A Room Of One's Own Essay

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A Room of One’s Own by Virquinia Woolf is a collection of her many essays explaining the disadvantages of a life as a woman in the 18th and 19th centuries. One of the main areas that had disadvantages was the education system. Woolf writes about two hypothetical experiences, one of which was set at Oxbridge in all-boys school, and the other at Fernham which is an all-girls school. In both experiences she describes what her journey at the campus would be like, and the different treatments that are given to each school. Patriarchy is revealed in the hypothetical experiences at Oxbridge and Fernham through the differences campus security, the nourishment that food supplies the body, and the flexibility the students are given after the luncheon. …show more content…

Oxbridge has money to not only pay for the tools needed for education, but also a security which allows Oxbridge to decide who they want on and not on the campus. On the other hand Fernham’s security is laid back. People are easily able to come on and off the campus without dealing with security guards. “The gardens of Fernham lay before me in the spring twilight, wild and open, and the long grass, sprinkled carelessly flung, were daffodils and bluebells, not orderly, perhaps at the best of times, and now wind-blown and waving as they tugged at their roots” (Woolf 18). This description of the campus shows how unkempt the campus is, grass has been grown out and is not tamed by workers. This is due to that Fernham does not have the extra money to spend on the look of the campus. The campus is wild and free, there is no security to control the flow of people, and it is open to all. Women in the society, did not have the opportunities that men are granted. They do not have the right to own their own things, all money that they make is given to their husbands. Women were considered the property of their husbands. The women at Fernham are lucky to even be given in educated

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