Jessica Alston

Rhetorical Analysis: 2 Dinners

May 15, 2015; June 4, 2015

Within two diverse narratives by Virginia Woolf regarding meals at a mens and a
womens college, passage one bitterly and sarcastically describes a luncheon at a male
university while passage two contrastingly discusses a dissatisfying dinner at a female
institution in order to, respectively, expose society to the unjust treatment of women and
their rights and to influence everyone worldwide to fight for equality and freedom.
As Woolf reveals the inferiority of females compared to males, she discusses what
each meal symbolizes, inspiring people to take action and aid to progress the world.
While describing the lunch at the mens college in passage 1, she incorporates a simile,
characterizing the sprouts as rosebuds, but more succulent (19). In this case, the sprouts
symbolize male rights in the 19th century. During this time period, males had suffrage and
were easily able to build careers, unlike females. Mens endless list of opportunities is
beautiful and alluring, like a rosebud, to women because they do not have it. In addition,
rosebuds have the ability to grow, just as mens rights have the ability to strengthen and
improve, while womens rights just wilt like weeds. Females yearn for a rose but are
unable to bloom, which is why Woolf is encouraging both women to demand their rights
and people to become more modernized. In relation to the simile, Woolfs connotation of
dry (23) in passage 2 also influences females to take a stance on equality. Dry is used
to describe the biscuits that were a part of the dinner. In this case, the biscuits symbolize
womens lives in the 19th century. Although the biscuits themselves do lack moisture,
Woolf truly means that the biscuits are bland and plain, like womens lives. During this

time period, womens jobs were to take care of their children and home while men were
able to explore the outside world. Just like the biscuits at dinner, womens lives were very
simple, which is hard for Woolf to swallow. Typically, when biscuits are dry, they are
doughy and very hard to chew and ingest. The fact that women arent treated like regular
human beings is difficult for Woolf to handle and she needs help accepting it, which is
why the water-jug is constantly being passed between the ladies. Woolfs description
aims to make women feel uncomfortable about the way society handles womens
equality. So, while passage 1 utilizes a simile to describe mens rights, passage 2s
connotation of the dry aids in characterizing womens lives during the 19th century.
However, both passages symbolize individual components of the meals to unmask the
sickening treatment of females and influence the world to make a change.
While Woolf unveils the discrimination against women in the 20th century, she
varies her syntactical structure, persuading citizens to become more involved in changing
the world for the better. As she recounts her experience at the luncheon in the mens
college in passage one, she incorporates humorous compound-complex sentences. As the
luncheon is coming to an end, she describes, how good life seems [and] how good its
rewards (33). Her repetition of how reiterates how relaxed everyone is feeling. The
males feel no need to rush. Rather, they savor each and every bite of their meals. The
length of the sentence represents how long this euphoric feeling can last, which is for a
while. There is no hurry to move on to another sentence. Its almost like time has been
stopped. However, instead of invoking a sense of peace within Woolf, this idea of
stopping time actually frustrates her. She is angered by the fact that men get to indulge in
such pleasures, never really having to experience any type of stress. This in turn makes

her come off as bitter. She attempts to convey this message to society in the hopes it will
make more of an effort to transform itself in a positive way. In contrast to passage one,
passage two is comprised of many simple sentences. As the dinner at the womens
college is coming to a close, she simply says, the meal is over (24). The abruptness of
the sentence suggests that Woolf was unimpressed with the meal. The lack of descriptions
display Woolfs disappointment towards both the female institution and the worlds view
of women as a whole. Within the passage, Woolf only states strict facts about the food,
demonstrating how it lacked any creativity or imagination. This is similar to women
during the 20th century, as there was an absence of any sort of personality. This is due to
females being unable to participate in any recreational activities, with the exception of
church. The loss of individualism and self-identity is meant to enrage women so that they
will stand up for their rights and suffrage, so while passage one utilizes compoundcomplex sentences to describe mens serene lifestyles, passage twos usage of simple
sentences conveys womens deprivation of uniqueness. However, both passages aim to
display the unfair treatment of females and invoke people to aid in the modernization of
the world.
In authors like Virginia Woolf didnt have the courage to expose worldwide issues
such as the inequality of women compared to men, they would not have inspired other
great leaders to do the same and voice their opinions. People such as Martin Luther King
Jr. and Malala Yousafzai would not have stood up and fought for controversial subjects
such as African-American rights and the opportunity of education for woman. Writers
inspire people to take action in their communities and make a difference.