Order from us for quality, customized work in due time of your choice.
The following questions refer to our reading selections by Virginia Woolf and Ja
The following questions refer to our reading selections by Virginia Woolf and James Joyce.
1). In A Room of One’s Own as a whole (see the video adaptation that I included in this module) and in the “Shakespeare’s Sister” excerpt in our textbook, Virginia Woolf stresses that women need access to “500 pounds a year” [the British monetary equivalent of a U.S. dollar, which at the time when she wrote would probably be like $100,000 today) and “a room of her own” in order to write fiction. What is she referring to with these symbols? What does she think are the obstacles women face, both as writers but also in general in terms of their situation in society?
2). In “Professions for Women,” Virginia Woolf illustrates another impediment that women writers face, which she calls “The Angel in the House,” referring to stereotypical views of feminine behavior during the Victorian era which survived even into the modern age. What are these gender stereotypes, and why does she claim she had to “kill” the Angel in the House in “self-defense” in order to write (because otherwise the Angel would have “killed” her instead)?
3). James Joyce’s short story “The Dead” uses many symbolic references, often with ambiguous meanings, to advance its idea about the “paralysis” afflicting the inhabitants of Ireland. Pick TWO of the symbolic references below and explain how each contributes to the story’s theme:
a. Lily . . . who was “literally run off her feet”
b. galoshes
c. the dinner party on January 6th
d. snow
e. “the west” of Ireland
f. the monks of Mount Melleray who sleep in their coffins
g. “a woman . . . listening to distant music”
h. Johnny the horse
4). Gabriel Conroy and Michael Furey are two key characters in “The Dead” with strong opposing symbolic roles and personal characteristics. Explain who each character is and what their relationship is to each other (or rather, to Gretta Conroy), as well as the symbolic references of their names to archangels in the Catholic tradition. In what way is each “dead” and which one is possibly more “alive,” in your view (and why)?
5). James Joyce’s short stories often center on an “epiphany”–a moment of personal realization–experienced by a character during the story. What is Gabriel Conroy’s epiphany in the last paragraphs of “The Dead”?
Order from us for quality, customized work in due time of your choice.