A ROOM OF ONE’S OWN

• The dramatic setting of A Room of One's Own is that Woolf has been
invited to lecture on the topic of Women and Fiction. She advances the
thesis that "a woman must have money and a room of her own if she is
to write fiction." Her essay is constructed as a partly-fictionalized
narrative of the thinking that led her to adopt this thesis. She
dramatizes that mental process in the character of an imaginary
narrator ("call me Mary Beton, Mary Seton, Mary Carmichael or by
any name you please—it is not a matter of any importance") who is in
her same position, wrestling with the same topic.
• The narrator begins her investigation at Oxbridge College, where she reflects
on the different educational experiences available to men and women as well
as on more material differences in their lives. She then spends a day in the
British Library perusing the scholarship on women, all of which has written by
men and all of which has been written in anger. Turning to history, she finds so
little data about the everyday lives of women that she decides to reconstruct
their existence imaginatively. The figure of Judith Shakespeare is generated as
an example of the tragic fate a highly intelligent woman would have met with
under those circumstances. In light of this background, she considers the
achievements of the major women novelists of the nineteenth century and
reflects on the importance of tradition to an aspiring writer. A survey of the
current state of literature follows, conducted through a reading the first novel
of one of the narrator's contemporaries. Woolf closes the essay with an
exhortation to her audience of women to take up the tradition that has been so
hardly bequeathed to them, and to increase the endowment for their own
daughters.
 THEIR EYES WERE WATCHING GOD
• This novel is the story of Janie Crawford's search for love, told, as noted earlier, in the form of
a frame. In the first few pages, Janie returns to her hometown of Eatonville, Florida, after
nearly two years absence. Her neighbors are curious to know where she has been and what has
happened to her. They wonder why she is returning in dirty overalls when she left in bridal
satin.
• Janie tells her story to her friend Pheoby Watson, and after the story is over, the novelist returns
to Janie's back steps. Thus, the story, which actually spans nearly 40 years of Janie's life, is
"framed" by an evening visit between two friends.
• The story that Janie tells is about love — how Janie sought love in four relationships. First, she
looked for love from the grandmother who raised her. Next, she sought love from Logan
Killicks, her first husband, a stodgy old potato farmer, who Nanny believed offered Janie
security. Her third relationship involved Joe Starks. Their union lasted nearly 20 years and
brought her economic security and an enviable position as the mayor's wife. Janie endured this
marriage in the shadow of charismatic, ambitious Joe, a man who knew how to handle people,
money, and power, but who had no perception of Janie's simple wish to be respected and loved.
Janie’s final relationship was with migrant worker Tea Cake, who gave Janie the love
that she had always desired. With Tea Cake, Janie was able to experience true love
and happiness for the first time in her life. As a widow, Janie would sell Joe’s
crossroads store, close up her comfortable home, and leave with her new husband
to share his life as a bean picker in the muck of the Everglades. Tea Cake introduced
Janie to a new life in the Everglades. There she met new people, Tea Cake’s fun-
loving friends, and experienced another community. Her life with Tea Cake was far
different than her life with Joe. This marriage and Janie’s happiness lasted about 18
months — until a powerful hurricane devastated the land, and Tea Cake became a
victim of it.

• A few weeks after Tea Cake’s death, Janie returns to Eatonville because she
cannot bear to remain in the Everglades, where she is surrounded by memories
of her beloved Tea Cake. She returns to her hometown, with her quest for sincere
love having finally been fulfilled by Tea Cake. After an evening of retelling her past
to her friend Pheoby, the story of Janie’s life is complete.
 THE LOONS
• “The Loons” tells the story of two girls from different backgrounds and how their views of the
world ultimately shape their lives. Piquette Tonnerre, the daughter of a poor Native American
settler, is taken to Diamond Lake by Dr MacLeod, who believes that the environment will be
conducive for her recovery— she suffered from tuberculosis. Near Diamond Lake, the
MacLeods have a cabin, where they always spend their summer vacations. Vanessa MacLeod,
the doctor’s daughter, hopes to interact with Piquette and share her love for nature with her.
However, on arriving at the cabin, Piquette is not open to the idea and prefers to sit indoors as
the rest of the family stays outside and listens to the soothing sounds of the Loons. Vanessa
still thinks about Piquette long after the vacation is over, and they meet up one day as adults.
Piquette announces her engagement while Vanessa awkwardly congratulates her. At this time,
Vanessa was going to college. The two ladies maintain regular contact until tragedy befalls
Piquette—she burns down the house with herself and her children in it. Vanessa is sad to hear
the news and decides to visit Diamond Lake to reflect on the events that have happened in
her life and to the ones she loved. She comes to the conclusion that it was fate that led to
Piquette’s death.
THANK YOU FOR LISTENING!