Social Oppression Virginia Woolf Essay - 1507 Words

The physical and social setting in Mrs. Dalloway sets the mood for the novels principal theme: the theme of social oppression. Social oppression was shown in two ways: the oppression of women as English society returned to its traditional norms and customs after the war, and the oppression of the hard realities of life, concealing these realities with the elegance of English society. This paper discusses the purpose of the city in mirroring the theme of social oppression, focusing on issues of gender oppression, particularly against women, and the oppression of poverty and class discrimination between Londons peasants and the elite class. The theme of oppression against women in Clarissa Dalloways society is very common among†¦show more content†¦(Woolfe, 124). This passage illustrates Clarissas decision to lead her life as expected of her as a woman in English society (Kostkowska, 190). The line of thought, did it matter that she must inevitably cease completelyÂ…did she resent it; or did it not become consoling to believe that death ended absolutely? shows her self-reflection, wanting to justify her deliberate choice to become part of the English society, to blend in it, and to fit the stereotype of what people expected her to be. Clarissas uncertainty uncovers the oppression she feels, despite the fact that she belongs to the privileged class of her society. Just as she had stated, it is inevitable that she be subjected to specific forms of prejudice or discrimination simply because of the fact that she is a woman (Woolf 116). Clarissas acceptance of her fate as the wife of a respected English man is haunted by the fact that she herself does not have an individual identity, and has not a way to express her feelings and frustrations in life, not just as a woman, but as a human individual. It is also significant that in her thoughts, Peter Walsh surfaces as a major figure. In the same manner that she questions her chosen life as a married woman, she also wonders whether she made the right decision when she marriedShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of A Room Of Ones Own By Virginia Woolf1691 Words   |  7 Pagesextrapolated from a series of lectures), author Virginia Woolf sets forth her thesis that a woman has to have money and a room of her own if she is to be a productive writer. She then offers up fictionalized scenarios of how females were oppressed in her lifetime (the book was published in 1929) and even provides a fictionalized, albeit probably accurate, accounting of how this oppression in the 20th century is a continuation of historical female oppression. 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