MAP PROJECT
IDENTITY:
A)1. I am mentally ill
2. I am a victim of sexual abuse
3. I am bisexual
4. I am a feminist
5. I am suffering from the deaths of loved ones.
B) The 5 "I Am" statements above sum up Virginia's life. When she was a child her and her sister were sexually abused by their older brothers. When only 13 years old her mother past away which caused Virginia to have her first breakdown. Her second breakdown was due to her father passing away. She was institutionalized for attempting to commit suicide. These breakdowns were just two of many and all the pain and suffering caused her to be mentally ill and bipolar. She was a huge supporter of women's equality because she was upset that boys got the educational opportunities that she was denied.
C) I believe that all the pain and suffering she endured throughout her life influenced the way she wrote. I think the sexual abuse and deaths of many family members were the reasons she became mentally ill.
D) 1. "One cannot find peace by avoiding life."
2. "To enjoy freedom we have to control ourselves."
3. "The truth is, I often like women. I like their unconventionality. I like their completeness. I like their anonymity."
THE AUTHORS CREDO
A) "To enjoy freedom we have to control ourselves."
B) Virginia Woolf never enjoyed freedom because she could not control herself. She suffered from bipolarism and depression. Since she couldn't even control herself she felt it was impossible to enjoy freedom. She felt she wasn't free. She felt like she was bound by the tragic events that had caused her to go crazy.
ANALYSIS OF GENRE:
A) She wrote novels and pioneering essays on artistic theory, literary history, women’s writing, and the politics of power.
B) Artistic theory: "really I don't like human nature unless all candied over with art."
Politics if power: "odd how the creative power at once brings the whole universe to order."
MY PRESSING QUESTION:
How could somebody who has suffered so much pain in their life gather the strength and go on?
Virginia Woolf was an incredibly interesting person. When I picked her to be my author for this project, right away I googled her and saw a black and white photo of a young lady who seemed sad. I didn't pay it much attention and continued on with my research. Every site I gathered my info from I had read that Virginia Woolf had mental health problems. After reading that I got so into it I had to find out what caused it, how severe was it and how did she cope with it.
So as I read pages and page of information about her childhood I found out that her mental health problems began when she was only 13 years old when her mother who she was very closed too, past away. Virginia had her first mental breakdown after the passing of her mother and soon after she had her 2nd when her father past away. She had tried to commit suicide and was institutionalized for that. From then on into her adulthood she suffered from bipolarism.
She used all the pain she had suffered in her life to write books. For example, she wrote a book that discussed Virginia and her little sister being sexually abused by their older brothers when they were young. I believe that Virginia Woolf wrote about things in her point of view. She wasn't afraid to speak her mind through her work. When she was a child she envied the boys she new because they were given to right to an education and he was not. She felt like it was unfair. By speaking her mind and using her emotions to guide her writing, Virginia Woolf is an excellent example of a modernist author.
WORKS CITED:
http://modernism.research.yale.edu/wiki/index.php/Virginia_Woolf
http://www.online-literature.com/virginia_woolf/
http://mobile.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/v/virginia_woolf.html