How Virginia Woolf taught me to embrace adversity
Graphic by Esra Rakab
I began my hopeless love affair with Virginia Woolf’s feminist writing in the twelfth grade, when I first read A Room of One’s Own.
In her extended essay, Woolf wrote on feminism and the state of women, specifically when it came to women in fiction and literature. A central component of Woolf’s extended essay is her thesis: “a woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction.”
Woolf’s essay was an assigned reading for my twelfth-grade English literature class. Much to my delight, it was probably the shortest book I’d ever been assigned. I figured summarizing 100 pages of some antiquated author’s rambling was better than 400.
Although I would never have predicted it, A Room of One’s Own packed more antiquated rambling into 100 pages than most authors could in 10 — and I say that in the most endearing way possible because those 100 pages changed the way I view feminism.
Although I would never have predicted it, A Room of One’s Own packed more antiquated rambling into 100 pages than most authors could in 10 — and I say that in the most endearing way possible because those 100 pages changed the way I view feminism.
That year, I read A Room of One’s Own twice. The first time, I thought it was the most excruciating, mind-numbingly dense and horrific piece of literature that an English teacher had ever forced me to endure. My classmates were in agreement. Whenever I tell my friends that A Room of One’s Own is my favourite book, they still look at me with complete and utter confusion.
It was during the second read that I fell madly and deeply in love. Virginia Woolf’s modernist, stream-of-consciousness style of writing became a window into the brain of her genius. Symbolism became a thread woven through every carefully chosen word. It was the first time in my life that I felt like the author was speaking to me, where I could hear a voice behind the writing.
Since it was published in 1929, I find it concerning yet significantly important how applicable Woolf’s writings are today. She was a woman and she was angry. Angry at having to live in a society not made for her. Frustrated at the lack of opportunity. A woman who was interrupted, overshadowed, denied.
Since it was published in 1929, I find it concerning yet significantly important how applicable Woolf’s writings are today. She was a woman and she was angry. Angry at having to live in a society not made for her. Frustrated at the lack of opportunity. A woman who was interrupted, overshadowed, denied.
She argued that a woman’s financial independence and freedom are of the utmost importance if she is to live unburdened. This, in essence, is what Woolf described as being “incandescent.” It means freedom. It means rising above your life, your circumstances and your woes. It means to become illuminated and enlightened.
Woolf believed incandescence manifests itself in prose and poetry. Incandescent writing becomes resonant and transmits the writer’s emotions like nothing else. It becomes timeless, transcending generations — Shakespeare, Austen, Keats and Sterne, to name a few.
Since freedom and fullness of expression are crucial components of any literary work, Woolf argued that the scarcity of tools available to women were the most significant barriers to equality at the time.
In my first reading of the book, when I was prone to believe that everything and anything Woolf wrote was a total load of crap, the idea of incandescence seemed like the worst of it all. It felt like Woolf, who wrote in a stream of consciousness, was telling me that I need to silence my voice in order to create a literary masterpiece.
Woolf, a woman who ever-so-ironically interjects her voice into her essay at every possible moment, was saying that my life’s experiences and struggles need to be shoved to the side.
Ironic though it may be, was Woolf herself not a woman interrupted, overshadowed and denied? Far from her own definition of incandescence, Woolf constantly interjects herself into her work. And in her writing, I see myself.
Ranting and projecting her anger at the world. Although I may not agree with Woolf on every front, she wrote with the integrity that turned A Room of One’s Own into my favourite piece of literature.
Ironic though it may be, was Woolf herself not a woman interrupted, overshadowed and denied? Far from her own definition of incandescence, Woolf constantly interjects herself into her work. And in her writing, I see myself.
Woolfe kicks and screams that men can “lock up your libraries if you like; but there is no gate, no lock, no bolt that you can set upon the freedom of my mind.” She detests that “one cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well” as was deplorably the case for a great many women. She downright cries out for action and it is anything but incandescent. But it’s true and raw, and strikes a chord with me like nothing else ever has.
In reality, the minds of women like Woolf are all around us. Like many women, she was a victim of her circumstances. Her writing is a testament to her struggles, rooted in anger and screaming bloody murder at the world that tried to hold them down. As many women like her, Woolf found strength in what we now like to think of as a really long rant.
We are surrounded by people who, above all odds, turn adversity into their greatest asset. Today, we have Greta Thunberg, an environmental activist less than half the age yet twice as loud as the people she’s fighting against.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a bartender-turned-politician at the mere age of 29, was the youngest woman ever elected to the United States Congress. Even with the media latching onto classist and sexist taunts to bring her down, she was elected through a grassroots campaign and a platform for the working class.
Their work shines bright because they embrace adversity. They have voices that not only reflect their struggles but their passion. They inspire me to chase after the change I want to see in the world, no matter who may tell me otherwise.
I often find myself reaching for A Room of One’s Own largely because it makes me feel a bit less alone in my misplaced anger at the world. Virginia Woolf’s discourse, her anger at a society that told her she could never amount to anything, hits so close to home.
In dialogues surrounding gender equity, everything that Woolf had to say a whole century ago is still more than applicable. Her voice, full of adversity, passion and life, isn’t incandescent but so much more.
I often find myself reaching for A Room of One’s Own largely because it makes me feel a bit less alone in my misplaced anger at the world.
I have Virginia Woolf to thank for her many nuggets of truth. For teaching me that I’ll never truly be incandescent per her definition and I’m more than happy with that. For showing me how to think critically about thoughts and ideas.
So what is the most notable lesson that A Room of One’s Own taught me? That, no matter what anyone may say, my struggles are my greatest strength.
C/O Pardis Ghaneian
By: Esther Liu, Contributor
The Silhouette: Please introduce yourself!
Ghaneian: My name is Pardis Ghaneian, my pronouns are she/her and I am in my final year of Psychology, Neuroscience and Behaviour at McMaster University. In terms of clubs and involvement, I've been a research assistant, community advisor, Archway mentor and [teaching assistant] at McMaster over the past few years.
What inspired you to become an Archway Mentor?
A long time ago, I dreamed of moving to Canada and studying at McMaster. I was able to achieve that in 2014! I moved from Iran but in the beginning, it was challenging for me to transition from a country with a totally different language and culture. I had lots of barriers, language barriers, cultural barriers, financial barriers — it was difficult to adjust to the environment and I didn't have a strong support system to really help me during that time.
But then later when I started university, I had a great community around me with my community advisors and program mentors and it really inspired me to do the same when I can. That really contributed to me being happier and healthier and doing better overall. I decided to support students transitioning into university or even a new country. I was really really excited to become a CA in my third year with other dedicated student leaders and support my students’ growth and feelings that I had in my first year.
Alongside working as a CA, I really wanted to connect with my Iranian-Canadian community and promote my culture and support international students. I started up a mentorship program within the McMaster Iranian Students Association to give academic and non-academic support to all the new students, whether they're international or just transitioning from home.
This year, I initially planned on being a CA for the third time and I was super pumped about it, but unfortunately, we couldn't because they were closing down the majority of the residence buildings. They offered the CAs the opportunity to work as Archway mentors. I just really love working with first-years and I accepted the position right away. Especially since everything's online, I can't imagine how hard it must be for them to find resources or even learn anything about how university life is.
What did you expect out of the Archway program?
At first, the email that was sent to us was basically saying that: "we're in a pandemic; we have to close down the residence buildings. But, we have another opportunity where you can help first years as Archway mentors."
I've done a lot of mentorship programs at Mac and I was expecting Archway to be a similar experience, but it was more formalized than I was expecting. Later on, we learned that it was going to be a lot bigger and more formal and have a full summer of training for that. But, it's been great! I'm super happy that they did it on such a large scale so that all the students were able to benefit from this opportunity because we have, what, over 8000 first-year students? Even more? If they were to connect only a few people to each of the upper-years, we couldn't accommodate everyone and [that] would take away the opportunity from so many people.
How has your experience been?
I was initially working with one community of 43 students. It was great, but to increase the engagement we decided to combine my community with another one to allow students to find more friends and expand their online networking with other McMaster students. It's been really great to see a diverse set of students from all over the world.
I have students calling from China, from Nova Scotia, some people from Hamilton . . . It was super cool to see everyone calling in from different places and have those connections. I'm constantly learning from them. I don't want to be the one who only shares my experiences, I always ask questions to learn from the younger generations and see what's happening.
What is your favourite memory/part of being an Archway Mentor?
My favourite memory was when we started off this program earlier in July when we were connecting with all of the students one-on-one virtually. Everyone was really excited for their upcoming year and I just really loved that energy. There were also a lot of uncertainties and I really resonated with how they were feeling. I really enjoyed being able to resolve some of those uncertainties about university and connect students who were scared of not being able to find friends, not able to succeed in their classes with resources and others.
My favourite memory was when we started off this program earlier in July when we were connecting with all of the students one-on-one virtually. Everyone was really excited for their upcoming year and I just really loved that energy.
What’s been your biggest challenges as a mentor?
Even though it's really great to have people from all over the world in the program, it's sometimes hard to coordinate times to meet and there are different network issues. Connectivity has been a big problem for a lot of students, sometimes they're not able to even share their video and it's hard to gauge their body language and see how they're feeling. It makes me wonder whether they feel supported enough. I've been trying my best to consistently email them and provide them with different platforms to reach out to, but it's always on my mind whether they feel supported or not.
Are there any possible improvements to the program that you can think of?
The Archway team has been working tremendously hard to build this whole thing from scratch. They didn't know what the university was going to be like. At first, we heard that fall was going to be online and then it became the whole year. There were just so many uncertainties for the people who are developing a program on such a large scale. They've all been working really hard.
Some of the things we could learn from this year are to implement more large-scale events for students earlier on. At the beginning, even though we had a lot of community events, we figured out that some of the communities could be combined to have more engagement. Knowing that, next year we could just start with those larger groups and events to better connect students. It's just important to reflect on what happened this year and what to do in the future.
What have you learned through your experiences as a CA and Archway mentor?
It's been really hard to transition to an online environment, not only for first-years but for upper-years, for faculty members — for everyone really. As I said before though, I think it's a lot harder for first-years since they don't have that pre-existing experience with university and it could feel isolating too as a lot of other university students may say that they found their best friends in their first year.
So throughout these past few years, I really learned how important it is to have those connections and I've been really trying hard to create these connections with our students to create a welcoming, warm and inclusive environment.
So throughout these past few years, I really learned how important it is to have those connections and I've been really trying hard to create these connections with our students to create a welcoming, warm and inclusive environment.
What would you say to those applying to be an Archway Mentor or CA?
I really feel like working as a CA and as an Archway mentor have been a major part of my university experience. So congratulations on making one of your best life decisions! It actually has been one of my best decisions, it's been so great to be involved and I feel that it really helped with my character development.
I grew from a hesitant and shy person to a strong student leader, mentor and supporter of my residence and Archway community. I know it may seem intimidating to take on such a big role in an online environment, however, the lasting positive impact you have on students, especially during this challenging time, is worth it.
