Page 89 - The Language of Composition 4e Teacher Edition Sample.indd

before they have succeeded in the other who come of a younger and happier generation 4
before they have succeeded in the other
professions. may not have heard of her — you may not know
professions.
But to tell you my story — it is a simple one. what I mean by the Angel in the House. I will CLOSE READING chapter 4
You have only got to figure to yourselves a girl describe her as shortly as I can. She was intensely
As far as craft goes, this essay is a study in
in a bedroom with a pen in her hand. She had sympathetic. She was immensely charming. As far as craft goes, this essay is a study in
the relationship between speaker and audi-
the r
elationship between speaker and audi-
only to move that pen from left to right — from She was utterly unselfish. She excelled in the ence. It was initially delivered as a speech
ed as a speech
ence. It was initially deliver
ten o’clock to one. Then it occurred to her to do difficult arts of family life. She sacrificed herself Other Voices / Virginia Woolf to a gr oup that was originally founded
to a group that was originally founded
what is simple and cheap enough after all — to daily. If there was chicken, she took the leg; to campaign for women’s suffrage and
frage and
to campaign for women’
s suf
slip a few of those pages into an envelope, fix if there was a draught she sat in it — in short that had shifted its focus to employment
that had shifted its focus to employment
Copyright (c) 2023 Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers. Uncorrected proofs have been used for this sample chapter.
a penny stamp in the corner, and drop the she was so constituted that she never had a issues. W oolf is, by her own admission in
issues. Woolf is, by her own admission in
envelope into the red box at the corner. It was mind or a wish of her own, but preferred to the opening paragraph, expected to talk
the opening paragraph, expected to talk
thus that I became a journalist; and my effort sympathize always with the minds and wishes about “the employment of women,” yet she
about “the employment of women,” yet she
was rewarded on the first day of the following of others. Above all — I need not say it — she was has never been formally employed, since
has never been formally employed, since
month — a very glorious day it was for me — by pure. Her purity was supposed to be her chief her work has been that of a writer—a priv-
her work has been that of a writer—a priv-
a letter from an editor containing a cheque for beauty — her blushes, her great grace. In those ileged writer , again by her own admission,
ileged writer, again by her own admission,
Distributed by Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers. Strictly for use with its products. Not for redistribution.
one pound ten shillings and sixpence. But to days — the last of Queen Victoria — every house with an inheritance suf ficient to give her
with an inheritance sufficient to give her
show you how little I deserve to be called a had its Angel. And when I came to write I an independent income. What, then, can
an independent income. What, then, can
professional woman, how little I know of the encountered her with the very first words. The she of fer to her audience? Students might
she offer to her audience? Students might
struggles and difficulties of such lives, I have to shadow of her wings fell on my page; I heard examine the first two paragraphs to trace
examine the first two paragraphs to trace
admit that instead of spending that sum upon the rustling of her skirts in the room. Directly, the ways she tries to make the obstacles
the ways she tries to make the obstacles
bread and butter, rent, shoes and stockings, or that is to say, I took my pen in my hand to she faced applicable to the women in her
she faced applicable to the women in her
butcher’s bills, I went out and bought a cat — a review that novel by a famous man, she slipped audience, which likely included pr ecious
audience, which likely included precious
beautiful cat, a Persian cat, which very soon behind me and whispered: “My dear, you are few intending to become writers; they
few intending to become writers; they
involved me in bitter disputes with my a young woman. You are writing about a book could then apply that lens to the rest of
est of
could then apply that lens to the r
neighbours. that has been written by a man. Be sympathetic; the essay. Essentially, Woolf articulates
. Essentially
the essay
, W
oolf articulates
What could be easier than to write articles be tender; flatter; deceive; use all the arts and her feminist ideology about the equality of
her feminist ideology about the equality of
and to buy Persian cats with the profits? But wait wiles of our sex. Never let anybody guess that the sexes, yet it is difficult not to hear in
the sexes, yet it is dif
ficult not to hear in
a moment. Articles have to be about something. you have a mind of your own. Above all, be both approach and examples what Woolf
both approach and examples what Woolf
Mine, I seem to remember, was about a novel by pure.” And she made as if to guide my pen. I scholar David Daiches calls “the democ-
scholar David Daiches calls “the democ-
a famous man. And while I was writing this now record the one act for which I take some racy of one who has been born and bred
racy of one who has been born and bred
review, I discovered that if I were going to review credit to myself, though the credit rightly an intellectual aristocrat.”
an intellectual aristocrat.”
books I should need to do battle with a certain belongs to some excellent ancestors of mine
phantom. And the phantom was a woman, and who left me a certain sum of money — shall
when I came to know her better I called her after we say five hundred pounds a year? — so that CLOSE READING
the heroine of a famous poem, The Angel in the it was not necessary for me to depend solely
1
House. It was she who used to come between on charm for my living. I turned upon her In paragraphs 2, 3, and 5, W oolf r efers
In paragraphs 2, 3, and 5, Woolf refers
me and my paper when I was writing reviews. and caught her by the throat. I did my best to the Persian cat she bought with her
to the Persian cat she bought with her
It was she who bothered me and wasted my time to kill her. My excuse, if I were to be had up first paycheck. Y ou could ask students to
first paycheck. You could ask students to
and so tormented me that at last I killed her. You in a court of law, would be that I acted in examine those passages and discuss their
examine those passages and discuss their
self- defence. Had I not killed her she would functions. What is her tone in those pas-
functions. What is her tone in those pas-
have killed me. She would have plucked the sages? How does her choice to refer to her
sages? How does her choice to r
efer to her
1 “The Angel in the House” is a nineteenth-century poem about a
cat r
ce her purpose, and what is its
einfor
self-sacrificing heroine; for many, she represented the ideal Victorian heart out of my writing. For, as I found, directly cat reinforce her purpose, and what is its
impact on the rhetorical situation?
woman. — Eds. I put pen to paper, you cannot review even a impact on the rhetorical situation?
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BUILDING CONTEXT
Woolf’s “Angel in the House” reference (par. 3) What stereotypes do we have of the “ideal”
is another avenue into this excellent essay. woman? Do any vestiges of the “angel”
Her description of this Victorian ideal (one remain? You might also have students read
students may know from their reading of an excerpt from Coventry Patmore’s Victorian
nineteenth-century fiction) of the compliant, poem “The Angel in the House” (consider
conciliatory, long-suffering, and “pure” help- Part I, Book I, Canto IX: ll. 1-23), and ask
mate might lead to discussions of women them to consider if it compares to Woolf’s
in popular culture, especially television and definition of the “angel.”
film, who reflect or subvert this ideal today.
Other Voices / Virginia Woolf 195
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