Symbolism of the "Room"

Without Money > Women Depend on Men & Cannot Afford Their Own Room.

No Room > No Privacy.

No Privacy > Interruptions Block Creativity.

So... therefore, her argument is that money is the main thing that prevents women from having a space of their own, so without money and privacy, women cannot write with genius.





This space without interruptions was considered a luxury of women in Virginia Woolf’s [watch this video - it's short yet informative] time. And Woolf repeatedly clarifies the prerequisite of an inheritance that requires no obligations in order to have what men take for granted and enjoy without question, a space to engage in uninterrupted writing time. She believes that writers who obsess about gender issues write with anger, and often put their own gender above the other. She talks in detail about Aphra Behn and applauds her for being the first female to make a living off of her writing, and then paving the way for future women like Jane Austen.

“Intellectual freedom depends upon material things. Poetry depends upon intellectual freedom. And women have always been poor, not for two hundred years merely, but from the beginning of time . . .”

Because the narrator believes that material things lead to intellectual freedom, and poetry requires intellectual freedom, women must have money before they can be successful at writing poetry. Since women have always been poor, according to her, that is why, she elucidates, so few women have thrived in writing poetry. Women are subject to various and constant interruptions without a room, so the narrator believes it is more likely that a woman would more easily accomplish writing a novel, instead of poetry, because that type of writing lends itself to a more start-stop type of pace.


She uses the room as a symbol for the larger issues that make women second-class citizens in society and in their works to men, and claims that it will remain that way until women rectify these inequalities. Concerned with more than just the room, Woolf uses it as a symbol for independence, privacy, and creativity, the room in “A Room of One’s Own” is arguably the strongest motif of the essay; without money or a room, women will remain subordinate in second place to their male counterparts.

Interruption Motif & The Manx Cat

With the country devastated by the war, the cat lacking a tail symbolizes England’s castration: its melodious language “cut-off” and substituted by ordinary conversation. In the same way the cat appears out of place, women at a university have a similar position, and without a welcome on the lawn.

The theme, or motif, of INTERRUPTIONS is significant in “A Room of One’s Own” and comes up when the narrator is interrupted and can’t seem to recover her concentration. These interruptions serve as a barrier for creativity and writing, and reaffirm that without a private space free of interruption, women are destined to difficulty in their work. In Chapter one, while describing the fictitious university, Oxbridge, her concentration shifts to a tailless Manx cat.





Though this out-of-place sight of a cat [I actually have a cat, Josey Quervo-named this because she is insane-who looks almost identical to this one - and yes, looks out of place] without a tail causes her to lose her train of thought, it also allows her to reflect on what it would be like to be a woman writer: Out of place and unwelcome. This interruption serves as an outside distraction that men don’t have to overcome in order to be successful in their endeavors. Women who don’t have “a room of their own,” a private place free of distractions, cannot contend with men who don’t have to fight for these mere necessities.