Virginia Woolf Essay

Virginia Woolf Essay In these two passages, Virginia Woolf describes two different meals she had during a university visit; the first was served at a men's college, while the second was served at a women's college. In order to describe the meals, Woolf uses elements such as narrative structure, manipulation of language, selection of detail, and tone to contribute to the narrative effect of each passage. Her underlying attitude is that society treats men better than women. In her narrative structure, Woolf explains the food in order when it was brought to her. She describes with great detail how elaborate the food at the men's college was compared to the woman's college. This shows just how much the government and society favored men over women, and how much she despises that. Woolf doesn't outright say, "Women are looked down on, give us rights or give us death", but you can tell from all the emotion she puts in describing these different meals that she is very displeased. Virginia Woolf also used manipulation of language to get her point across. In passage 1, she noted, "the partridges, many and various, came with all their retinue of sauces and salads, the sharp and the sweet, each in its order;". She relates this in passage two with the women's meals, "Here was the soup. It was a plain gravy soup. There was nothing to stir the fancy in that." Between the two passages, Woolf noted many ways men and women are treated differently, using the meals as a metaphor for society. Men are treated like kings. They get everything; the good jobs, good food, and more. While women are treated like peasants, they get next to nothing, and are treated like dirt. They might have gotten what homeless people get now. Woolf also uses selection of detail to show her side on the matter. She describes each meal with a great deal of detail. Men's meals were fancy, as if a professional chef made them