Virginia Woolf - Moving Beyond a Convoluted Memory of Her Parents
Why would I start with Julia Duckworth Stephen to get to Virginia Woolf? One answer is Virginia’s often quoted statement that "we think back through our mothers if we are women" (Woolf, A Room of One’s Own). Feminism is rooted not just in a response to patriarchy but also in the history of females and their treatment of each other. Part of feminism is a reevaluation of the value of motherhood.
But what does Virginia’s mother have to do with Virginia’s writing? I chose to look at the problem of inheritance by starting with Julia’s first influences on Virginia, particularly her stories for children. I then move on to portraits of mothers in Virginia's novels. This essay is not only about Virginia’s task of overcoming "the Angel in the House" but moving past a confrontational and convoluted memory of a mother, into an orderly, whole picture of females working together.
In talking about Virginia Woolf in the context of Julia Duckworth Stephen and feminism, I will start from the beginning of Virginia Stephen’s life. The idea of ‘Mother’ is a basic, recognizable concept in probably even the most primitive human cultures. Infants start separation of self and other with the body of Mother, since an infant gains a sense of ‘continuity of being’ from his or her mother’s attention. (Rosenman 12) From this definition of relationship-as-self, an infant finds her existence confirmed by feedback from her mother. In this manner, Julia is the first contact for Virginia with the rest of the world, and with all of womankind. Since Virginia will go on to have most of her important relationships with women, this is an important connection.
What kind of connection was it? V...
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...pie and Steele, ed. Julia Duckworth Stephen. Syracuse University Press. New York, 1987.
Ingram, Heather, ed. Women’s Fiction Between the Wars. "Virginia Woolf: Retrieving the Mother." St. Martin's Press. New York, 1998.
Johnsen, William. "Finding the Father:Virginia Woolf, Modernism, and Feminism." February 28, 2003. http://www.msu.edu/course/eng/492h/johnsen/CH6.htm April 16, 2003.
Lee, Hermione. Virginia Woolf. Vintage Books. New York, 1996.
Rosenmann, Ellen Bayuk. The Invisible Presence: Virginia Woolf and the Mother-Daughter Relationship. Louisiana State University Press. Baton Rouge, 1986.
Woolf, Virginia. Jacob’s Room. Penguin. London, 1992.
Mrs. Dalloway. Harcourt Brace. New York, 1981.
To The Lighthouse. Harcourt Brace. New York, 1981.
A Room of One’s Own. Harcourt Brace. New York, 1981.
The Waves. Harcourt Brace. New York, 1981.
The Indian act, since being passed by Parliament in 1876, has been quite the validity test for Aboriginal affairs occurring in Canada. Only a minority of documents in Canadian history have bred as much dismay, anger and debate compared to the Indian Act—but the legislation continues as a central element in the management of Aboriginal affairs in Canada. Aboriginal hatred against current and historic terms of the Indian Act is powerful, but Indigenous governments and politicians stand on different sides of the fence pertaining to value and/or purpose of the legislation. This is not shocking, considering the political cultures and structures of Aboriginal communities have been distorted and created by the imposition of the Indian Act.
#8 I think the main goal of this act was to control Natives and assimilate them into Canada, and to bring First Nations’ status to an end. The act brought together all of Canada’s legislation governing First Nation people, which defined who Aboriginals were under Canadian law and set out the process by which people would cease to be Aboriginals. Under the act, the Canadian government assumed control of First Nation people’s governments, economy, religion, land, education, and even their personal lives.
The concern of this paper is the “happy ending,” typical in Women’s Fiction according to Harris (46), present in A New England Tale, in which Jane Elton sacrifices her autonomous self through marrying Mr. Lloyd. I will critique this ending by applying several of the points Harris makes, including the conflict between theme and structure, the “extended quest for autonomy” (50), and the issue of the self-willing and “socially determined self” (54); also, I will discuss the sexual and religious politics Jane faces, as well as the importance of her role as educator. Readers can understand the autonomous self to which I refer in a nineteenth-century context: this do...
Until the 16th century, Aboriginal people were the only inhabitants of what is now Canada, hence, they were an independent and self-governing people till the Europeans had the capacity to dominate Canada's original inhabitants and possessors (Elias 1). The European Invasion brought about The 1876 Indian Act, which was developed over time through separate pieces of colonial legislation regarding Aboriginal peoples across Canada such as the Gradual Civilization Act of 1857 and the Gradual Enfranchisement Act of 1869. In 1876, these acts were consolidated as the Indian Act (Hanson). This essay aims to explain how the Indian Act tried to destroy the Aboriginal culture through residential schools and unequal recognition of women, successive acts,
The Indian Act is a combination of multiple legislations regarding the Aboriginal people who reside across Canada, such as the Gradual Civilization Act of 1857 and the Gradual Enfranchisement Act of 1869 (Hanson, n.p.). The Gradual Civilization Act was the Canadian government's attempt to assimilate the aboriginals into the Canadian society in a passive manner, through a method they encouraged called Enfranchisement. Enfranchisement is basically a legal process that allows aboriginals to give up their aboriginal status and accept a Canadian status (Crey, n.p.). This process, while under the Gradual Civilization Act, was still voluntary, but became a forced process when the Indian Act was consolidated in 1876 (Hanson, n.p.). The Gradual Enfranchisement Act introduced in 1869 was a major legislation that intruded with the private lives of the aboriginals. First, it established the “elective band council system” (Hanson, n.p.) that grants th...
Although the Canadian government has done a great deal to repair the injustices inflicted on the First Nations people of Canada, legislation is no where near where it needs to be to ensure future protection of aboriginal rights in the nation. An examination of the documents that comprise the Canadian Constitution and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms reveal that there is very little in the supreme legal documents of the nation that protect aboriginal rights. When compared with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples it is clear that the Canadian Constitution does not acknowledge numerous provisions regarding indigenous people that the UN resolution has included. The most important of these provisions is the explicit recognition of First Nations rights to their traditional lands, which have a deep societal meaning for aboriginal groups. Several issues must be discussed to understand the complex and intimate relationship all aboriginal societies have with the earth. Exploration into the effects that the absence of these rights has had the Cree of the Eastern James Bay area, will provide a more thorough understanding of the depth of the issue. Overall, the unique cultural relationship First Nations people of Canada have with Mother Earth needs to be incorporated into the documents of the Canadian Constitution to ensure the preservation and protection of Canadian First Nations cultural and heritage rights.s
There are two women from the near and distant past that have become strong female role models in recent years: Queen Elizabeth I and Virginia Woolf. These women were not without problems while growing up, though. Elizabeth’s mother was beheaded after being charged with treason when she was only three; she grew up viewing women as indispensable after her father had six wives; her family kept dying (mother, step mother, father, half brother, sister), and she was locked away by her sister Queen Mary in the Tower of London for a number of years. Virginia Woolf on the other hand battled with depression and mental disease her whole life, was denied a typical education because she was female, had many mental breakdowns after death of mother, and was institutionalized after father’s death. Both Elizabeth Tudor and Virginia Stephen-Woolf shared many of the same family problems in their lives, but their life paths and careers were drastically different from one another.
The Indian Act is made up from the Gradual Civilization Act of 1857 and the Gradual Enfranchisement Act of 1869. The Gradual Civilization Act encouraged the Indian people to give up their status and become a Canadian citizen. The Gradual Enfranchisement Act gave the government full control over the Indian people. They were able to decide everything from who kept their status, received benefits, and even who were able to keep their children. In 1876, these acts together alongside with other rules and regulations formed the Indian Act. The government thought it was best to be able to control every aspect of the First Nations people’s lives. It was stated in annual report of the Department of the Interior Indian Affairs in 1876:
*"(Adeline) Virginia Woolf." Feminist Writers. St. James Press, 1996.Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: The Gale Group. 2004. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRCć
Through legislature the people with the power, the British, would attempt to civilize First Nations. To assimilate the minority, because just by being so means your cultures and values are less than mine. In the 1820s the colonial administrations first attempt at assimilation took place at Lake Simcoe in Upper Canada. A group of Aboriginals were encouraged to colonial-style village where they’d be taught agriculture and advised to become Christians. Because of poor management, underfunding, a lack of understanding Aboriginals cultures and values, the experiment was a big failure. It most certainly did not stop there. In 1876 the Canadian government introduced the Indian Act. It is “…the principal statute through which the federal government administers Indian status, local First Nations governments and the management of reserve land and communal monies” (Parrot, 2006). The First Nations have to be given their Indian Status, a legal acknowledgment of a person’s First Nation heritage. That alone shows the difference between the government, and the Aboriginals living on reservations. The difference between First Nations and the Canadian government, in this case, quite aptly shows their relations of power. “Those in society with the most power – however defined- are in the strongest position to define the realities of difference and thereby create and recreate systems of dominance and power that determine where and how important resources like income, wealth, and access to education and health care are distributed” (Perry, 2011, p.24) Which means that the powerful Canadian government can oppress the minority Native Indians living on reserves through this very controlling legislature. Moreover, the language isn’t quite right either. To elaborate, the use of the word ‘Indian’ is commonly seen as derogatory. This may be obvious bigotry, which is “…the derogatory language that is
It has been an extensive journey for the Indigenous population within Canada. Although, research has not established whether they first inhibited Canada, they have resided in this country for longer than one could imagine. The challenges they faced have been unimaginable as well. From invasion of their land, to mistreatment, and the attempt to eliminate the aboriginal culture, they’re hardships are not yet over. Granted, the Canadian government has provided some assistance to the fixation of all complications for the indigenous, however, it has only scarcely improved conditions. To be considered “Indian”, the individual must be registered under the Indian Act, making them a Status Indian. Within this act, Indians are permitted to acquire certain
In the early components of this year, his parents had genetics test done on him to optically discern if his twin brother could possibly have the trait to have autism. It was found that he has the Fragile X Syndrome. Fragile X syndrome is associated with the expansion of the CGG trinucleotide reiterate affecting the Fragile X mental retardation 1 (FMR1) gene on the X chromosome, resulting in a failure to express the fragile X mental retardation protein (FMRP), which is required for mundane neural development. Absence of FMRP in turn leads to abnormalities in brain development and function.
Fragile X Syndrome is a genetic disorder that causes individuals, mostly men, to develop developmental problems and cognitive impairment. Although men are mostly affected by this disorder, it can affect women as well. Approximately one in four thousand males are affected by Fragile X while only one in eight thousand women are affected (Fragile X syndrome, 2012). Fragile X causes a variety of symptoms such as possible ADD, anxiety, delayed development of speech and language, mild to moderate intellectual disability and hyperactive behavior. Symptoms of Fragile X can start by the age of two, or earlier. Men affected by Fragile X mostly experience mild to moderate intellectual disabilities. Since Fragile X is more common in males, they tend to experience symptoms more than women do. Intellectual disabilities usually only affect about one-third of women that have Fragile X. Children with Fragile X experience anxiety and tend to fidget more than normal or have impulsive actions. Many children may also have ADD which allows them not to be able to focus as much as a normal child would. Behavioral abnormalities are a common feature of Fragile X. Biting at the hands, flailing hands are arms and gaze aversions. When it comes to deficits, they most likely occur in reasoning, processing the environment and mathematics. Individuals with Fragile X may show features of autism, this mainly occurs in only about one-third of individuals with Fragile X. Another symptom of Fragile X is seizures. Again, since Fragile X is more common in males, seizures are more common in males. While only five percent of women experience seizures, about fifteen percent of males experience seizu...
Virginia Woolf, one of the pioneers of modern feminism, found it appalling that throughout most of history, women did not have a voice. She observed that the patriarchal culture of the world at large made it impossible for a woman to create works of genius. Until recently, women were pigeonholed into roles they did not necessarily enjoy and had no way of
Feminism is a global movement that affects women all around the world either directly or indirectly because of the discrimination that it defends. Over the years women have been limited to living in a male dominated world. Women have been alienated from educational opportunities, workforce or labor opportunities and most importantly financial opportunities. Being oppressed by these factors and others has left women with the little option of becoming a housewife or a servant, or inheritor. Feminism has proven to be a controversial yet present point in the works of literary giants such as William Shakespeare, Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte and many others. Charlotte Bronte phenomenal novel Jane Eyre is developed with ample evidence that is a direct