"Three Guineas"

Book Review # 99255

English > Analysis
Literature > English
Women Studies

"Three Guineas"

A discussion of "Three Guineas" by Virginia Woolf.

1,395 words () | 3 sources | MLA | 2007 United States

Paper Summary:

The paper discusses how Woolf highlights the interconnectedness between male power and social ills. The paper shows how Woolf developed an insightful analysis of her society which correctly pointed out the interconnectedness of oppressions, and which postulated that the education of women and their entry into the professions might lead to the end of war. The paper relates that history seems to be proving her wrong, but the paper stresses that the power of her analysis lies in her perception of the wider connections and this insight continues to be elaborated in useful ways by feminists today.

From the Paper:

"When reading Three Guineas, many women will be horrified by some of the facts that Woolf documents. Certainly, reading this piece some seventy years after it was published, I was horrified to realise how recently the emancipation of women really began. In Woolf's time, despite recent legislative changes, women were still utterly subjugated by men. Realizing this, and juxtaposing it with the elegant and incisive intelligence that so clearly penned this work, I suddenly understood why Woolf walked into the River Ouze. Imagine having intelligence like this, while being treated by one's society as a child! This fine intelligence informs all of Three Guineas, drawing what essentially is an extended essay (masquerading as a letter) into a carefully balanced argument."

Sample of Sources Used:

Davis, Angela Y. "The Approaching Obsolescence of Housework: A Working-Class Perspective." In Angela Y. Davis, Women, Race and Class. New York: Vintage Books, 1981.
Sassen, Saskia. "Global Cities and Survival Circuits." In Barbara Ehrenreich and Arlie Russell Hochschild, eds. Global Woman: Nannies, Maids and Sex Workers in the New Economy. New York: Metropolitan Books, 2003.
Woolf, Virginia. Three Guineas. London: Penguin Books, 1993.