and tries to find out why this is. There are several more offshoots in this text but another strong focal point of the text is when the narrator pushes an imaginary story of Shakespeare’s sister. It asks the reader to imagine that Shakespeare had a sister who equally matched him in every way except for one big difference, her situation. Woolf at one point in this imaginary narrative states, “It would have been impossible, completely and entirely, for any woman to have written the plays of Shakespeare in the age of Shakespeare.”

This is perhaps Woolf’s strongest evidence as her presentation of imaging that Shakespeare had a sister is excellent in proving her ultimate point as well as making an overall statement about opportunity and privilege. Her powerful point with this is that if Shakespeare had a sister who entirely matched him in talent she would not have ever been able to actually demonstrate or explore her talent because she would not have had the opportunity or means to do so.

This leads into what is Woolf’s ultimate argument, which is essentially that the ability to be a writer is entirely tied to and dependent on their individual situations. Ultimately, this comes down to opportunity, space, and money. One cannot have a space of their own without money and thus writing is a privilege one cannot pursue unless one has space and money to do so. Woolf specifically states, “A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction.” This powerful line illuminates her argument that everyone needs their own safe space where they can be free to pursue their passions, but as Woolf points out, this is a privilege not generally afforded to the women of her time. This is why this text is so important, that is, because women have long been at a disadvantage in comparison to men and while we are definitely in a much better spot now we still have a long way to go.

Women face so many problems such as having to work harder than men to get even close to what they get easily, constantly facing double standards, consistently being viewed through false ingrained stereotypes, and lacking access to equal opportunities. These are all hot topics and prevalent issues for current times and these problems are also represented in the narrative and overall message of Woolf’s novel. The struggles of women are also heavily portrayed and critiqued in numerous ways in our current world. While I read Woolf’s text, I couldn’t help but think of numerous modern similar takes on what her essay tackles which in turn proved the immense power of this work even further to me. Songs like Taylor Swift’s “The Man (2019),” Hailee Steinfeld’s “Most Girls (2017)," Beyoncé's "If I Were A Boy (2008),” movies such as Moxie (2021), Captain Marvel (2019), and Hidden Figures (2016), television shows such as Freeform’s The Bold Type (2017-2021), NBC’s Parks And Recreation (2009-2015), and The WB's Gilmore Girls (2000-2007) are all very timely and tackle similar issues to what is presented in Woolf’s novel. This fact further demonstrates why her novel is so important and so powerful; it was written almost one hundred years ago and yet the ultimate argument it presents is one that is still super prevalent and crucial.

The immense importance of this text is furthered by the fact that it also tackles issues that extend beyond feminism. Her piece makes an overall statement about opportunity and privilege that is applicable to everyone. Someone who is born into a rich family and lacking nothing automatically has an advantage because if they choose to, they can do almost anything they want without needing to worry about basic survival whereas someone born in poverty may have to sacrifice their wants and goals in order to make sure they can simply get food or shelter and thus simply survive.

At the heart of Woolf’s text is what seems to be a simple argument, that we all need equal access and ability to have equal opportunities, our own spaces, and money. But the simplicity of this argument is exactly what makes it so important because the fact is that this is still so incredibly true and relevant. Every single individual needs equal opportunities and their own solitary safe space in order to pursue their passions. Whilst Woolf’s novel specifically tackles her own passion for writing, her argument is entirely applicable to passions and opportunities of all kinds. Woolf’s novel is an empowering read that can educate and inspire anyone to better understand feminism as well as to stand up and push for equality for all.

Ultimately, we all need a room of our own in order to accomplish our hopes and dreams. It is just a matter of whether we are in a situation where we are lucky enough to have one, but truthfully, as Woolf points out, everyone should have equal access to the same basic privileges so that they may then be allowed to survive and shine however they desire to.

Kacee Fay is an avid reader and writer who lives in San Diego and aspires to become an editor so she can read constantly.

A ROOM OF ONE’S OWN

By Virginia Woolf

114 pp. Harcourt Inc. $9.99.