Muted Women in Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own and Elizabeth Barre

Muted Women in Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own and Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Aurora Leigh In the predominantly male worlds of Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own and Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s â€Å"Aurora Leigh (Book I)†, the women’s voices are muted. Female characters are confined to the domestic spheres of their homes, and they are excluded from the elite literary world. They are expected to function as foils to the male figures in their lives. These women are â€Å"trained† to remain silent and passive not only by the males around them, but also by their parents, their relatives, and their peers. Willingly or grudgingly, the women in Woolf and Browning’s works are regulated to the domestic circle, discouraged from the literary world, and are expected to act as foils to their male counterparts. Without the means of securing financial independence, women are confined to the world of domestic duties. In Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own, Mary Seton’s â€Å"homely† mother is neither a businesswoman nor a magnate on the Stock Exchange. She cannot afford to provide formal education for her daughters or for herself. Without money, the women must toil day and night at home, with no time for learned conversations about â€Å"archaeology, botany, anthropology, physics, the nature of the atom, mathematics, astronomy, relativity, geography† – the subjects of the men’s conversations (26). As Woolf notes, if Mary’s mother had gone into business, there would have been no Mary. Children are financial burdens and they make heavy demands on a mother’s time. It is impossible that a mother could feed and play with their children while making money, because women are expected to raise large families; they are the ones who ca rry o... ...n. And muted the women are, in A Room of One’s Own and â€Å"Aurora Leigh†. They cannot vocalize their opinions, wants, and needs when they are confined to their homes and discouraged from joining the predominantly male literary circles. Moreover, females are expected to act as foils to the males so that the patriarchal societies may flourish. Coleridge once said that a great mind is androgynous (Woolf, 106). When the men and women can cooperate and unite their minds and bodies, Shakespeare’s gifted sister will be able to re-emerge, freeing the muted voices of these oppressed women. WORKS CITED Woolf, Virginia. A Room of One’s Own. London: Flamingo, 1994. Browning, Elizabeth Barrett. â€Å"Aurora Leigh†. 1856. Correspondence Course Notes: ENGL 205*S Selected Women Writers I, Spring-Summer 2003, pp. 26, 27. Kingston, ON: Queen’s University, 2003.

Anna Avalon Character Sketch Essay

Anna Avalon, the adventurous and admirable main character of â€Å"The Leap’ written by Louise Erdich has many traits that prove her to be a very admirable woman. Her daughter is very grateful to have her as a mother. Throughout this short story, it is quite easy to see that Anna Avalon is talented, careful and brave. Considered to be â€Å"The surviving half of a blindfold trapeze act† (Pg. 190) Anna Avalon is very talented. She had previously been a performer. â€Å"Anna of the Flying Avalon’s† She had been involved in many performances and was definitely a crowd favourite, Anna had performed many â€Å"Double somersaults and heart-stopping catches† (Pg. 90) However, one day there had been a tragic accident. While seven months pregnant, lightning struck a pole resulting in three deaths. â€Å" Lightning struck the main pole and sizzles down the guy wires, filling the air with a blue radiance† (Pg. 192) Anna was the only one who survived this tragic accident, this showing her talent. Along with talented, Anna Avalon is very careful. She is an elderly lady living in New Hampshire, with sightless eyes. Although blind, â€Å"she has never upset an object or as much as brushed a magazine onto the floor. She has never lost her balance or bumped into a closet door left carelessly open. The â€Å"catlike precision of her movements’ (Pg. 190) is probably due to her early training. When caught in a house fire, Anna was willing to risk her own life in order to save her daughter. This shows that she’s a brave and courageous woman and would do anything for her child. Several years ago, Anna Avalon’s house caught on fire, when her daughter was just seven years old. The staircase to her upstairs room had been cut off by flames so everyone was outside thinking there was no rescue. â€Å"Outside, my mother stood below my dark window and saw clearly that there was no rescue. (Pg. 195) However, Anna Avalon did everything in her power to assure her daughter would be safe. â€Å"Standing there, beside Father, who was preparing to rush back around to the front of the house, my mother asked him to unzip her dress. When he wouldn’t be bothered, she made him understand. He couldn’t make his hands work, so she finally tore it off and stood there in her pearls and stockings. She directed one of the men to lean the broken half of the extension ladder up against the trunk of the tree. † (Pg. 195) Anna had well thought out a way to save her seven year old. She leaped through the icy-air and â€Å"was hanging by the backs of her heels from the new gutter†. (Pg. 195) She then tapped on the window to let her daughter know she came to rescue her. Although she was only in her underclothing, she had bigger things to worry about, such as saving her daughter. She successfully saved her daughter, showing her true heroism and bravery. Throughout â€Å"The leap’ it’s clear that Anna is very admirable. She has done many things in her life to help others and we see that she is a wonderful person. From her actions, Anna Avalon is talented, careful and brave.

Coffee Consumption The Health Benefits - 1831 Words

Coffee Consumption: The Health Benefits By: Kate Spinosa â€Å"Americans run on Dunkin†, this is a phrase that almost everyone knows or has heard in their lifetime. Over 500 billion cups of coffee are consumed annually worldwide [1]. There are on average 70 countries that grow the coffee plant for coffee production, and coffee trade is exceeding 10 billion dollars worldwide [1]. While water is the most consumed drink globally, coffee is the actually the next most consumed beverage [1]. I really did not have much background information prior on coffee, just that I need three cups a day to even function. This is because coffee is the richest source of caffeine for Americans, accounting for 71% of caffeine intake [2]. Eight ounces†¦show more content†¦Cancer unfortunately is such a common tragedy that many people encounter personally or through a family/friends lifetime. I wanted to know the specific components of coffee that decreased risks of developing cancer and how effective this was. I found that as of 2010 there were ne arly 400 published studies of epidemiologic research on the topic of coffee and cancer [4]. This shows that there is a large amount of interest in this topic and much research dedicated to discovering findings. Coffee consumption has claims to most typically help lessen the risk of developing liver, renal, skin, ovarian, colorectal, esophagus, and pharyngeal cancer [1]. The rich phytochemisty/antioxidant component of coffee is what lowers the risk of developing cancer. One study taken showed results of a 36% decrease risk for nonmelanoma skin cancer from six or more cups of caffeinated coffee daily [1]. Malignant hepatoma (HCC) is a common form of liver cancer which can be prevented more so with coffee consumption [1]. Liver cancer is the 5th most common cancer in males and 8th in females [5]. Three separate studies showed the results of a high consumption of coffee (6+ cups) compared to a almost never consumption (1 cup) which gave a 50%, 55% and 43% reduction rate for liver cancer in subjects [5]. Between 1990 and 2003 among 147,227 subjects, 3 cohorts, and 15 case-control studies, and 11 countries, the results showed a 24% lower risk of colon cancer per cup consumed fromShow MoreRelatedHealth Benefits And Side Effects On The Consumption Of Coffee2973 Words   |  12 PagesIntroduction The consumption of coffee is an essential staple to start an early morning in the United States and worldwide (Freedman et al. 2012). Like coffee, caffeine is a component that also can be present in energy drinks, tea, and pre-workout supplements. But to be specific, coffee, according to statistics has over 150 million people who drink an average of 3.2 cups of coffee daily, which means that about 400 million cups of coffee every day is consumed. (Patil et al. 2011) For some peopleRead MoreTopic On Benefits Of Drinking Coffee960 Words   |  4 PagesOutline Topic: Benefits of drinking coffee. General Purpose: To inform Specific Purpose: To inform the class of some of the many ways in which coffee can have a positive impact on your health. Thesis Statement: Drinking coffee can benefit your health in a number of ways, including lowering your risk of developing (1) cardiovascular problems, (2) neurological diseases, and (3) certain kinds of cancer. Introduction I. [Attention Getter] By show of hands, how many of you drink coffee on a daily orRead MoreShould Coffee Be Benefit Or Harm? Health?1447 Words   |  6 PagesxStatement of Position Coffee is one of the most popular beverages all over the world. Many people love the smell and taste of coffee, and rely on it to help them invigorate their brains and keep refreshed. 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The earliest consumption of coffee is believed to have been by theRead MoreCoffee Daily: Windows to the World1571 Words   |  6 Pagesthe world wake up to a cup of coffee but is this harmful or beneficial? Research shows that the pros to coffee, at responsible amounts per day, outweigh the cons or negative effects of coffee and even have the same effects as medicines given over the counter at pharmacy or even prescribed by a pharmacist. Many people just drink coffee without even knowing the location of where coffee began but this can be very crucial to the understanding to finding the benefits of coffee. â€Å"In the Ethiopian highlandsRead MoreCaffeine, Caffeine And Health Benefits Between Coffee And Energy Drinks And How They Each Affect Brain Function1242 Words   |  5 Pagespeople either enjoy to drink a cup of coffee, an energy drink, or sometimes both. People drink these without any knowledge of them other than the fact that they contain caffeine. 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