After the industrial revolution, people began to reach another level of realization of art. People from the industrial revolution mainly focus on the fact and the naturalistic observations, whereas people from the modernism concentrated on the individualist's thinking. For example, people from the industrial revolution tended to write and draw what they can see, as people from the modernism period established the idea of abstract things and publishing unique ideas. From the book, A Room of One's Own, author Virginia Woolf illustrated the idea that women can and should write equally as men, and people should have their own rights and thoughts. Through using comparison and allegory, she reflected her attitude toward society and her cultures. Using such tools, she intended to make others agree to her point of view emotionally and logically.
First, Woolf criticized women’s image in society. Even though it was only 100 years before us, women were still treated unequal (compare to), unlike men. When men were joking and making fun of women, they couldn't say anything because they thought it was their heavenly purposes to exist. However, Woolf broke this stereotype. She pointed out the twisted reality created by man and satirically pointed out by labeling them on her speech. For example, she quoted a bishop's word, "Women cannot write the plays of Shakespeare" just as the "Cats do not go to heaven" (Woolf Chapter 3 Paragraph7). For sure the bishop would have got in trouble if he said that in modern-day society. Sadly, that's what normal people would think, even women themselves. This point out such an idea was so revolutionary; many people were surely shocked after reading her articles. What people thought was right before, now was drawn that it is wrong, many arguments raised up as this article was published. Many men were probably mad at the Woolf's idea- equality of men and women. As she mentioned this comparison, in a short time it attracted a lot of people's attention.
Woolf also used allegory to illustrate her expression toward the situation. As well as the restriction of women, Woolf pointed out that the people from that time period are lack of creativity. Even though there were many painters and writers, they only focus on the things that were existed there, instead of portraying imaginations in their minds. Start from the modern period, people like Jackson Pollock began to explore within themselves, in this case, he established abstract expressionism. Woolf too, she mentioned that a person should have their own thoughts. "The leaves were still falling, but in London now, not in Oxbridge; and I must ask you to imagine a room, like many thousands, with a window looking across people's hats and vans and motor-cars to other windows" (Woolf Chapter 2 Paragraph 1). Using allegory to symbolize was a perfect way of describing her idea. Allegory gave clear imagery, giving the readers a sight that how much are the modern days people are lack of creativity.
Mainly, there is a reason why Woolf started her non-fiction specifically in that period. As it was alluded, at the beginning of the modern era, independence acts occurred around European countries, that’s also why Woolf began to write her non-fiction. As people were more preferring the unique, independent state, Woolf wrote this non-fiction, because she knows, if she got on the flow of people, they would be paying close attention to the articles- match to the mainstream of people’s idea. Thus, maybe she had the chance to publish earlier, she chose to wait in order to gain more support from the readers.
The author reveals that a person needs to have independent freedom of thoughts, with the use of labeling the concepts held by people, stating her own opinion, the date of published all cooperated with each other, and advocated her opinion about the society. The decision to delay the date of publishing (or decide to write a book about independence during that time period) was a perfect choice because publishing a book about what people want to hear, would get great support from the reader. Ironically, the desire for unique was supported by the people who were in the flow of being special, yet we would all agree that it was the nicest timing to write a book. Revealing the concepts of people was effective to use as well because it shows how stereotypes affected the creativity of people. The imagination was limited due to the bias held by the people. Stating the opinion was not as effective, because it only helps to understand the point of view of Woolf, but it doesn’t really help why people must follow the idea of Woolf. Overall, the articles were ok, she could use several different devices intend to persuade the readers.
Comments