Virginia Woolf Two Cafeterias

The Modernist skepticism is vivid in Woolf's portrayal of a woman, Isabella, who has not conformed to society's accepted norms and would seem to be - at first glance - all the better for it.  But, upon closer inspection it is with a sigh of resignation that Virginia recognizes the illusion that her fanciful exploration created for her.  Isabella (possibly representative of Virginia herself or of womanhood in general) is elevated and

The women of the story are not treated with the respect, which reflects their social standings. The first image of the women that the reader gets is a typical housewife. They are imaged as “wearing faded house dresses and

She gleefully adds in her first passage: “We are all going to heaven…in other words, how good life seemed, how sweet its rewards, how trivial this grudge or that grievance, how admirable friendship and the society of one‘s kind, as, lighting a good cigarette, one sunk among the cushions in the window-seat”. Her tone came off as if she was stunned by the environment in the men’s dining hall. The environment was so joyful and lush that she even began to think of how good her life was, merely based on the food that was given in this dining hall. It is a different story for the women’s dining hall when she murmurs: “That was all. The meal was over. Everybody scraped their chairs back; the swing-doors swung violently to and fro...”. She promptly shifted her tone from a thankful and happy person to monotone and dull, and because of this, readers can detect the attitude of hers towards the two very different meals. In the dining hall of the men's her tone gave off that the environment was almost heavenly, where everyone was joyful and they came to eat the delicious food together in a vivid environment. In the dining hall of the women's, her tone gave off that the women came together to eat because they had no choice, as if it was just another annoying task they had to do before resuming their

There is an apparent biased view against women in the short story “A+P” by John Updike. Society is male-dominated and women are discriminated against, whether they know it or not. Such a restrictive culture and societal views are indicated by the inner thoughts of the narrator, Sammy, who is the clerk at the supermarket. The interactions of three girls with the rest of the townspeople are documented in Sammy’s mind. Sammy’s descriptions of people, the dialect of the characters, and the actions that are noted converge to reveal the nature of the time and place of the A+P supermarket.

Woolf starts of by mentioning “Society concerned with the employment of women” (1). Woolf uses anaphora in the beginning of her speech. Using the phrase “it is true” (1) to emphasize that she is a women that is employed. In the time period Woolf wrote this speech was during the 1930’s, which is mostly associated with the Women’s Suffrage movement. This meant that women back were expected by society to fit into a specific role. Woolf’s self-employment as a writer did not fit into the role of women of the 1930’s. Woolf makes an understatement mentioning that “It is true I am a woman” (1). This understatement was made in order for the reader to comprehend the significance of Woolf being a female during the era of the 1930’s. Woolf not only includes herself to be a recognized female writer but enumerates names of recognized writers such as Fanny Burney to Jane Austen. Stating that these exclusive writes are responsible for “cutting the rode” (1) for the future female authors. To make her point valid, Woolf implements imagery of how her “scratching of a pen” (1) does not negatively impact the “family peace” nor the “family purse” (1). In addition with the specific phrase “the cheapness of writing paper is, of course, the reason women have succeeded as writers before they succeeded in other professions” (1). This specific phrase adds a sense of irony of how something considered cheap can prosper with a work of a woman.

The men’s word choice and tone when speaking to Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale comes across as demeaning and belittling. For example, when the men walk in on the women talking about Mrs. Wright’s quilt, the sheriff scoffs, “They wonder if she was going to quilt it or knot it!” (Glaspell 601). Although the men limit the women to the “trifles” of housework and childcare, they still continue to mock them for delighting in those few things they are allowed. By continuously ridiculing their character and intelligence, the men are creating an oppressive state for the women to live in. They abuse their roles in the lives of their wives and ultimately spoil the concept of a happy marriage, creating tension and conflict between the men and women of their

To begin, at the start of this speech Woolf utilized various understatements about herself, and when combined they both contributed vastly to helping Woolf convey her message. For example, in the first paragraph, Woolf poses a rhetorical question that states, “It is true I am a woman; it is true I am employed; but what professional experiences have I had?” Woolf is considered to be one of the most significant modernists of her century, yet in this question, she seems to believe that she is not worthy of giving this speech. This helps to convey her message because to the audience, Woolf seems more like a peer than a superior figure. By making herself seem more like a peer, Woolf has effectively made herself more trustworthy and relatable to the audience. Continuing, in the second paragraph, Woolf makes yet another understatement of herself by stating, “But to tell you my story--it is a simple one.” Considering that Woolf is one of the most valuable modernists of her century, she is anything but simple. Yet by making this statement to the audience, she is allowing them insight into her personality and what she thinks of herself. Through this statement, Woolf has proved her humility and that she views herself as just another human being. The first understatement allowed her to be more

Woolf notes that “the nature of the biscuits to be dry” is a common occurrence for their dinners. Conversely, the women were given a water jug to pass around for their refreshment unlike the luxury of wine the men were able to enjoy. Once again, this treatment implies that mean are at a higher status than women. Describing the end of the meal, Woolf states, “That was all. The meal was over”.

In the story, “Two Cafeterias” by Virginia Woolf, she describes two meals she was served at a university visit. Throughout the story the author displays her underlying attitude toward women’s place in society. She began with a “luncheon part[y]” at the men’s college. Already, it becomes very evident that the men’s meal is going to be very lavish. The lunch commenced with soles, a fish that was “sunk in a deep dish.” The chef had put “the whitest cream” on the sole, and made it spread so that the spots looked like “the spots on the flanks of a doe.” This shows how ornamental and extravagant the meal truly was. Next, the “silent servingman” brought out partridges. The men are provided with a silent server so they can continue their extensive discussions. The partridges were accompanied by a “retinue of sauces.” The men got a wide variety of sauces to meet each of their own individual tastes, and since they are men, this is what they deserve. Soon after, the dessert was brought out. The dessert was pudding. The author stated however, that to call it pudding was an insult. The meal was over, but no one got up to leave. There was “no need to hurry” because no one had to get up early to go to class. Life was extremely effortless for the men. Everything they ever needed seemed to be presented to them on a silver platter. Rather than hurrying out, the servers brought them more “flushed yellow and flushed crimson” wine. All the men got to sit around and talk about how “good life

Woolf rejects the notion of the 'exclusive' moment, of a cleanly separated past and present. Instead she satirizes the dramatic and unchangeable 'moment.' Woolf's transition between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries satirizes our conception of the exclusive “moment” for example, “with the total darkness and the "turbulent jumble of cloud covering the entire city”(45). The central point of transition, Orlando's gender transformation, also satirizes the concept of a ‘defining moment’. The authors illustration of the transformation (with the sounding trumpets and the three Ladies Chastity, Purity, and Modesty (101)) is compared by Orlando's perception of her body ("Orlando looked himself up and down in a long looking-glass, without showing any signs of discomposure, and went, presumably to his bath” (120) .

In October 1929, at the close of the Feminist Movement, Virginia Woolf published her famous writing, A Room of One’s Own. This feministic extended essay, based on a series of lectures Woolf presented at Newnham College and Girton College, channels Woolf’s thoughts and insights about women and fiction through the character of Mary Benton, who serves as the narrator. Through A Room of One’s Own, Woolf addresses three major points: having money and a room of one’s own (creative freedom), gender roles, and the search for truth. These three themes exist in other short stories such as “The Office” by Alice Munro and “I Stand Here Ironing” by Tillie Olsen, where they reveal themselves in varying degrees.

Virginia Woolf uses the respective meals served during her visit at the university to illustrate the variation between the two schools. Woolf makes a powerful distinction between the female and male schools through such adjacency. Woolf, in regard to the poverty of the women's school, and therefore their position in society, uses diverse structure, diction and imagery to differentiate the descriptions of the two meals. During Virginia's visit at the two colleges, she experienced two distinct situations.

In the novel Mrs Dalloway, Woolf conveys her perspective, as she finely examines and critiques the traditional gender roles of women in a changing post-war society. Woolf characterisation of Clarissa Dalloway in a non linear structure, presents a critical portrayal of the existing class structure through modernist’s eyes. Titling her novel as Mrs Dalloway presents Clarissa’s marriage as a central focus of her life, drawing attention to how a women’s identity is defined by marriage. Despite the changing role of women throughout the 1920s, for married women life was the same post war. Clarissa experiences ‘the oddest sense of being herself invisible…that is being Mrs Dalloway…this being Richard Dalloway,”

Throughout Mrs. Dalloway, Virginia Woolf uses the characters Clarissa and Lucrezia not only to further the plot of the story but to make a profound statement about the role of wives in both society and their marriages. While these women are subjected to differing experiences in their marriages, there is one common thread that unites each of their marriages: oppression. These women drive the story of Mrs. Dalloway and provide meaning and reason in the lives of the men in the story; however, these women are slowly but surely forced to forsake their own ambitions in order to act in accordance with the social standards set in place by marriage for women. For women outside of many modern cultures, marriage has been a necessity for a woman’s safety and security, and it required her to give up her freedom and passions and subjected her to an oppressed lifestyle. Ultimately, through the wives in Mrs. Dalloway, Woolf communicates that marriage is an institution where in women are forced to suppress their individual desires and passions in order to serve their husband and further his own ambitions as first priority.

In the book Mrs. Dalloway, Virginia Woolf wanted to cast the social system and bash it for how it worked. Her intricate focus is focusing not on the people, but on the morals of a certain class at a certain historical moment.