British Class Lines During World War II

Virginia Woolf’s fulsome poise and self-worth proves that she is worthy of being admired and looked up to by other women. She shares her beliefs of willingly going against what society has in mind for women and encourages women to be who they please to be. In doing so, she hopes to open up the sturdy doors that keep many women trapped away from their natural rights. All in all, Virginia Woolf’s speech, “Professions for Women” encourages women to ignore the limits society sets on them and be who they wish to be and do what they desire. Virginia Woolf’s rhetorical strategies in addition to her use of metaphor contribute to the overall effectiveness in fulfilling the purpose of her essay.

Disparities between upper and working class women and their roles in society are made very obvious in gothic literature. However, they are especially highlighted in Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca, in which the protagonist sits between the upper and lower classes because of her own choice to marry a man from a higher class than herself. In the time period that the book was written, there were still large distinctions in class, though it was also a period that allowed for more social mobility because the older distinctions in class were beginning to fall away. The protagonist’s choice to marry a man so far above her in social class sets the stage for a love story that challenges society’s expectations of a woman’s role in her marriage and

Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice was first published in 1813(Gary vii) a time when women had “few legal and economic rights or even receiving little respect, women can be seen as oppressed victims of a patriarchal society, subordinate first to their fathers and, then, to their husbands who had, of course, been selected by their fathers” (Swords, 76-82). At first glance one might think that Pride and Prejudice reinforces sexist stereotypes, however upon further examination of Jane Austen and her heroine Elizabeth it is clear that Pride and Prejudice in fact erodes the sexist stereotypes of women.

Back in the day almost everyone viewed woman to be the person who cleans, cooks, has children, and obeys her husband. Even woman themselves had this view hammered into their minds at such a young age, the views that women are inferior to men. This stigma of woman can be found traced throughout Virginia Woolf’s essay of two meals, a meal for men and a meal for women at a college. She uses numerous composition techniques and effectively disperses them throughout her narrative. By doing so, she accurately demonstrates her views on society’s stigma of a woman's role in an eloquent manner.

In his book The Best War Ever: America and World War II, Michael Adams tries to dissolve the many misconceptions of World War II. As the title of the book implies, The United States left the war with a great optimistic view of the these “glorious” five years. The United States as a population had been tricked into believing in the, at times, fabricated conditions of its history that had been presented to people as some beautiful stories and myths where nations are viewed as being first-rate in union and morality. These so-called myths were created out of several factors. Because of Hollywood, the vast amounts of government propaganda, and far-reaching economic prosperity, Americans were, for the most part, hidden from the real truth of The Second World War. In this period of time, even, the generation of the Second World War is seen as being top-notch in morality and unity. There was a popular misconception held that there were no problems in terms of ethnicity or gender; it seemed that families were living contented lives and children excelled in school and read all kinds of books (115).

In Virginia Woolf’s speech “Professions for Women”, it employs various techniques in order to get her argument across. Throughout the speech Virginia Woolf brings forward a problem that is still relevant today: gender inequality. Woolf’s combination brings of extended metaphors, irony, vivid imagery, anaphora and repetition emphasizes her philosophical ideal of supporting gender equality.

As we all know, the Second World War left a huge impact on the world, and populations that suffered in the past are still healing from all the wounds caused by this destructive war. That is why the Historical Committee on Warfare is still searching for resolutions and is trying to deal with the consequences of the war.

Today the equality between men and woman is closer then it ever has before in history, with women CEO’s and stay at home dads. This happened because of the strong woman in history fighting for the same rights as man, private property, creative freedom, and the power to use their intellect. Virginia Woolf is one of those ladies arguing that, “a woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction." She believes that women are locked in some sort of intellectual prison and not being able to have money or privacy keeps them locked, unable to blossom intellectually.

In Document E, a German propaganda poster is shown displaying an octopus like creature representing Britain wrapping its tentacles around the world. The poster is labeled with “England is the bloodsucker of the world”. Also, an American propaganda poster is depicted by a man with red hair who has just thrown down a newspaper article with the headline, “HUNS KILL WOMEN AND CHILDREN”. Propaganda is information with biased nature presented to the public. By demonizing the Germans as devils who “KILL WOMEN AND CHILDREN” it forces the emotion of hate and the urge for the protection of the women and children. Also with the Germans, by portraying the British as “bloodsucker[s] of the world” if plays on Germany’s fear of closeness as they are surrounded by the Allied powers hence the Central power. Similar to this, in “All Quiet On the Western Front” by Erich Remarque, a German World War I veteran who started writing after suffering from PTSD, the main character Paul Baumer, a German soldier, has just killed a French soldier in a artillery crater. Paul is obviously conflicted with his actions for he says, “...But you were only an idea to me before, an abstraction that lived in my mind and called forth its appropriate response. It was that abstraction I stabbed. But now, for the first time, I see you are a man like me. Why do they never tell us that you

When it comes to the result after a serious war, plenty of us have a tendency to assume that the result after a war has always a negative impact on the society of the country, instead of looking at the positive impact it had on the country. In this case, if we observe the result after the Blitz war, we can clearly see that the war had negative, positive and as well as short-term and long-term effect on the development of British society.

Reflecting upon their role in society, women in literature are often portrayed in a position

In most early British literature a woman is often presented as only one thing: an object. They can be objects of desire, objects of beauty, or merely objects to be owned, but it is rare that a woman is anything more than that. It is even more uncommon to find a female character in literature that is presented as an equal to the men around her. In William Congreve's The Way of the World he plays on the similarities of both his female and male characters to establish just how much of an issue gender really is because though their actions might be similar, the consequences are not.

Literature, apart from being a channel to depict the author’s work and thoughts on a particular subject, is also interpreted as a medium to reflect norms, values, customs, and so on from different times in history. As stated by Milton C. Albrecht, literature reveals “the ethos of culture, the processes of class struggle, and certain facts of social facts.” (425) Through literary works, authors may be able to reflect their thoughts on specific issues, such as social injustices, or just point out the inequity between different social aspects, such as gender, class or social status. This essay, therefore, focuses on “Wifey Redux” and “Fjord of Killary”, two of Kevin Barry’s short stories from Dark Lies in the Island as well as on “Death of a Field” and “Number Fifty-Two” from Paula Meehan’s Painting Rain to show how inequities of class and social status in Irish society are visible through indirect reflections onto the natural and material worlds.

Many female writers see themselves as advocates for other creative females to help find their voice as a woman. Although this may be true, writer Virginia Woolf made her life mission to help women find their voice as a writer, no gender attached. She believed women had the creativity and power to write, not better than men, but as equals. Yet throughout history, women have been neglected in a sense, and Woolf attempted to find them. In her essay, A Room of One’s Own, she focuses on what is meant by connecting the terms, women and fiction. Woolf divided this thought into three categories: what women are like throughout history, women and the fiction they write, and women and the fiction written about them. When one thinks of women and

People may find Woolf's theories outdated; the statement "For genius like Shakespeare's is not born among laboring, uneducated, servile people" would be met with controversy if published today (Woolf 46). It is important to remember that Woolf believes that money and personal independence go hand in hand with freedom of thought, and that poverty and its attendant troubles prevent such thought. She admits that brilliance can emerge from low working classes but is rare. Woolf is clearly at odds with any kind of "protest" literature, feeling that it reduces the "incandescent" talent of the writer (Woolf 56).