Discussion Topics for A Room of One’s Own:

1. Woolf identifies differences between the way women are depicted in literature and women’s lives in reality. Why is this problematic for her and do you think the same problems exist today (in literature, social media, film, etc.)?

2. Why do you think Woolf invents a sister for Shakespeare? Why is suicide her only option and what does Woolf’s illustration reveal about women throughout history?

3. Woolf accuses women of being “disgracefully ignorant.” Why, in 1929, is Woolf so critical?

4. At the beginning of the essay (not included in your book), Woolf writes, “we asked you to speak about women and fiction—what has that got to do with a room of one’s own? . . . All I could do was to offer you an opinion upon one minor point—a woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction.” What you think Woolf means here.