Abstract

Virginia Woolf who is regarded as the pioneer of Western feminism is an influencing female writer in the history of English literature of the 20th century. She created so many classical works, such as Women and Fiction, Professions for Women, A Room of One’s Own and so on. What’s more, her book A Room of One’s Own was regarded as one of the seven guiding works in Western feminism. This article analyzed and discussed the feminist thoughts which Virginia Woolf conveyed through the book A Room of One’s Own from the feminist perspective. This paper consists of three parts which discussed the theme of this paper from three different aspects. The first part analyzed the meaning which Virginia Woolf wanted to express with “a room of one’s own” and talked about the necessary factors to win the personal liberty for women from the perspective of woman’s individual freedom. Starting from Woolf pointing out the importance of economic independence, the second part, held a view that Woolf exposed the unfair status of women in patriarchal society and pointed out the efforts that women needed to do to achieve economic independence. The third part examined the important role Woolf played in the literary history. Her unique feminine consciousness and feminist thought have contributed greatly to the inheritance of female literature.

Key Words：Virginia Woolf; Feminism; A Room of One’s Own

Contents

Abstract

摘要

1  Introduction-1

2  “A Room of One’s Own”: Individual and Spiritual Liberty-4

2.1 The Condition of Female in Individual and Spiritual Liberty in the Patriarchal Society-4

2.2 The Meaning of the “room”-5

2.3 The Ways to Achieve Individual Liberty for Female-6

3  “Five Pounds a Month”: Economic Independence-8

3.1 The Position of Female in Economy in the Patriarchal Society-8

3.2 The Influences of Economic Independence-9

3.3 The Ways to Achieve Economic Independence for Female-10

4  Female Literary Heritage-12

4.1 The Development of Feminist Literature-12

4.2 Constructing Woman’s Own Conversational Styles-13

4.3 Androgyny-14

5  Conclusion-16

Bibliography-17

Acknowledgments-18