ESSAY CEMETERY

1. Mental illness as a social construct I do agree that mental illness is variable rather than constant, that it is a function of many elements in the ever-changing cultural and social discourse. Definitions of mental illness are also influenced greatly by scientific, but mostly para-scientific and pseudo-scientific discourse. That is, psychologists and psychiatrists feign to know much more than they do about the workings of the brain and mind. However, along with the negative aspect of social stigmatizing and overmedicating, the plurality of mental illnesses is not entirely a negative phenomenon. Women who were once burned at the stake as witches are today considered to have schizophrenia; people who were lazy or stupid now have learning disabilities; post-partum depression is an acknowledged phenomenon and there are rather more humane resources available to these new mothers. In addition, the profusion of mental illnesses results in (almost) everyone having some mental handicap or an...

Themes Descriptions of sensations Memories Disaster feeling as she did, standing there at the open window, that something awful was about to happen; looking at the flowers, at the trees with the smoke winding off them and the rooks rising, falling ... one feels even in the midst of the traffic, or waking at night, Clarissa was positive, a particular hush, or solemnity; an indescribable pause; a suspense (but that might be her heart, affected, they said, by influenza) before Big Ben strikes. City life In people’s eyes, in the swing, tramp, and trudge; in the bellow and the uproar; the carriages, motor cars, omnibuses, vans, sandwich men shuffling and swinging; brass bands; barrel organs; in the triumph and the jingle and the strange high singing of some aeroplane overhead was what she loved; life; London; this moment of June. Being in the moment Mixed, nonlinear temporality For it was the middle of June. The War was over, except for some one like Mrs. Foxcroft at the Embassy last night ...

THEMES Fiction Women Money Chance STYLE ellipsis Stream of thought, the way thought moves from thing to thing Interruption People are not named Self-reflexivity KEY WORDS Woman Fiction Virginia Woolf

Summary of chapters 1 and 2. Bottom line: for women to be independent of men, they need money. Chapter 1 Woolf begins her long essay by explaining how difficult the questions of fiction and women and their relationship are. All she knows for sure, she says, is that " a woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction". She hopes that through exploring the manner in which she arrived at this conclusion, that the topic of women and fiction will become clearer. She proceeds to tell a fictitious story (I think) to illustrate her point. A woman walks on the lawn on the grounds of a college. She has an idea, which she forgets when she abruptly remembers that only fellows of the college are allowed on the grass, and others on the gravel paths. She ponders the writing of two authors, when she remembers that their manuscripts are in the library on the grounds. She decides to view the manuscripts, but finds that women are not allowed in the library...

THEMES  The struggle of writing Experiences in writing Limitations for woman writers The taboos for woman writers Men's constraints on women The definition of woman The profession of writing Other professions for women The future of women as professionals KEY WORDS Books Women Man Angel in the House Pen Ink Experience Profession Virginia Woolf

Woolf, Virginia. "Mr. Bennett and Mrs. Brown."  Essentials of the Theory of Fiction . Ed. Michael J. Hoffman and Patrick D. Murphy. Durham: Duke UP, 1996. 21-34. Google Books . Web. 15 June 2012. This is an essay by Virginia Woolf, originally a speech she made it seems. Its tone is rather informal. Summary Writing an essay is tough. There is a notion of a character which haunts the writer until he is compelled to begin writing. It is crucial for the novelist to be obsessed with character. She ascribes ultimate importance to convincing characterization- that that is, in fact, the purpose of novels. The essay will explore: What "real" character means What "character" means Why young novelists fail to create characters We all "read characters". Woolf claims human character changed around 1910. There was a shift in human relations, a sort of liberation, around this time, which was reflected in all areas of life. Arnold...